Kindig, Andrews lead Vikings past undefeated NorthWood
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Dale Hubler-dhubler@timesuniononline.com
AKRON – Senior Nick Kindig and junior Tanner Andrews made sure Christmas came early for Tippecanoe Valley’s varsity boys basketball team. The dynamic duo combined for 47 points Saturday night, as the host Vikings beat undefeated NorthWood 59-53 in the championship game of the Winning Edge Holiday Tournament. Valley has won the tournament title two consecutive years now. Friday’s 57-40 win over Fairfield gave Hall of Fame coach Bill Patrick his 700th career win, and Saturday night’s victory pushed the Vikings’ win streak to eight games and their record to 8-1. “That first game against Warsaw (in the season opener), we just weren’t ready to play,” said Patrick. “The next seven games, we started playing well in spurts. To win the championship against NorthWood, we beat a really good team. NorthWood is a really good team. They’re going to win a lot of games.” Kindig scored a game-high 28 points for Valley, while Andrews added 19 points. Robby Groom, who hit a clutch three-pointer late in the fourth quarter when the Vikings trailed by two points, finished with eight. “NorthWood is the first really good team that we’ve beat,” said Patrick. “This showed us what we’re capable of, and that we can play with good teams. We played really hard, especially in the second half. We played with a lot of confidence in the fourth quarter.” Valley trailed 14-11 after one quarter of play, 26-25 at halftime and 45-36 at the end of the third quarter. En route to the championship, the Vikings outscored NorthWood 23-8 in the fourth quarter. “Our 1-3-1 half-court trap game them problems,” Patrick said of what his team did to slow the Panthers’ offense. “It bothered them more than I thought it would. It gave them a lot of trouble.” As impressive as Andrews was offensivley, he was equally effective with his defense. The three-sport standout had the task of guarding NorthWood junior Zach Zurcher. In the Panthers’ 77-45 semifinal win over Rochester Friday, Zurcher scored 34 points. Against Valley Saturday night, he scored a season-low 14. “I asked the kids before the game if we had anybody that could stop Zurcher,” said Patrick. “Tanner said he wanted to guard him. He asked what his season low was. I told him I thought it was 16, and he held him to 14. That was a big difference in the game.” To go with Zurcher’s 14 points, the Panthers also got 12 points from Tom Clem and 11 points each from Tanner Farmwald and Jonathan Wilkinson. Valley will be in action again Jan. 4 when it hosts Three Rivers Conference opponent Northfield, while NorthWood entertains LaVille Saturday.
