Luke Beehler steals the ball from Cameron Parker while Valley’s Jace Potter and Tanner Trippiedi look on, and LaVille’s Rilye Cox and Jared Beehler get ready to run the floor late in Friday’s game. (Photos by James Costello)

LAKEVILLE — You’d think a six-point loss to the number three team in Class 2A would be a kind of moral victory for Tippecanoe Valley. But for much of Friday night’s game at Dale E. Cox Gymnasium, the Vikings actually looked like the better team.

It seemed that way to Valley head coach Chad Patrick, too.

Sure, the Vikes can take pride in giving the as-yet unbeaten Lancers all they could handle on their home floor but after four seesaw quarters, it felt like visiting Valley let one get away, and there was an ambivalence to Patrick’s comments following the 50-44 loss.

“I felt we were as good and we could easily beat them if we take out that one little stretch and a couple mistakes. Very frustrating but yet — I don’t want to say satisfying because losing sucks — I’m proud of these guys,” he said. “They keep improving and they keep getting better, and I tried to tell them there isn’t anybody on our schedule the rest of the year that is going to blow us out, that isn’t going to be a close game. So we have to learn how to win. In a game like this against LaVille, if we learn from it, we’ll be good. We’ll just have to learn from those few, little things.”

Tanner Trippiedi looks to pass out of a trap by Rilye Cox and Connor Wiezcorek in the first half.

The main difference was supplied by LaVille senior sharpshooter Jared Beehler, who knocked down 7-of-14 3-pointers and 8-of-15 total shots on his way to 23 points.

Beehler hit four of his triples against Valley’s 2-3 zone in the first quarter, but the Vikings began finding him on the defensive end and weathered that early storm. They switched to a 1-3-1 trapping zone in the second period with some success, holding their hosts to just five points in the period and led 22-21 at halftime. The two teams were all tied up at 28-all before Connor Wieczorek’s trey from the top of the key with just 1.4 seconds remaining in the quarter, and another defensive lapse led to Beehler’s last 3 at the start of the fourth. The Lancers pushed their advantage all the way out to 11 points with 1:28 left to play. The Vikings battled, but ran out of time in their first loss in four games.

“When you play against a good team like LaVille, it makes it tougher to finish a game. They’re not going to make many mistakes down the stretch,” Patrick said. “We didn’t give up and we fought back, but I kind of thought we lost our composure for about a two- or three-minute stretch. Then we had that big turnover, we didn’t know where (Beehler) was, and it was a six-point swing. Then we come down and shoot it without even passing it two possessions in a row. We were down six; it felt like we were down 60. We’re never out of a game as hard as we play so it was a learning experience, but a stretch like that and a couple poor decisions against a team like this gets you a six-point loss.”

Jace Potter shoots over Ayden Doyle.

While Jared Beehler dropped 23, Luke Beehler finished with 10 points, and Rilye Cox scored 12 for LaVille (8-0). Valley saw balanced production with Tanner Trippiedi, Parkur Dalrymple and Cameron Parker each finishing with 10 points. Jace Potter continued to develop on the interior for the Vikings, scoring eight points and pulling down nine rebounds, although he converted only 2-of-9 field goals in an intense, physical game.

“He gave a great effort tonight, he just didn’t make some shots. A couple times he got walked into, and in a game this physical and this rough they’re not going to call that stuff. You’ve just got to play through it,” said Patrick of Potter.

“I told a couple kids at halftime we have no reason to complain. We are physical, so it’s hard to ref our games. Yeah, I’m working the officials because I want a call, but I thought they did a good job tonight. It’s a hard game to officiate when we play. They can’t worry about that stuff. They’ve got to learn to play through it because if we’re going to dish it out, we’ve got to be able to take it.”

Valley (5-4) will resume play on its home floor in Akron Dec. 28, opposite Columbia City.