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Perkins: 9 points, 7 rebounds, but late drought leads to Valley loss
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
ARGOS — Argos first-year boys basketball coach Jason Breden glanced at Tippecanoe Valley assistant coach Bill Patrick late during their game at Phil Weybright Gymnasium Tuesday and wondered to himself how Patrick could have won 765 games during his Hall of Fame coaching career.
After all, Breden was figuring out how very hard it is to win just one.
In the end, senior point guard Michael Richard scored seven of his game-high 14 points in the fourth quarter, and the Argos defense held the Vikings scoreless for a 7:25 stretch in the fourth quarter to pull through in a taffy pull of a thriller 31-29 and get Breden that first win.
J.J. Morris added eight points, and Jake Stults scored the go-ahead layup for the
Dragons, who bounced back from an opening-night loss to Bremen to improve to 1-1.
“This one felt well earned,” Breden said. “I’m battling and about having a heart attack for win one. I look over and Bill’s got over 700. … It just shows how hard winning truly is. People will look at the score and think it was a 31-29 stall ball game, but anyone that was here knows it was far from it.”
Dawson Perkins led Valley (1-1) with nine points and seven rebounds. He scored all seven Valley points in the second quarter.
Nolan Cumberland scored all eight of his points in the third quarter. Tayde Kiser scored all five of Valley’s points in the fourth quarter and finished with seven.
Valley led 26-21 on a Kiser steal and layup with 7:26 left. They would not score again until Kiser hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Richard answered Kiser’s steal and layup with a 3-pointer from the left corner to make it 26-24.
Richard then tied the game when he attacked the 6-7 rim protector Perkins and scooped home a layup with 5:04 left.
“It means a little,” Richard said when asked how experience is important in that situation. “But it’s just playing ball. You’ve got a big guy, and you’ve either got to shot-fake and go into him or you’ve got to make a play. I just made a play.”
Then more good came out of a Richard rim foray. He was planning on shooting when he saw Stults out of the corner of his eye cutting from the right baseline. He dropped it off and Stults hung in the air and converted to give Argos their first lead of the fourth quarter.
A Kiser miss with 50 seconds left gave Argos the ball back, and Dylan Kindig split a pair of free throws with 21.6 seconds left. It was still a one-possession game.
Kiser drove to the basket but lost the ball.
Richard was fouled with 13.7 seconds left. Valley coach Chad Patrick called timeout to freeze him. He missed, and Valley had another chance.
Kiser rose up for a potential game-tying 3, but Richard hustled back and blocked it.
After another Valley empty possession, Argos planned a baseline out-of-bounds play. Richard and Valley’s Braden Shepherd got tangled up and were called for a double foul with 4.8 seconds left.
Richard was fouled again with 2.9 seconds left and hit a pair of game-clinching free throws.
Kiser then made his 3-pointer to complete the scoring.
Valley, who was coming off a 68-30 road win in their opener against Oregon-Davis three days earlier, forced 16 Argos turnovers but committed 17 themselves. They scored only seven points off the 16 turnovers they forced.
And even though they were in the bonus with 4:37 left in the third quarter, they attempted only four free throws in the second half.
Valley started in a 2-3 zone, but Richard and Teddy Redinger combined to hit three 3-pointers in an 11-0 run in the second quarter as Argos built a 16-8 lead.
Valley went to a fullcourt press in the second half, and the frenzied defense forced nine Argos turnovers in the third quarter.
“That’s the problem,” Chad Patrick said. “We have to play helter skelter to speed them up. … We forced 16 turnovers; the problem is we had 17. And you can’t do that. We’d get the ball back and we’d think we’d have to score in 0.2 seconds, and it was just horrible. And we shot bad. We were 2 for 11 from 3, and that’s not us. But I’m most disappointed we got outrebounded, and we only had three assists, and we had 17 turnovers.”
Cumberland tied the game at 18 with two free throws with 4:28 left in the third and scored on a runner in the lane to give Valley the lead. When Perkins hit a post turnaround while the 6-5 Kindig was on the bench in foul trouble, it capped an 11-1 run to start the half and give Valley a 22-18 lead.
It was 24-21 after three quarters.
Argos committed only two turnovers in the fourth quarter.
“Well, for one, I can’t take the most credit,” Breden said of the improved ball security in the fourth quarter. “It was just our guys getting settled in. The first time this year that a team’s truly pressed us. My press breaker is new to them being a first-year coach, and it’s just something they need to actually practice at game speed and work out. So it wasn’t a whole lot of adjustments in terms of new schemes or anything, it was just getting them to have poise, confidence and run it right.”
Valley rolled to a 63-29 win in the JV game. Ian Cooksey led Valley with 15 points, Kyler Johnson and Nathan Parker had 12 each, Dylan Neese and Cam Manuel had six each, Tristyn Ragon had four, Trent Marshall had three, Cooper Walls and Nate Engstrand had two each, and DeOndre Hamilton had one.
Elijah Osborn and Luke Stults led the Argos JV with seven points each. Jared Frick had five, Nate Manikowski had four, Noah VanDuyne had three, Jackson Kindig had two, and Tem Sanchaitawee had one.
Game notes
Valley will have a jersey presentation ceremony between the JV and varsity games of its home opener against Knox Friday to honor the late Brendyn Stump. Stump died on May 17 from injuries suffered in a car accident.
Argos travels to Plymouth Friday night. Plymouth coach Joel Grindle was the Argos coach from 2008-10. Breden is a LaVille grad who played for and coached under Michael Edison in high school. Grindle is a Plymouth grad who played for and coached under Jack Edison, Michael’s father, in high school. Grindle’s three assistant coaches – Byron Faulstich, Tony Plothow and Geoff Scheetz – are also Plymouth grads and Edison proteges.
Argos 31, Tippecanoe Valley 29
VALLEY (29) (1-1)
Braden Shepherd 2 0-0 5, Landon Walters 0 0-0 0, Nolan Cumberland 2 4-4 8, Tayde Kiser 3 0-0 7, Dawson Perkins 4 1-2 9, Cooper Walls 0 0-0 0, Riley Shepherd 0 0-0 0, Dominick Welk 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 11 5-6 29
ARGOS (31) (1-1)
Michael Richard 4 3-5 14, Sean Richard 0 0-0 0, J.J. Morris 3 2-4 8, Teddy Redinger 1 1-3 4, Dylan Kindig 1 1-2 3, Jake Stults 1 0-0 2
TEAM: 10 7-14 31
Three-point field goals:
Valley 2 (Kiser, B. Shepherd),
Argos 4 (M. Richard 3, Redinger)
Total fouls: Valley 15, Argos 16
Turnovers: Valley 17, Argos 16
Score by quarters
Valley 4 7 13 5 – 29
Argos 3 14 4 10 – 31
