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Leasure scores 11 in return to Valley, but Zebras fall to 1-2 in TRC
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
AKRON — Tayde Kiser is indefatigable, so when the Tippecanoe Valley junior guard asked coach Chad Patrick for a rest during the second quarter of Friday’s game against Rochester at the TVHS gym, Patrick was surprised.
And then he said no.
He was too important and playing too well, and on the night of his basketball career, Valley continued their dominance of the Zebras at home.
Kiser scored 23 points and also had the defensive assignment on Rochester’s Paul Leasure as the Vikings cruised to a 59-36 win.
Nolan Cumberland added 22 points for Valley, who won their third straight game and improved to 7-4 overall and 3-1 in the Three Rivers Conference.
Dawson Perkins, Valley’s 6-7 senior center, had four points, 12 rebounds and five blocked shots.
Rochester coach Rob Malchow called Valley’s size “a little intimidating at times.”
“Without a doubt,” Malchow said when asked if height was a factor. “Perkins was really good at blocking shots. They have a lot of length.”
Leasure scored 11 points, and freshman Tanner Reinartz added 10 for Rochester, who fell to 4-6, 1-2.
Rochester has scored fewer than 40 points four times this season after doing it only three times the previous two seasons combined. They have scored fewer than 40 points in consecutive games for the first time since January 2016.
Rochester has not beaten Valley at Valley since 2006, and they have not done so in a conference game since 1994. Except for Wabash, every team in the TRC has won at least once on the road at Valley since 2006.
Valley went on a 27-4 run covering the first through the third quarters to turn an 8-6 deficit into a 33-12 lead. Valley led by as many as 25 points in the third quarter.
Kiser’s pullup banker with 39 seconds left in the first quarter put Valley ahead for good at 10-8. He then outscored the entire Rochester team 7-4 in the second quarter. He hit a pullup in the lane, knocked down a 3-pointer from the right perimeter and then had a steal and layup with two seconds left in the half.
Kiser then scored nine more points in the third quarter, including a pair of 3-pointers and a 3-point play on a drive to the basket.
While he was doing that, he was guarding Leasure, an all-TRC guard who transferred from Valley to Rochester last summer. He came in averaging 15 points per game.
“He played a really good game,” Valley coach Chad Patrick said. “He played so well on defense that led to really good offense. … He’s never asked to come out of a game, and in the first half there, one time he did. And I didn’t take him out. We needed him in there. He got a couple short breaks. … Nolan and him, they’re our leaders in practice every night going hard. They are the leaders. It’s great that they had a great game like this.”
Cumberland flashed varied skills in his scoring effort: a cut off the ball for a banker, off the dribble before a midrange jumper in the paint, baseline drives and a top of the key 3-pointer in the first half alone.
He added six more points in the third quarter.
Cumberland, who plays AAU ball for Summit City Elite based out of Fort Wayne, said he worked on both his shooting and improving his confidence since last season. He said that as a junior in his third year on the varsity that it is his job to step up a lot more.
“I think we adjusted really well,” Cumberland said of Valley being able to adjust after Rochester switched from a zone defense at the start to a man later on. “In practice, we just practiced 2-3 zones, but I think we did pretty good.”
Patrick also praised Braden Shepherd, even though Shepherd was held to two points.
“Braden isn’t scoring a whole lot, but I think the last three games have been probably Braden’s best three games,” Patrick said. “He’s not turning it over. He’s handling the ball. In our wins, he is the best on the team in plus or minus. … We go as he goes. … In the last three games, he’s doing exactly what we needed.”
Rochester captured the JV game 49-44. Brock Bowers scored 16 points, Colton Ferverda had 12, and Ethan Medina had 10 to lead Rochester. Hunter Campbell added five, Dylan Hook had four, and Gavin Young had two.
Jarrett Duncan led Valley with 12 points, Ian Cooksey had 11, Nathan Parker had eight, Dylan Neese had five, and Cameron Manuel and Fynn Bluhm had four each.
Valley 59, Rochester 36
ROCHESTER (36) (4-6, 1-2)
Tarick McGlothin 2 3-4 8, Paul Leasure 4 2-2 11, Luke Hunting 0 0-0 0, Aidan Smith 1 0-0 2, Xavier Vance 0 0-0 0, Hunter Campbell 0 0-0 0, Brock Bowers 0 0-0 0, Aaron Huffman 0 1-2 1, Tanner Reinartz 4 0-0 10, Evan Elliott 0 0-0 0, Robert Bozzo 2 0-0 4, Ethan Medina 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 13 6-8 36
VALLEY (59) (7-4, 3-1)
Braden Shepherd 0 2-2 2, Tayde Kiser 8 4-4 23, Riley Shepherd 2 0-0 6, Nolan Cumberland 9 3-5 22, Dawson Perkins 1 2-4 4, Cooper Walls 0 0-0 0, Landon Walters 0 0-0 0, Damion Kohler 0 0-0 0, Dominick Welk 1 0-0 2, Dylan Neese 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 21 11-15 59
Three-point field goals:
Rochester 4 (Reinartz 2, Leasure, McGlothin),
Valley 6 (Kiser 3, R. Shepherd 2, Cumberland)
Total fouls: Rochester 14, Valley 10
Turnovers: Rochester 10, Valley 8
Score by quarters
Rochester 8 4 14 10 – 36
Valley 10 20 18 11 – 59
JV: Rochester 49, Valley 44
