Anthony leads with 14, but Valley falls to ex-teammates, Wawasee in sectional opener

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Owen Omondi

COLUMBIA CITY — The former Tippecanoe Valley boys basketball players beat the current players in the sectional Tuesday.

Nolan Holzwart scored a game-high 22 points, and Stephen Akase notched a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds as Wawasee beat Valley 49-38 in a Class 3A, Sectional 20 quarterfinal at Columbia City.

Grant Anthony, who came in averaging 4.1 points per game, led Valley with a career-high 14 points. Only once during the regular season had he scored in double figures. In addition, he was a defensive force, both staying in front of his man on the ball and helping out off the ball.

Owen Omondi, batting both the flu and a six-inch height disadvantage in his matchup with the 6-7 Akase, added eight.

Wawasee led by 13 points at halftime, and the Vikings never got closer than nine in the second half. Valley never led. Wawasee went on a 16-1 run covering the first and second quarters to build a 21-6 lead.

Wawasee, who lost to Valley in the sectional semifinals last year, improved to 17-8 and earned a spot in the semifinals against NorthWood at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

Valley finished 9-14. Valley first-year coach Eli Henson said he was “very proud” of his team’s effort.

“In sectionals, it’s all about who wants to step up,” Henson said. “Who wants to hit big shots? And I thought that they had several guys who played their role to perfection tonight. Not saying that we didn’t have some guys that played outside of their ability tonight. I thought some of our guys did really well. Our percentages were not great tonight.”

The first semifinal at 6 p.m. Friday will feature No. 6 Columbia City and No. 11 Fairfield. Columbia City routed West Noble 75-33 in Tuesday’s other quarterfinal.

Valley got within 42-33 with 6:05 left when Hudson Shepherd rebounded a missed trey from Holzwart in the corner and hit Wes Parker, who sped into the frontcourt and spun in a layup on the break.

But those would be Valley’s last points for over four-and-a-half minutes.

Holzwart would hit a 10-foot fader in the lane and a pullup 12-footer, and the lead was back at 13.

Anthony broke the drought with a steal and layup with 1:26 left, but Holzwart’s driving scoop shot with 36.7 seconds left got the lead back to 13.

Ty Kiser fouled Holzwart on the play, but Holzwart missed the free throw, and Omondi hit a 3-pointer from the left corner.

Davis Cowan, like Akase a former Valley player, hit a free throw with 26.6 seconds left to complete the scoring.

Postgame interactions went beyond mere handshakes as many Valley players and coaches hugged Akase and Cowan. Akase attended and played at Valley from 2022-25, and Cowan went there from 2023-25.

Valley held Akase, who came in averaging 19 points per game, scoreless in the second half.

“When we’re undersized, you have to take away certain things,” Henson said. “Our focus was what do we have to do to just limit Akase. Because we’ve seen him go off for 40. We’ve seen him go off for 30 versus undersized teams. So our goal was just to make sure that we weren’t giving up anything for him.”

Valley tied it in the first quarter at 5-5 on an Omondi trey and an Anthony pullup 15-footer.

Cowan countered with a 3 from the left corner to give Wawasee an 8-5 lead. It was his only field goal. Akase hit a pullup 12-footer in the lane. Holzwart drained a 3 from the left corner.

Shepherd split a pair of free throws, but Holzwart hit a pullup banker to make it 15-6 after one quarter.

Two Holzwart free throws and a driving Holzwart layup in the first 47 seconds of the second quarter led to Henson calling timeout. The message during the timeout was urgent: Force Holzwart to use his left hand, where he is not as strong.

“Because all week, all we’ve worked on is to keep him away from his right hand, and we let him get to his right hand and let him get downhill and create nonstop, and that was a big part of their offense. … We just really struggled,” Henson said. “I thought we did a little bit better job in the second half of not letting him get to his spots, but in that first half, he had 12 going into halftime. I know he doubled that in the second half, but it wasn’t as noticeable as what it was in the first half.”

Akase capped the run with two free throws, but Valley countered with an 8-0 run that included triples from Kiser – the first of his career – and Anthony on back-to-back possessions.

Valley was back within seven.

Akase answered with the next six Wawasee points, and when Holzwart drained a 3 from in front of the Valley bench with three seconds left in the half, the Wawasee lead was back to 30-17.

After a scoreless first half, Parker got a friendly bounce on the rim on an elbow jumper on the first possession of the second half.

Jack Shoemaker hit a 3, but a Shepherd pullup banker and an Anthony trey behind an Omondi screen made it 33-24.

“Grant’s performance tonight was what I’ve expected from him from Day 1,” Henson said. “And I hope that that’s something that propels him into the offseason, and he realizes, ‘I do have it in me.’”But Shoemaker answered with another 3 off a Cowan assist, and a Holzwart pullup 15-footer and a Kaden Andrew layup off a sharp Holzwart penetration and dish got the lead to 16.

Wawasee 49, Tippecanoe Valley 38

VALLEY (38) (9-14)

Grant Anthony 5 2-2 14, William Mellott 0 0-0 0, Hudson Shepherd 1 2-4 4, Wes Parker 2 0-0 4, Owen Omondi 3 0-0 8, Jude Kammerer 2 0-0 5, Hunter Stage 0 0-0 0, Liam Newcomer 0 0-0 0, Malaki Christian 0 0-0 0, Mason Miller 0 0-0 0, Ty Kiser 1 0-0 3

TEAM: 14 4-6 38

WAWASEE (49) (17-8)

Davis Cowan 1 1-2 4, Jack Shoemaker 3 0-0 9, Nolan Holzwart 9 2-3 22, Kaden Andrew 1 0-0 2, Stephen Akase 4 4-4 12, Camden Reel 0 0-0 0, Mason Worrell 0 0-0 0, Grayson Lashley 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 18 7-9 49

Three-point field goals:

Valley 6 (Anthony 2, Omondi 2, Kammerer, Kiser),

Wawasee 6 (Shoemaker 3, Holzwart 2, Cowan)

Total fouls: Valley 15, Wawasee 9

Turnovers: Valley 6, Wawasee 10

Score by quarters

Valley 6 11 11 10 – 38

Wawasee 15 15 12 7 – 49

Columbia City 75, West Noble 33

Owen Marshall scored 32 points, and Landon Richmond added 23 as the Columbia City boys basketball team rolled over West Noble in a Class 3A, Sectional 20 quarterfinal on its home floor Tuesday.

Nolan Kelly scored 17 for West Noble in the loss.

West Noble had nine turnovers in the first quarter and 19 for the game. In contrast, Columbia City had seven turnovers.

Columbia City scored the first 13 points of the game in cruising to the win. They led 39-18 at halftime, and the final 7:05 was played with a running clock, per the IHSAA Mercy Rule.

Columbia City, seeking its second straight sectional title, improved to 20-4. West Noble, who has never won a boys basketball sectional, finished 5-18.

Columbia City 75, West Noble 33

COLUMBIA CITY (75) (20-4)

Camden Closson 2 0-0 6, Josh Eberly 0 0-0 0, Owen Marshall 11 6-6 32, Trey Deckman 3 0-0 7, Landon Richmond 10 3-3 23, Carter Kauffman 0 0-0 0, Tyler Waybright 0 0-0 0, Troy Hartman 1 0-0 3, Bradyn Elkins 1 2-2 4

TEAM: 28 11-11 75

WEST NOBLE (33) (5-18)

Nolan Kelly 5 4-4 17, Aiden Replogle 0 2-2 2, Trevor Steele 0 2-6 2, Caleb Saggars 0 0-0 0, Cameron Eash 1 0-0 2, Ryan Glick 0 0-0 0, Trey Shisler 0 0-0 0, Brayden Ritchie 0 0-0 0, Brody Mast 0 1-2 1, Xy’Mire Barnes-Bridges 2 1-2 5, Payton Smith 1 0-0 2, Blake Jones 1 0-0 2

TEAM: 10 10-16 33

Three-point field goals:

Columbia City 8 (Marshall 4, Closson 2, Deckman, Hartman),

West Noble 3 (Kelly 3)

Total fouls: Columbia City 15, West Noble 10

Turnovers: Columbia City 7, West Noble 19

Score by quarters

Columbia City 25 14 22 14 – 75

West Noble 8 10 11 4 – 33