Vikings Ring In Big Victory
AKRON – Tippecanoe Valley added another quality win to its season résumé Friday night against a team it always wants to add quality wins to its résumé.
Valley’s young boys basketball team took another step in the right direction with a 60-54 win against Rochester.
In the middle of their rivalry week, Tippecanoe Valley and Rochester had all the feels of an old fashioned grudge match. Tough play on the court, chippiness, student sections mocking each other, The Bell sounding after every pro-Tippecanoe Valley run of play. Even the two fan bases coming together in green and gold, putting aside its differences to celebrate the late Jeff Shriver.
It’s rivalry week and it matters for both communities.
A wide open first quarter finally started to settle in for both clubs. Rochester opening the second quarter with a 28-20 advantage after a 7-0 run to open the stanza. The Vikings would rally, tying up the game 30-30 and then taking a two-point lead into the lockers after Tanner Trippiedi hit a long jumper at the halftime buzzer.
Where the rivalry between the two schools took a turn for the interested came during a timeout with the Vikes up 39-37. Valley, which had Wade Melanson chiming the green and gold traveling Bell – won by Tippy during the football season – took it one step further when the intro to ‘Hells Bells’ by AC/DC was played over the loudspeakers. That not only sent the partisan home crowd into a frenzy, but also seemed to subliminally energize the Vikings on the court.
Coming out of the timeout, Braden Shepherd took a Valley steal in for a layup, and after Dawson Perkins missed a rim rattler, Trippiedi ended up with the offensive rebound and swished a three. After Rex Kirchenstien hit a pair of free throws, the Vikings found themselves up by its biggest margin of the night to that point, 46-37.
“It was going to be this way,” stated Tippecanoe Valley head coach Chad Patrick. “I told the kids before the game it was going to be this way. It doesn’t matter if we are 30 points better of they are 30 points better, it is going to be a five or six-point game. Doesn’t matter records or doesn’t matter about anything. We just had to go out and play hard and want it.”
Quin Stesiak would keep the Zebras close in the fourth, hitting a pair of free throws to slice the lead to 50-44. But Shepherd again converted a steal into two, and Kirchenstien hit another two free throws to push the lead to 10. Kirchenstien would go 6-8 from the free throw line and score eight points on the night, all six of his makes in the fourth quarter.
Stesiak would finish with 25 points, six rebounds and two assists for Rochester. Kyle Reinartz had 10 points and 11 rebounds, but foul trouble slowed his aggressiveness on the defensive end in the fourth quarter. Grant McCarter added 11 points.
Paul Leasure, a freshman, again led Valley, hitting for 19 points, most of his damage coming in the first half. Trippiedi had 11 points, but collected six rebounds, four assists and three steals. Lost in the stat chart was Perkins’ impact, finishing with just six points and five rebounds, but his four blocks altered several other Rochester ventures in the lane, and his presence in the paint on the other end forced the Zebras to have to commit either inside or outside, which opened up lanes for Valley’s other options.
“We are playing freshmen and sophomores with Tanner,” Patrick said. Kirchenstien, Shepherd and Dawson are all sophomores. “We have a long season to go and we’ll have some rough patches with these young kids. But, man, we can’t ask for a better four-game stretch from these young guys.”
Rochester won the rebound battle 42-28, but Tippecanoe’s bench outscored Rochester’s 11-0 on top of making seven more free throws. Valley also only committed eight turnovers in the game, four in each half.
In the JV contest, Valley couldn’t string enough makes together in the fourth quarter to catch Rochester in a 47-39 Zebra win. Trent Reinholt led Rochester with 18 points while Tayde Kiser had 13 for the Vikings. Cooper Walls and Chase Miller had 10 points apiece for the home side.
Valley (6-7, 2-2 TRC) visits Southwood next Friday while Rochester (6-5, 1-2 TRC) hosts Caston Tuesday night.