AKRON – Tippecanoe Valley had the Three Rivers Conference leaders on the ropes Tuesday night, but couldn’t close the deal. The Maconaquah Braves kept its perfect mark in the conference in tact by rallying past Valley, 46-40, in boys buckets.

Valley took a one-point lead into the fourth quarter at 34-33, but were outscored 13-6 the rest of the way. Maconaquah also made its freebies count, with Pitts and Hughes combining to go 16-20 from the free throw line, the Braves going 16-21 overall. Valley only managed to get to the line four times, hitting half those tries.

Hughes led all scorers with 22 points and added seven rebounds. Pitts had 12 points, three boards and two assists.

Jarod Duzenbery paced the Vikings with 14 points, but fouled out in the fourth quarter. Alec Craig chipped in 12 points, three boards and two assists.

Maconaquah moves to 10-6 overall and 7-0 in the TRC. The Braves host Southwood Friday and then close out the TRC slate Tuesday at Northfield. Southwood is currently 6-1 in the TRC and is the only team that could unseat Maconaquah as third-place Manchester and Whitko are both 4-3 and out of the conference race. Valley falls to 7-12 overall and 3-5 in the conference. The Vikings visit North Miami Friday night.