Valley Embraces Underdog RoleAKRON – The Tippecanoe Valley Vikings, said second-year head coach Chad Patrick, will approach Saturday’s regional semifinal against top-ranked Delta just as they have each game this season.
The Vikings are embracing the underdog role, and are playing with a chip on their shoulders that comes from doubters.
After beating Wawasee to win Class 3A Sectional 21, Valley’s first sectional title since 2013, the Vikings will meet No. 1 Delta at noon Saturday at Marion High School’s Bill Green Athletic Arena.
Angola (20-5) will face the host Giants (17-7) in a 10 a.m. semifinal.
With a 26-0 record, the Delta Eagles are the only remaining undefeated team in the state.
“They are very good, and I don’t care what kind of schedule you play, 26-0 is very impressive and hard to do,” said Patrick, whose team has won four games in a row and eight of its last nine.
“Our guys are looking at it as we have all year ... no one gives us a chance and we like that underdog role. We are playing with house money and we can just relax, play hard and see what happens. The guys have watched some film and they know that Delta is good, but we’re confident we can play with them.”
The survivor of Saturday’s four-team affair at Marion will advance to a one-game semistate, which will be held on March 23 at either North Side Gym in Elkhart or Lafayette Jeff High School.
“The guys have been in a great mood, obviously,” said Patrick. “We let them have some fun Monday night, and we went to Marion to practice (Tuesday).
“We shot really well and the guys loved that gym. They seem to be very relaxed and ready to go.”
The Vikings average 53 points per game, while giving up 50 points per contest.
Three Valley players average double figures, or just below.
Six-foot senior Parkur Dalrymple, who scored a game-high 16 points in the 43-31 sectional final victory over Wawasee, leads the way at 12 points per game, and 5-9 junior Tanner Trippiedi and 6-0 senior Cameron Parker both score about 10 points per game.
The rest of Valley’s starting lineup includes 6-4 senior Jalen Shepherd (6.8 ppg) and 6-0 senior Wes Melanson (6.3 ppg).
The recipe for success in the Vikings’ late-season surge has been defense and rebounding.
Both will be important Saturday against a Delta team that has three players in its starting lineup that stand at least 6-3.
“We have to defend and block out, for sure,” said Patrick. “We need to hit a couple shots early and get off to a good start.
“The longer we hang with them the more the other schools will be on our side and can give our kids that extra boost to hopefully get us a win in that first game.”
This year’s sectional title was the 10th in program history for the Vikings.
Valley has one regional championship to its credit, that coming in 2000.
Delta has won 11 sectional titles, with Saturday’s win over New Castle giving the Eagles their first since 2011.
Delta has three regional titles on its boys basketball resumé, those coming in 1997, 2002 and 2009.
The Eagles enter the game against Valley having won 29 of their last 30 games. The only loss in that span came to New Castle in the 2018 sectional final.
“They are obviously a very good team. (Josh) Bryan and (Brady) Hunt are their two main players ... Bryan is going to Ball State and Hunt is their starting QB (in football) and is very athletic,” Patrick said of the Eagles.
“They have very solid players at every position. They are solid defensively, unselfish on offense and can shoot the 3 extremely well. They also hit the boards hard.”
Patrick said he heard from other coaches the Eagles aren’t overwhelming, but very solid. The common trend is Delta outscores its opponents by 3 to 5 points per quarter, adding up to 15 to 20-point victories.
On average, Delta has outscored its opponents 68-44 this season.
Six-foot-3 senior Josh Bryan enters the regional one point shy of 600 for the season. He leads Delta in scoring at 23 points per game.
The Ball State University recruit shoots 51 percent from the field overall, 41 percent from three-point range, and 83 percent at the free throw line.
Bryan’s stat line also includes five rebounds and nearly three assists per game.
Six-foot-5 sophomore Brady Hunt averages 12 points and eight boards per game.
The rest of Delta’s starting lineup includes 6-3 senior Tyler Wilburn (11 pts, 4 rebs), 5-11 junior Josh Greenberg (7 pts) and 5-10 junior Zach Garner (3 pts).
Saturday’s first semifinal game features the most exciting player among the four teams in 6-2 Marion sophomore Jalen Blackmon.
Blackmon is the son of Marion coach and former Kentucky Wildcats star James Blackmon and is the brother of former Indiana Hoosiers standout James Blackmon Jr.
The younger Blackmon averages 28 points per game.
Five-foot-8 junior Jakylen Thomas scores 15 points per game for Marion, while 6-6 senior Qu’Ran Howard chips in with nine points and eight boards, 6-3 freshman RaSheed Jones scores 9.3 points per game and 6-2 senior Dre Aguilar averages seven points and six rebounds.
The Giants’ boys basketball resumé includes 69 sectional titles, 38 regional championships, 15 semistate crowns and eight state championships, the most recent being the 4A state title in 2016.
The Angola Hornets, who have won sectional titles in three of the last four seasons, are led by a balanced scoring attack.
Six-foot-4 junior Dyer Ball leads Angola at 12 points and seven rebounds per game.
Senior Blake Pocock and sophomore Joel Knox both average nine points per game.
