Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
WABASH - Southwood played host to Tippecanoe Valley Saturday night in what many touted as the Three Rivers Conference boys basketball game of the year.
Both teams were undefeated in conference play and the winner would take the driver's seat for the conference championship.
Valley held off Southwood 69-43 in its 20th straight conference win.
The first quarter lived up to it's hype as many fans were on their feet screaming and cheering for their teams.
The game had an aura of a championship written all over it. There was a standing-room-only crowd watching the battle of the two undefeated teams.
And it turned out to be the battle of the 54s, as Shane Drudge of Valley and Sergey Struck of Southwood, two of the better players in the conference, went to battle against each other.
Struck scored 10 points in the first quarter, while Drudge scored seven.
Valley took at 15-14 lead going into the second period.
The Vikings had a 14-9 lead with a minute left to play when Stuck scored five straight points to end the opening quarter. He hit a three-pointer with time running out to bring the Knights within one at 15-14.
"Our goal tonight was to contain Struck. He is a great player and he still scored around 20 points against us tonight," Valley coach Bill Patrick said.
The second quarter proved to be as exciting as the first. While the defensive battle between Drudge and Struck raged on, David Lash picked up the pace for Valley.
Lash scored 10 of Valley's 17 points in the second stanza. Drudge did not score in the second quarter, while Struck scored five.
The Vikings went on a 6-0 run to increase their lead 23-16 early in the period. Lash hit a three-pointer to put Valley up 26-18. Aaron Grizzle of Southwood then scored five straight points to close the score to 26-23. Valley closed the quarter outscoring the Knights 6-4 to take a 32-27 half time lead.
"We are definitely in the driver's seat right now, but we still have four games to go. We can't overlook anybody. Everyone else has at least one loss. We won last week against Rochester and this week against Southwood. They were both tough games," Patrick said.
Turnovers, along with the tough defense of Valley, began to do the Knights in.
Drudge scored the first five points in the second half as the Vikings went on a 12-3 run to increase the lead to 42-30, a lead Southwood was never able to overcome.
The Vikings' Chad Hoffer came off the bench provide a much needed spark for Valley in the third quarter. Bryce Kelley also contributed to the cause as Valley out scored the Knights 20-8 in the third quarter to increase the lead to 52-35 heading into the fourth quarter.
"Our kids played a great game tonight. The defense picked up in the second half. To be honest, I really thought this would end up being a four- or five-point ballgame either way at the end," said Patrick.
The Knights never got any closer as Valley continued to play strong defense. The Vikings held the Knights to 16 points in the second half.
Both teams emptied their benches with two minutes to play when the game was out of reach.
The win was the Vikings' 20th straight victory in conference play. Valley is going for its seventh straight conference championship. Patrick also picked up his 614th career win.
"Hoffer came off the bench and provided a good spark for us tonight. He has been playing with a broken nose. We had to get him a protector like the NBA players use. He has done a great job for us and he is only a sophomore," said Patrick.
Lash led the Vikings with 17 points. Hoffer added 15 points, while Drudge scored 14 points.
Kelley scored 10 points and Kevin Kindig added nine points.
Drudge led the Vikings with eight rebounds, while Kindig added seven boards.
Struck scored 18 points for Southwood. Grizzle scored 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Derek Faust and Aaron Shaw scored four points each for Southwood.
"We played hard tonight. We were just a little more athletic than Southwood. Hopefully our kids don't let up and play hard to win the conference," said Patrick.
The Vikings improved to 10-3 on the season and 4-0 in the TRC. Valley hosts Manchester Friday for a 6:15 JV start.
VALLEY 69, S'WOOD 43
Valley 15 17 20 17 - 69
S'wood 14 13 8 8 - 43
T. Valley FG FT R S Pts.
*Lash 7-10 1-2 5 1 17
*Parker 0-2 0-0 2 0 0
*Kindig 4-7 0-0 7 2 9
*Kelley 4-10 1-1 4 0 10
*Drudge 6-18 0-0 8 1 14
Hoffer 7-10 1-1 2 0 15
Neeley 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Salyer 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Tillman 0-1 0-0 1 0 0
Nelson 1-1 0-0 1 0 3
Reed 0-1 1-2 2 0 1
Totals 29-60 4-6 34 4 69
Southwood FG FT R S Pts.
Faust 1-6 0-0 3 0 4
Struck 8-16 2-4 7 0 20
Grizzle 3-6 1-2 8 2 9
McKee 1-2 0-0 3 0 2
Shaw 3-9 0-0 3 0 6
Oprisek 0-2 0-0 0 0 0
Dawson 0-0 0-0 2 0 0
Bowman 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Finch 1-6 0-0 0 0 2
Shears 1-1 0-0 0 0 2
Totals 18-51 3-6 27 2 43
Three-point goals - Valley 7-10 (Lash 2-2, Drudge 2-3, Kelley 1-2, Nelson 1-1, Kindig 1-1), Southwood 4-8 (Struck 2-3, Grizzle 2-2) Turnovers - Valley 10, Southwood 18. Fouls - Valley 10, Southwood 10. Fouled out - None.
