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AKRON - The host Tippecanoe Valley Vikings hit 18 of 19 free throws Friday night in a 49-46 win over Peru in the opening game of the No. 22 (3A) sectional semifinal.
And they needed every single one.
Despite shooting 95 percent from the charity stripe and outrebounding the Tigers 25-12, the Vikings were a funny bounce on a Cameron Wooten three-pointer away from overtime.
Valley even shot 60 percent from the field in the second half and the game was still in question.
The problem was the Vikings attempted just five shots from the field in the final 16 minutes as they committed 16 turnovers and went to the free throw line 18 times.
"At the end there we played not to lose," said Valley head coach Bill Patrick. "What saved the game for us was we shot free throws well."
Viking senior Shane Drudge was a one-man wrecking crew from the foul line as he went 12 of 12 on the night.
Perhaps no free throws were bigger than the two he hit with 4.2 seconds left in the game. With Valley clinging to a one-point lead at 47-46, the 6-foot-6 senior calmly sank both to push his team's lead to three.
Drudge's free throws came after teammate and fellow senior Bryce Kelley chased down a loose ball when Wooten missed the front end of a one-and-one with 9.1 seconds left.
Kelley took possession of the ball away from Peru's Quinn Saine and called a time out as Kelley was falling out of bounds in front of the Peru bench.
"He got a big rebound on that missed free throw," said Patrick of Kelley. "We tapped it once or twice and he really hustled after it. He was sharp enough to control the ball and call the timeout. He was down on himself earlier for a couple of turnovers so it was good to see him make a play."
Kelley wasn't alone as the Vikings routinely handed the ball over to Peru without even getting past half court.
Wooten nearly made Valley pay for its offensive transgressions at the end of the game.
Wooten, a 6-5 senior standout who averaged 18.5 points per game for Peru this year, received a line-drive pass from Troy Hudson just past the Peru side of half court.
Wooten turned and dribbled three times before launching a 30-foot jumper in front of the Tigers' cheering section.
The ball bounced in front of the rim then took an odd bounce off the backboard and seemed to hang above the rim for a second before sailing into the waiting arms of Drudge as time expired.
"I wasn't sure if the last shot would go in," said Patrick of Wooten's heave. "It kind of hung up there for a minute. We had everyone out to make them shoot a long three. That's what they did and it almost went in."
Patrick was matched up against 1991 Valley grad and former JV coach Eric Thompson.
Thompson, in his fourth year at Peru, guided the Tigers to their first winning season in his tenure at the school.
A big part of that was because of the play of Wooten.
And a big part of the reason Peru trailed by as many as 13 was because of the play of Wooten.
Wooten, who finished with 14 points, had just two points on 1-of-7 shooting in the first half.
Wooten scored 11 of his points in the fourth quarter as he put his team on his back and took on the offensive brunt.
Peru also got some timely shooting from senior Chris Maynard. The 6-0 senior reserve guard kept the Tigers in the game in the first half with two second-quarter three-pointers. Maynard then hit a three-pointer with less than three and a half minutes left to cut Valley's lead to two at 43-41.
Maynard fouled out with 3:10 left in the game after being whistled for a block on Kelley.
Kelley hit both free throws and finished the night with 11 points and six rebounds.
Drudge led all scorers with 20 points and six rebounds. Senior David Lash was the only other Viking to finish in double-digit scoring for Valley with 10.
Chad Hoffer came off the bench to score six points while Kevin Kindig rounded out the scoring with two points.
In two games, Drudge has scored 42 points to lead the Vikings to two wins.
"He played well for us tonight," said Patrick of Drudge. "He didn't take any bad shots and had just one turnover. Did a nice job on (Saine) and helped out well on (Wooten)."
Valley committed just three turnovers in the first half and both teams combined for just six personal fouls in a speedy first half.
The Vikings move to 18-4 on the season and will play for a sectional title at home tonight at 7:30 p.m. against Norwell (17-4).
The Knights defeated Fort Wayne Wayne 46-29.
T. VALLEY 49, PERU 46
T. Valley 11 14 13 11 - 49
Peru 7 10 12 17 - 46
T. Valley FG FT R S Pts.
*Lash 4-8 2-3 5 0 10
*Parker 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
*Kindig 1-1 0-0 7 1 2
*Kelley 3-5 2-2 6 1 11
*Drudge 4-8 12-12 6 1 20
Hoffer 2-2 2-2 1 0 6
Tillman 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Reed 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 14-24 18-19 25 3 49
Peru FG FT R S Pts.
*Comeford 1-5 2-2 2 2 4
*Smith 1-4 3-3 1 2 5
*Wooten 4-16 5-7 5 1 14
*Hudson 1-4 0-0 3 4 3
*Briscoe 1-2 0-0 0 1 2
Maynard 6-10 0-0 0 5 15
Saine 1-3 0-0 1 1 3
Totals 15-44 10-12 12 16 46
Three-point goals - T. Valley 3-7 (Kelley 3-4), Peru 6-14 (Maynard 3-5, Saine 1-2, Hudson 1-2, Wooten 1-4). Turnovers - T. Valley 19, Peru 7. Fouls - T. Valley 11, Peru 16. Fouled out - Maynard (Peru).
