Valley’s Dakota Parker goes on a fast break while teammates Alex Morrison (30) and Jalen Shepherd (22) and Oregon-Davis’ Jeffrey Avery (22) follow the play and Jonathan Clark (0) looks on in back during a game in Hamlet Tuesday night. (Photos by James Costello)

HAMLET — Good things are worth waiting for.

After a trio of competitive losses to start the year, Tippecanoe Valley finally earned coach Chad Patrick his first head coaching win Tuesday night. Class A, No. 10 Oregon-Davis made its guests fight for everything they got in a nip-tuck game that featured five lead changes and two ties, but fight the Vikings did, holding off their hosts for a narrow, 56-53 win in Hamlet.

“It was very worth the wait. I’d have liked it to come a couple games sooner, but I’ll take it,” said Patrick with a laugh.

“This is kind of a big burden lifted off our shoulders. I think the kids were pressing a little bit to get one early.”

A 23-13 first period wound up making the difference for Valley (1-3).

The Bobcats (2-2) opened the game 8-3 punctuated by a dunk on a fast break from junior forward Trevor Wilson, but the Vikings responded with four straight 3s as part of a 14-0 quarter-ending run to take the lead and stretch it out to double digits all in one spurt.

“We’ve been talking about getting off to a good start and pushing the ball up the floor and trying to get inside-out shots. We’re not the best inside team so we try to push and drive and get inside-out that way, and it worked really well in the first quarter,” explained Patrick.

Parkur Dalrymple knocks down a 3-pointer while Jeffrey Avery blocks out during the first half Tuesday.

Three of Valley’s four straight triples during that big 14-0 run came from junior reserve Parkur Dalrymple. Dalrymple knocked down 4 of 5 triples and 7 of 9 total shots on his way to a team-high 18 points off the bench for the Vikings.

“Parkur Dalrymple started out great. He’s a great shooter when he sets his feet,” Patrick said. “He played very, very well, and it was just a great start, which is what we needed because when we get off to a poor start it’s just hard to get them back into the game.”

Dalrymple’s scoring stood out, but Valley needed contributions throughout its lineup to get over the hump Tuesday.

All eight Vikings who played scored points — led by Dalrymple’s 18 and Cam Parker’s 12 — and Dalrymple, Jalen Shepherd and Jace Potter all had to play significant minutes with starters Dakota Parker, Wes Melanson and Alex Morrison all facing intermittent foul trouble in a hard-fought game that featured a combined 39 fouls by the two teams.

Morrison collected his third foul less than a minute into the third frame, and he sat out much of the half before giving his team a big lift late. His transition layup on a Dalrymple assist during a press break at the 1:39 stop of the fourth period gave Valley a little breathing room at 52-49, and his cooly-converted free throws in the bonus with just 20.3 seconds remaining pushed his team out to a three-point advantage once more at 54-51 before Tanner Trippiedi’s own charity tosses with 2.3 seconds remaining iced the game and brought the score to its final margin.

Tanner Trippiedi is fouled by OD’s Trevor Wilson.

Morrison finished with seven points, and his four fourth-period points were four of the biggest the Vikings got all night.

“I didn’t put Morrison back in until 1:50 to go; he sat basically the whole second half. I put him in with 1:50 to go, and he basically won the game for us — got a layup and the free throws at the end that sealed the deal,” said Patrick. “That’s huge. That’s tough to do, to sit there and then come out and play that well the last minute and a half. That was incredible.”

It wasn’t a perfect game by the Vikings, who racked up 19 fouls and turned the ball over 15 times — seven more than their average over the previous three games this season — but it was the most complete game they’ve played this season. And given the frantic pace most of the game was played at, those foul and turnovers numbers are ones Patrick can live with.

“I’m good with that because we have to be aggressive to make things happen. That’s kind of the way we have to play. It ain’t going to be the prettiest game, but I’m not sure too many teams will out-play us effort-wise,” he said.

“It was a great, great game, and I’m just proud of the boys and how hard they played and happy to get the first win.”

Cameron Parker passes under Jonathan Clark’s outstretched hand while Trevor Risner looks on in the second half.

While Dalrymple and Parker led Valley in the scoring column, Trippiedi dished out four assists, and Potter blocked two shots on the way to the win for the Vikings, who host John Glenn Saturday at 7:45 p.m.

Trevor Risner paced OD with a game-high 22 points, while Lance Campbell finished with 10 points and six assists, and Jonathan Clark chipped in nine points for the Bobcats, who lost their second straight.

Valley also won its JV game, 28-18. Jaydin Conley scored nine points, and Quentin Aldridge finished with eight to pace the junior varsity Vikings. Gavin Sibo put up seven to lead the Bobcats.