AKRON – On the opening night of the Three Rivers Conference schedule, the Tippecanoe Valley Vikings blitzed the visiting Whitko Wildcats from the get-go Friday night. Senior center/forward Chandler O’Connor scored 20 points for Valley en route to a 70-49 win over the Wildcats. Senior guard Alex Thacker added 16 points for Valley and the Vikings got another 15 points from junior forward Neil Clampitt. “We had really good ball movement ... we shot well,” said Tippecanoe Valley head coach Bill Patrick. In the first half, the Wildcats were just unable to get very many shots to fall and did not help themselves on the boards in the early going. But it also did not help to have a big defender out there on the floor. “Even though they made some shots early, and even when they missed, they got the rebound and put it back in,” said Whitko head coach Roger Fleetwood. “We got killed on the boards. I think that was our biggest thing.” Meanwhile, the Vikings excelled from the field to propel themselves to a 42-18 lead at the half. The hosts compiled an effective shooting effort of 63 percent. In the loss, sophomore Nathan Walpole led all scorers with 22 points for Whitko. In addition, freshman River West recorded 12 points and Tanner Gaff notched seven. Turnovers proved to be a killer for the Wildcats, who coughed up the ball 11 times, with Valley scoring 12 points off of those turnovers. Despite being outperformed in the first half, Whitko played with a bit more enthusiasm and showed life in the second half, outscoring Valley 19-14 in the third quarter and grabbing eight of its 11 offensive rebounds in the period. “We played much better and did not play scared [in the second half],” said Fleetwood. “We didn’t block out in the third quarter,” said Patrick. “We weren’t as aggressive. I thought we played a lot harder when we jumped back out to a 23-point lead.” The Wildcats, who are still winless, will get some rest before getting back to work as they will prepare themselves for the Miami County Tournament Dec. 29-30. Whitko will face the Peru Tigers in the opening round on Dec. 29 at 6 p.m. “It’s disappointing, the way we started,” said Fleetwood. “I thought we could play within 10-12 points of them the whole game and it kind of showed that in the third quarter. If we had started the game the way we finished the game, it might have been a 10-point loss and not a 21-point loss.” Tippecanoe Valley will be in action again tonight, hosting Oregon-Davis.
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 70, WHITKO 49 WH 6 12 19 10 – 49 TV 23 19 14 14 – 70 Whitko – Tanner Gaff 2-4 3-4 7, Devon Adkins 2-5 0-0 4, Garrett Smiley 1-2 0-0 2, Roger Helblig 0-0 0-0 0, Nathan Walpole 9-19 3-5 22, Cole Kessie 0-3 2-2 2, River West 4-13 2-3 12. Totals 18-47 10-15 49. Tippecanoe Valley – Alex Thacker 4-7 7-8 16, Trevor Neeley 0-1 0-0 0, Jared Littlejohn 2-3 2-2 6, Chandler O’Connor 8-14 4-4 20, Alec Craig 2-2 2-3 6, Austin Purdue 0-0 0-0 0, Gavin Bussard 2-6 0-0 4, Neil Clampitt 6-11 2-2 15, Jared Dusenberry 1-1 1-1 3, Bryce Webster 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-46 18-20 70. Three-pointers – Whitko 3 (West 2, Walpole), Tippy Valley 2 (Thacker, Clampitt); Rebounds – Whitko 21 (Gaff 8), Tippy Valley 27 (Clampitt, Littlejohn 5); Turnovers – Whitko 11, Tippy Valley 5; Fouls – Whitko 17, Tippy Valley 16; Fouled out – none; Records – Whitko 0-6, Tippy Valley 3-3 JV – Tippecanoe Valley 47, Whitko 37
