Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
AKRON -ÊFor the past several years, the Tippecanoe Valley basketball team has started the season playing the Warsaw Tigers in a game that went into at least one overtime.
This year the opponent was different, the South Bend St. Joseph Indians, but the game still went into overtime.
However, the outcome was not quite what Vikings fans would like to see. The Valley squad fell to St. Joe 60-58 in overtime.
Valley was down through the entire second half, but the Vikings fought back in the fourth quarter to tie the score at 54-all and send the game into overtime.
In the extra period, the Indians gained the upper hand with 3:38 remaining in the four minute overtime period when Daris Whitfield hit a basket to make the score 56-54.
However, Alex Frantz hit both shots of a double-bonus free throw opportunity to tie the score at 56.
The Vikings then got the ball back at the other end of the court. Trey Eaton capitalized on the opportunity and hit a basket to give Valley its first lead since late in the second quarter, 58-56.
But with 1:25 left on the clock, Whitfield struck again to tie the score again.
Valley had another chance to score, but the Vikings were unable to convert a possession into points on the board.
With 32.4 ticks left in the overtime period, Whitfield hit two free throws to give St. Joe another lead, 60-58.
The Vikings were unable to get the ball into the hoop in the final seconds of play, and the game went to the Indians.
"We did not move the ball well," said Valley coach Bill Patrick. "We struggled to get the ball where we wanted it. We're not confident in the guard position. We don't have a guard who wants to have the ball in his hands and handle the ball with confidence."
St. Joe held a slim 26-25 lead at the half after Ryan Gardini hit a basket with 2.3 seconds left in the second quarter of play. The Indians then outscored Valley 14-11 in the third quarter to take a 40-36 advantage into the fourth stanza.
Valley chipped away at St. Joe's lead through the fourth quarter, and a three-point play by Eaton at the 2:17 mark tied the game for the first time since the second quarter.
The teams traded baskets for the last two minutes of the fourth frame to send the game into overtime.
"We really should have been up by 15 points at the half," Patrick said. "We were up by six and then had eight bad turnovers. We just couldn't put ourselves in the position to win.
"We had a couple big turnovers, and those turnovers came at bad times."
Trey Eaton led the Vikings with 26 points and 10 rebounds. Frantz added 10 points and seven rebounds for the Vikings. Brandon Harmon was a perfect 3 for 3 from the field and 2 for 2 from the charity stripe for eight points.
We need to find more continuity on offense," said Patrick. "We had 15 points in the first quarter, and then we struggled in the second and third quarters. We scored in spurts in the game, but we need to be more consistent."
Whitfield led St. Joe with 27 points, while Brian White added 10 points.
Tippecanoe Valley, 0-1, will face off against the Wabash Apaches Tuesday in Wabash.
"Hopefully this will be a wake-up call," said Patrick. "Maybe it will get everyone to work harder in practice and start doing the things we have not been doing."
