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MENTONE - Tippecanoe Valley knew it was coming. The Vikings had worked on it all week. The question was would it be enough?
Going up against a pressure defense like Northfield's with a team that has had the tendency to turn the ball over, it was a feast or famine situation for the Vikings.
And Valley feasted. Oh, how they feasted.
The Vikings got out running early and often and cruised to an 89-64 win over the Norse Friday.
Despite turning the ball over 28 times, Valley not only handled the pressure most times, they took advantage of it, getting up court and having easy offensive opportunities. The Vikings hit on 37 of 63 (59 percent) from the field, including JayDee Parker's 11 of 14.
"We did a lot of good things out there," Valley coach Gregg Sciarra said. "That has been the most aggressive trapping team we have faced. We had to handle it, and that has been our weak spot.
"We worked on it all week," he said. "We worked on making good decisions and choices. We wanted to see the court and get our heads up. It was a heck of a lot better than what we had been doing."
Valley certainly saw the court well, especially sophomore Brandon Eaton. The Viking guard had a rarity against Northfield - a triple double. He scored 15 points, grabbed 11 boards and handed out 10 assists.
"Brandon passes the ball so well, and he can rebound well for his size," Sciarra said.
Eric Love led the Vikings with 24 points, including 20 in the first half, and Parker added 23 points.
Valley, off to one its worst starts in school history, snapped a two-game losing slide.
"So, we aren't the Washington Generals," Sciarra said. "It is fun to have a win. We had a lot of opportunities to watch different kids in different combinations."
Valley opened up a 23-13 lead after the first quarter and made it 40-27 midway through the second quarter. But Northfield's pressure defense got some opportunities and cut the margin to 42-37 at halftime on a three-point play from Jared Haupert.
"It was our bad choices defensively a couple of times," Sciarra said. "We made a couple of those dreaded 'we make a turnover and try to make up for it and we foul' plays. Those were quick mistakes, and with the way they play, it can hurt you."
Northfield continued the momentum in the third quarter and cut the lead to 51-47. That was when the Vikings took off. Valley outscored Northfield 15-0 to end the quarter and led 66-47 heading into the fourth quarter.
Northfield never threatened again.
The Norse could never overcome the inside-outside combination of Love in the first half and Parker in the second half. After Love's four three-pointers in the first two frames got the Norse defense thinking outside, Parker dominated in the paint in the second half with layup after layup, usually after a nice pass from Eaton.
"A lot of it is seeing the court," Sciarra said. "When they have those traps up high, it will open up things down low. Always with Eric we have that capability of going outside so that spreads them out a little bit."
The win was a bit of revenge for the Vikings, who lost to Northfield twice last season, including in the first game of the Huntington Regional.
Valley (3-7, 2-2) hosts Caston tonight.
"We got another one tonight," Sciarra said. "Caston plays aggressive too, and they are a good basketball team. We have to be able come off our cloud - and it is a small cloud - and be ready to play again."
Northfield falls to 3-8 and 1-4 in the Three Rivers Conference.
