Valley Too Much For Squires
31 Jan 2008

A year ago, the Tippecanoe Valley Vikings raced out to a 19-2 lead over the Manchester Squires and never let the Squires back into the game.
That was a scenario the Squires didn’t want to see happen again Friday, but it almost did.
Valley took a quick 13-2 lead, but thanks to some hot shooting from Dan Bourne, the Squires climbed back into the game, but never took the lead, and eventually let the Vikings pull away for a 75-46 win.
Valley improved to 6-0 in the conference, while the Squires dropped to 0-5 in the TRC.
The Vikings led 39-30 midway through the third quarter, but used an 11-0 run to jump to a 50-30 lead, and used another 17-0 run in the fourth quarter to slam the door.
“I was disappointed in the way we played tonight, especially in the third and fourth quarters,” Manchester coach Gary Goshert said.
“We played pretty good basketball at times tonight; other times we were careless with the basketball and made some bad decisions with the ball,” Valley coach Bill Patrick said. “We should have put the game away in the first half.”
The Vikings weren’t able to put the game away in the first half, thanks to the offensive explosion of Dan Bourne.
The Squire senior scored 22 of Manchester’s 26 first half points, and ended with 33 points on the game on 12-21 shooting from the field, including a 6-8 performance from behind the arch, and hitting 3-5 free throws.
“Dan really kept us in the game for a while,” Goshert said. “He had the hot hand, and Valley wasn’t able to stop him. While I like the way Dan played, in order for us to be a good basketball team, we need a better offensive output from other players too.”
David Cable was Manchester’s second leading scorer with five points.
In the second half, the Vikings made an effort to slow Bourne down, and succeeded to a point.
After Valley’s Chad Hoffer opened the third quarter with a three pointer, Aaron Medley and Corey Thomas hit back to back baskets to cut the lead to 39-30, but Shane Salyer, who led the Vikings with 21 points and nine rebounds, started an 11-0 run to give Valley a 50-30 lead.
Bourne answered with five straight points, but Hoffer answered with a three pointer.
Cable finished the third quarter with a three point play to keep the Squires in the game, trailing 53-38.
Salyer started the fourth with a basket, but Bourne hit a three pointer. Salyer scored again on an offensive rebound, but Cable scored on an offensive rebound of his own miss of a three pointer to cut the lead to 57-43 with 5:36 left in the game.
That was when the Vikings ended any hope of a Squire comeback.
Salyer, Hoffer, Ryan Scherzer, and Jordan Boggs combined for a 17-0 run, including three three-pointers form Scherzer, to give the Vikings a 72-43 lead.
“Give Tippecanoe Valley credit,” Goshert said. “They’re a good team, and they have a few weapons out there. That’s why they are as good as they are.”
Despite all of that, Goshert was not happy with how his team performed.
“For two quarters, we kind of hung in there,” he said. “I’m sure they had six of their points in the first half off of us not getting back. We were thinking if we take care of the ball, and get the shots we want, we have an opportunity.
“We didn’t do what we should have been able to do,” he continued. “They created a cushion that we didn’t have a chance to overcome, and that’s the disappointing part.”
Along with his 33 points, Bourne finished with four rebounds. Cable had five points, six rebounds, and five assists, while Spenser Penrod had four points and two assists. Aaron Medley and Thomas both had two points and two rebounds.
For Valley, Hoffer added 19 points and six rebounds, Tillman had 15 points and six rebounds, and Scherzer had 13 points.
The Squires face two road games this weekend, playing at Northfield on Friday in the rematch of the Wabash County Tournament championship game, then travels to Peru on Saturday. Both games start with 6:15 JV tip-offs.