Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
WABASH - Snow began to fall as the Tippecanoe Valley boys basketball team traveled to Northfield for a Three Rivers Conference matchup Tuesday, but by the time fans made it to the game, roads were snow covered and slippery.
Valley won its fourth straight by beating Northfield 45-42.
In fact, the roads started to get so bad that the 20-minute period between the junior varsity and varsity games was shortened to 10 minutes so the fans and teams could start home sooner.
Once the game started, however, Northfield surprised the Vikings by scoring first and taking an initial 4-0 lead.
With 4:29 left in the first frame, Brandon Eaton sank a three-pointer to tie the score at four, but Valley could not connect with the basket to take the lead from the Norsemen.
After outscoring the Vikings 12-3 in the final four minutes of the first, Northfield took a 16-7 into the second quarter.
Valley came into the second quarter ready to score as they went on a six-point run in the first 4:27 to bring the Vikings to within three, 16-13.
A turnover by the Norse led to an Eric Prater basket to cut the lead to one, 16-15, and another Northfield turnover gave the Vikings control of the ball again.
Prater nailed the bottom half of a double bonus to tie the score at 16 with 3:02 left in the half.
Valley held Northfield to just two points in the second quarter and took a 20-18 lead into the lockers at the half.
"We played pretty solid defense, especially in the second quarter," said Valley coach Bill Patrick.
The Norsemen came out for the second half determined to erase their subpar performance in the second, and managed to outscore the VIkings 15-11 to take a 33-31 lead into the final frame.
Valley scored the first basket of the fourth to tie the score at 33, and then Dax Snyder netted a basket to give the Vikings a 35-33 lead with 5:58 left in the game.
After playing cat-and-mouse, the Norsemen led the Vikings 42-39 with 2:00 in the fourth quarter.
Valley outscored Northfield 6-0 in the final two minutes to take a 45-42 lead with 18.9 seconds remaining in regulation play.
Northfield had one last chance to tie the score as Jason Culver launched a three-point shot at the buzzer, but the ball bounced off the rim and Valley's player and fane breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Both coaches agreed that freethrows were a key in the game.
"Free throws were a big thing in this game," said Patrick. "We hit 18 of 22 free throws against Caston and only 19-34 tonight. The game probably would not have been as close if we had hit the front ends of some of the one-and-ones we missed."
"If we could have eliminated missed free throws and turnovers, we may have had them beat," said Northfield coach Brian Tonsoni. "I can't be more proud of these guys, they grew up mentally tonight.
"This was a game full of heart, and our guys played with a lot of it."
"It may not be the prettiest, but we are finding a way to win," said Patrick. "We played hard and didn't give up."
Valley is now 8-3 overall and 3-0 in the TRC whil Northfield falls to 3-6 overall and 0-4 in the TRC.
