SOUTH WHITLEY – First, Tippecanoe Valley coach Bill Patrick was given a plaque to mark his place on the Whitko Athletic Wall of Fame, then his Vikings took a 59-40 Three Rivers Conference-opening win over the Whitko Wildcats Friday night in South Whitley. Prior to coaching at Valley, Patrick coached in the Whitko School Corporation for 29 seasons, split between Sidney, South Whitley and Whitko. He compiled a 478-180 record, reaching the 1991 Final Four and winning 11 sectional titles and two regionals. So, despite him coaching the opposing team Friday, he was given his spot on his former team's wall of fame, an honor he didn't take lightly. "It is special being honored here, where we had a lot of good years," Patrick said. "It's a good basketball community with a lot of good fans, and a lot of the fans here tonight were here when I was coaching. I appreciated all those fans coming out." Those fans watched as Patrick worked his coaching magic for the Vikings (4-2, 1-0 TRC), turning a 26-21 halftime deficit into a 19-point victory, limiting Whitko (1-4, 0-1 TRC) to 14 points and 5-of-26 shooting in the second half. "He went to a 2-3 zone and we didn't do anything," Whitko coach Rob Irwin said about Patrick's coaching adjustment at the half. "They got (Whitko senior) Logan (Irwin) slowed down, where he couldn't get anything in transition. We just didn't do anything, which is my fault." Logan Irwin netted 15 points in the opening half, but hit just 2 of 9 shots in the second, finishing the game with 22 points. "We thought we could play man-to-man, allowing (junior Jacob) Ritchey to guard Irwin and get some help," Patrick said about his scheme in the first half. "It's impossible for one high school kid in this area to guard him one-on-one. He had 15 points, which is probably not his norm, but we decided we were going to need to do a better job of containing him. We decided to go with a zone, which was something we hadn't really worked on very much all year. The kids did a good job of listening at halftime and adjusting." Holding Whitko to 16-of-50 shooting (32 percent) for the game, things went a little better for the Vikings who made 21 of 35 shots (60 percent). Valley's top scorer was junior Nick Kindig, who scored 25 points on 9-of-12 shooting, but senior Jeffrey Tillman was also clicking, hitting 7 of 10 shots for 17 points to go with his five rebounds. "Tillman played a super game," Patrick said. "He's capable. He's a good shooter, so he's capable of having a real great game. He played one of his better games." Six-foot-three sophomore Tanner Andrews also gave Valley 12 points, but it was his defense that made the bigger impact as he had 10 rebounds and six blocked shots. "Tanner Andrews did a good job of just tearing the boards up tonight and had a lot of blocks too," Patrick said. Valley distributed its stats pretty evenly, but once again, the load of Whitko's production was laid on the shoulders of Logan Irwin, as Whitko's second-leading scorer was junior Trey Weber, who netted seven. "I'm getting concerned a little bit," Rob Irwin said. "Logan's just out of gas – you can tell. We're five games in, and he's exhausted. We had guys that had been playing well, but didn't play well or weren't aggressive tonight at all. Somebody has to get really aggressive besides one guy." The win gets Valley off to its first 1-0 start in the TRC since the 2007-08 season. And after seeing his teams go 19-44, the win over Whitko was a welcomed one to Patrick, who now has a career record of 681-271. "It's one of the biggest wins we've had in the past two, three years," he said. "It's a big win in the conference too, because now, we're 1-0 and we haven't been 1-0 in three, maybe four years. And it's against a team that most people picked to win the conference." Winning the conference is still a possibility for Whitko. The Wildcats will just need a little help to do it now. "That hasn't changed," Irwin said about winning the TRC. "Now, we need help. We need someone else to beat them for us to have a chance. " Whitko returns to the court Tuesday at 5-0 Plymouth, while Valley's next game isn't until Dec. 29 in the opening-round of the Winning Edge Holiday Tournament at Rochester.
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 59, WHITKO 40 V 14 7 17 21 – 59 W 15 11 9 5 – 40 Valley – Robby Groom 0-3 3-4 3, Tanner Andrews 5-9 2-3 12, Jacob Ritchey 0-1 2-2 2, Nick Kindig 9-12 4-4 25, Jeffrey Tillman 7-10 2-2 17, Alex Thacker 0-0 0-0 0, Tyler Swain 0-0 0-0 0, James Gregory 0-0 0-0 0, Dylan Stimeling 0-0 0-0 0, Nate Morrison 0-0 0-0 0, Jarred Littlejohn 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-35 13-15 59. Whitko – Logan Irwin 8-20 3-5 22, Keaton Irwin 1-2 0-0 2, Alex Stoddard 1-7 0-0 3, Jordan Sims 0-4 0-0 0, Kolten Krull 1-3 0-0 2, Dylan Cumberland 0-0 0-0 0, Trey Weber 3-6 0-0 7, Colin Nicodemus 1-3 0-1 2, Gabe Powell 1-4 0-0 2, Tyler Hinora 0-1 0-0 0, Stephen Bennett 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-50 3-6 40. Three-point goals – Valley 4-8 (Kindig 3, Tillman), Whitko 5-17 (Irwin 3, Stoddard, Weber); Team Fouls – Valley 13, Whitko 16; Turnovers – Valley 15, Whitko 11; Rebounds – Valley 29 (Andrews 10), Whitko 19 (Sims 5); Assists – Valley 9 (Ritchey 3), Whitko 3 (Irwin 2); Steals – Valley 3, Whitko 7 (Irwin 2, Sims 2, Powell 2); Blocks – Valley 7 (Andrews 6), Whitko 1; Records: Valley 4-2 (1-0 TRC), Whitko 1-4 (0-1 TRC). JV – Tippy Valley 43, Whitko 23.
