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Kiser, Cumberland score 12 each, but Vikes’ 5-game winning streak snapped
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
AKRON — Matthew Roettger scored 17 points, and Alex Ross added 12, and the Peru
boys basketball team built an early 15-point lead and went on to defeat host Tippecanoe Valley 51-41 at Rita Price Simpson Court on Dec. 17.
Tayde Kiser scored all 12 of his points in the second half and also grabbed 10 rebounds for a double-double for Valley, who had their five-game winning streak snapped. Nolan Cumberland also had 12.
Peru went on a 12-0 run covering the first and second quarters and built a 21-6 lead.
Valley would cut the margin down to six twice in the fourth quarter, the first time on a Kiser 3-pointer in early offense off a Cooper Walls assist and the last time at 42-36 on a Kiser floater in the lane.
Peru made 9 of 13 free throws in the fourth quarter. Peru made more free throws (12) than Valley attempted (8).
Gavin Eldridge and Braxten Robbins each hit two 3-pointers and had eight points for Peru, who improved to 5-1 overall and 3-0 in the Three Rivers Conference. All three conference wins have come on the road.
Valley fell to 5-2, 1-1. They were coming off a 56-42 win over Whitko in their conference opener 24 hours earlier.
“It was a huge key,” Valley coach Joe Luce said of the start. “They came out, and they really attacked. They shot the basketball well. I thought that we were slow defensively and offensively not sharp, and a lot of that comes to playing our first back-to-back like this. And I learned a lot about how I think I can put them in some different positions down the road to start out possibly the next time we come to back-to-back games to get us in a better position.
“But they also took away a lot of stuff we do well. We score off set stuff, and they were on top of all of that.”
Peru sealed off the paint with its switching man-to-man defense. Luce called Peru’s defenders “extremely tough and extremely smart” and added “they have an edge.”
“We just knew we had to keep them in front,” Peru coach Eric Thompson, a 1991 Valley grad, said of his team’s defensive game plan on Kiser and Cumberland. “They can score. … I’m very happy with our team defense and individual defense. Coach Luce’s system is fantastic for setting up those players that can score, and we did a great job of keeping them at bay.”
Peru 51, Valley 41
PERU (51) (5-1, 3-0)
Ian Potts 1 2-2 4, Gavin Eldridge 2 2-4 8, Braxten Robbins 3 0-1 8, Matthew Roettger 6 4-4 17, Alex Ross 3 4-6 12, Xavier Turner 1 0-0 2
TEAM: 16 12-17 51
VALLEY (41) (5-2, 1-1)
Cooper Walls 2 0-0 6, Tayde Kiser 5 0-0 12, Nolan Cumberland 4 2-4 12, Riley Shepherd 2 0-0 4, Kyler Johnson 0 1-2 1, Ian Cooksey 0 0-0 0, Nate Parker 0 0-0 0, Stephen Akase 1 2-2 4, Dylan Neese 1 0-0 2
TEAM: 15 5-8 41
Three-point field goals:
Peru 7 (Eldridge 2, Robbins 2, Ross 2, Roettger),
Valley 6 (Kiser 2, Walls 2, Cumberland 2)
Total fouls: Peru 11, Valley 16
Turnovers: Peru 7, Valley 7
Score by quarters
Peru 14 12 12 13 – 51
Valley 6 8 10 17 – 41
