Dry Spell Costly In Valley’s TRC Loss To PeruAKRON – It wasn’t so much the start, nor the finish that hurt Tippecanoe Valley in its Three Rivers Conference boys basketball game with visiting Peru Tuesday night.
Viking coach Chad Patrick cited a stretch at the end of the second quarter into the early stages of the third period as the turning point in Valley’s 58-48 loss to the Tigers.
At the end of the first quarter, the younger Vikings had a 12-4 lead, but were outscored in the second period 20-12 and the third quarter 17-10. A comeback effort saw Valley cut the lead to three in the final stanza, but Peru pulled away late.
Patrick was pleased with the effort of the Vikings who took the floor Tuesday night.
“We definitely improved, and we’re getting better," he said. “We’re in the weight room two to three days a week and have a great weight program, but it comes down to that stretch and the end of the second quarter into the third quarter when they got real physical with us; junior and seniors going up against freshmen and sophomores, and they pushed us around like we were standing still, and didn’t know what hit us.
“Man, that was a crazy run there, and we’ve struggled all year with those 3-4-5 minute runs, and can’t shut ‘em down, and that was the difference in the game.
“I thought the kids fought hard, and into the fourth quarter we got it back to within three. But it was too much Peru and not enough scoring for us. And the physicality just got the better of us.
The Vikings got great scoring balance from those who earned playing time. Patrick said freshman Paul Leasure had an off-night, as underclassmen at the varsity level are prone to do, yet he managed 10 points.
Tanner Trippeidi, Nolan Cumberland, Rex Kirchenstien and Dawson Perkins had seven points each, and Braden Shepherd and D.J. Estep five points each.
“We had seven of the eight guys we played tonight score, so that was good. I’m not sure we’ve had that kind of balance before,” Patrick said.
Finding a way to overcome those lapses, Tuesday night was at least the second such game with a drought, is going to come back to how the team practices, and how the squad is pushed by those who aren’t getting much time on the floor, at least in the varsity games.
“I told them in (the locker room) our record is 2-4, but it should be 3-3, if not 4-2. I think we’re as good as Peru, and I think we’re better than Knox, and those are two games we let get away from us in the same way; the end of the second quarter and the beginning of the third. We’ll figure out what’s going on there and get that stopped,” the head coach said.
“I flat-out told them I thought the subs cost us the game. The guys who don’t play cost us the game.
“Last year’s team was so good and worked so hard in practice, that it made everybody better. In games, it was almost easier than in practice.
“This year, the three or four guys who don’t play don’t (practice) hard at all. There’s no physicality. No nothin’. And all the passes that got picked off tonight (are caught) in practice.
“I gave warning that I’m going to have the 10-12 guys who go hardest in practice, and I don’t care who it is, will be in the varsity practice. I don’t care what grade they’re in, how long they’ve been around, who they’re parents are, I want the 12 guys who are going to go the hardest out there.
“Our practice hasn’t been what it should be, except for the top six or seven guys going hard, and so we’re not pushing each other to get better, and when you go against a good team like (Peru), every pass is contested and we look at each other like ‘what’s happening?’
“Well, you play like you practice, and if you don’t do it right in practice, it’s impossible to do it in a game.”
Next up for Valley is a conference game at Whitko at 7:45 p.m. Friday.
