Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
AKRON - As third-year Tippecanoe Valley boys basketball coach Bill Patrick said Saturday night, you play like you practice.
And after a stretch where his Vikings fell to Caston and Southwood, Patrick felt he needed to make a point to his team. He felt his team could work harder.
Saturday night Valley hosted and defeated Three Rivers Conference rival Oak Hill 73-60. Patrick says he's convinced his players got his point.
"The last two weeks we've gone a lot harder in practice," Patrick said. "I think I finally got through to the kids after losing to Caston and Southwood. Things have been 100 percent different the last two games. You play like you practice. I think we finally got through to them."
The win improves the Vikings to 11-4 overall and to 5-1 in the TRC, while the Eagles fall to 9-5 and 4-2. The win also gave the Vikings at least a share of the TRC title. A win Friday at North Miami would give Valley the outright title.
"We've got a chance to win this thing outright, but North Miami is a good ball club," Patrick said.
The Vikings jumped out to a quick 8-1 lead in the first quarter last night, but Oak Hill outscored Valley 6-2 over the last 6:39 of the opening quarter to cut the lead to three.
From then on it was a knock-down, drag out game that will go a long way in deciding the Three Rivers Conference champion.
Leading 10-9 early in the second quarter, Viking senior Cody New, who was 0 of 4 from the field in the first quarter, scored Valley's next 10 points, giving the Vikings a 20-15 lead with 1:52 remaining in the half.
After going scoreless in the opening quarter, New finished with a game-high 27 points. He also pulled down 10 rebounds. Sophomore Trey Eaton added 17 points and 10 rebounds, while junior Brandon Harmon chipped in with 15 points, including a 9 of 10 performance at the charity stripe in the fourth quarter.
"Brandon Harmon really played well," Patrick said. "He's been going hard in practice all year long. In the second half, Cody had better shot selection. He played good solid team ball."
New scored 12 of Valley's 14 in the second stanza, as the Vikings held on to a five-point lead, 24-19, at the half.
As the game went on, the more physical the play became. Oak Hill was whistled for 21 second-half fouls, the very thing that eventually did the Eagles in.
After six ties in the third quarter, Valley went into the final frame with a 39-38 lead. The teams were tied at 41, 43, 45, 47 and 49 in the fourth quarter before Valley pulled away late in the game.
New scored on two with 3:14 remaining to give Valley a 52-49 lead. Two seconds later 6-5 Oak Hill senior Marcus Hall fouled out. Hall finished the game with 16 points and 12 rebounds, and kept the Eagles close in the third quarter with eight points.
After Hall was seated, Ty Henderson and Ben Mann fouled out. When all was said and done, the Vikings connected on 24 of 29 free throws in the fourth quarter to pull away and pick up the 13-point win.
"He's tough, he's a good player," Patrick said of Hall. "He's got fairly good quickness and he handles and shoots the ball well. They're a solid team. They've got good ball players."
Travis Owsley also scored 16 for Oak Hill, Henderson chipped in with 13. Andy Arrendale was the only other Eagle to score, tossing in five points off the bench.
"I thought we really played well except for the turnovers," said Patrick. "We should have had a 10-15 point lead at halftime. The last quarter we looked down court and made some good passes."
As the game got physical, both teams committed numerous turnovers. Valley totaled 20 turnovers in the game, while Oak Hill finished with 17.
Valley will be at North Miami Friday with a chance to win the TRC outright.
T. VALLEY 73, OAK HILL 60
Oak Hill (9-5) 7 12 19 22 - 60
T. Valley (11-4) 10 14 15 34 - 73
Oak Hill FG FT R S Pts.
Owsley (G) 8-16 0-0 2 2 16
Mann (G) 0-2 0-0 3 2 0
Strange (F) 3-10 2-2 3 0 10
Henderson (F) 4-17 4-6 3 2 13
Hall (C) 8-14 0-1 12 0 16
Jackson 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Arrendale 2-4 0-0 5 1 5
Totals 25-64 6-9 28 7 60
Valley FG FT R S Pts.
Martin (F) 2-4 2-2 5 1 6
Harmon (G) 3-4 9-10 3 3 15
Domenico (G) 0-2 0-0 3 1 2
New (F) 11-21 5-7 10 1 27
Eaton (C) 5-8 7-7 7 2 17
Shafer 2-2 3-4 3 2 7
Hartzler 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Wise 0-0 1-2 0 0 1
Sterk 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Vanlaningham 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 23-42 28-32 31 10 73
Three-point goals - Oak Hill 4-18 (Strange 2-4, Henderson 1-8, Arrendale 1-2, Owsley 0-2, Mann 0-1, Jackson 0-1), Valley 0-5 (New 0-4, Eaton 0-1). Turnovers - Oak Hill 17, Valley 20. Fouls - Oak Hill 27, Valley 15. Fouled out - Hall, Henderson, Mann, New.
JV - Tippecanoe Valley 58, Oak Hill 34
Valley - Andrew Kramer 17, Kyle Bruner 10, Derek Sausaman 10, David Byers 8, Cory Vanlaningham 6, Ross Stutzman 2, Scott Kindig 2, Kory Fields 2, Brandon Cody 1
