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BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
AKRON — Ian Cooksey scored 19 points, but the Tippecanoe Valley boys basketball team was held scoreless in the second quarter in a 49-40 loss to visiting Anderson at Rita Price Simpson Court Saturday.
Valley also mustered only one field goal in the fourth quarter, a 3-pointer from Riley Shepherd with 2:30 left that cut the deficit to 42-38, but Anderson made seven of eight free throws in the final 2:21 to secure the win.
Damien King scored 23 points for Anderson, and Javon Warfield added 16 before fouling out.
Anderson improved to 11-3. Valley dropped to 9-6.
Cooksey outscored the entire Anderson team 11-8 in the first quarter, but Anderson stifled the Valley offense to the point where shot attempts were rare in the second quarter, according to coach Joe Luce.
“They turned us over nine times, and we got three shots,” Luce said. “You’re not going to score if you turn it over … nine times in one quarter. They sped us up. We gave it to them. We didn’t take care of the ball. When you only get three shots and hand it to them nine times, it’s tough to score.”
Anderson was coming off an overtime road win at Harrison (West Lafayette) Friday. They showed the capability of playing both man-toman and a 2-3 zone.
“I think we just went back to man, and we really just went back to our defensive principle,” Anderson coach Donnie Bowling said. “In the beginning, I just think we started off slow, and really just that wasn’t the way we usually play. And then I think we just got our feet under us and got ready to play better.”
Luce also cited a missed box out late in the third quarter that allowed the Indians to extend their lead to 36-32 after three quarters. He also said they did not take enough advantage of Warfield’s absence over the final 5:20.
“Hats off to the rest of their players,” Luce said. “They’re a solid team. They brought a lot of pressure that made it very difficult for us to play against. When we can shake the pressure, I thought you saw a really good offensive effort from us. And we’ll continue to play and play against pressure until the last game of our season, whenever that is. Tonight can only help us for down the road.”
Bowling said he has known Luce since he was a middle school coach in Kokomo and Luce was the boys coach at Marion.
“We were needing a game,” Bowling said. “They needed a game. He thought it would be good for them. We thought it would be good for us. He was telling me, ‘We’re going to struggle a little bit,’ but they’re a lot better than what he was saying.
“They have a really good team, and the thing about coach Luce is we go to our stalling, and that’s why I’m happy we played them. … We’ll go watch our tape and how he trapped us out of that and did some things. It made it a little bit harder, and when you play against a good coach, that’s what happens.”
Said Luce: “Donnie Bowling is one of the good guys in the game of Indiana high school basketball. He’s a grinder. He’s come up through the ranks. He played for coach (Basil) Mawbey at Kokomo, so he’s been schooled well. John Hamilton is the other coach on his bench. John Hamilton’s a Hall of Fame coach, in my opinion, at many different schools. … Anderson doesn’t have to come here. They have much more to lose than to gain, and at the same time, Donnie’s smart enough to realize it’s a tradeoff. We can give them some stuff to help maybe show some opponents that he might see down the road, and we needed to play against him to see something down the road. It was an excellent game for us. … He’s a super guy.”
Anderson 49, Tippecanoe Valley 40
ANDERSON (49) (11-3)
Louis Jackson 0 2-2 2, Aaron Morgan 0 0-2 0, Colin Lewis 0 2-2 2, Javon Warfield 8 0-0 16, Damien King 9 5-6 23, Spencer Proctor 0 0-0 0, Abram Holt 0 0-0 0, Christian Townsend 1 3-4 6
TEAM: 18 12-16 49
VALLEY (40) (9-6)
Davis Cowan 0 2-2 2, Ian Cooksey 7 0-0 19, Riley Shepherd 2 2-2 8, Stephen Akase 2 2-2 6, Kyler Johnson 1 1-2 3, DeOndre Hamilton 0 2-2 2, Wes Parker 0 0-0 0, Blain Sheetz 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 12 9-10 40
Three-point field goals:
Anderson 1 (Townsend),
Valley 7 (Cooksey 5, Shepherd 2)
Total fouls: Anderson 17, Valley 18
Fouled out: Warfield (AND), 5:20, fourth; Akase (TV), 3:14, fourth
Score by quarters
Anderson 8 15 13 13 – 49
Valley 18 0 14 8 – 40
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