Teays Valley drained 10 of 13 free throws during the fourth quarter on Friday to seal one of its biggest wins in recent seasons with a 53-43 verdict over host Upper Arlington in a non-league contest.
“What a great win for our guys and our basketball program, going on the road against a defending district champion and coming away with the win,” Teays Valley coach Brian Barnett said. “Our guys did a great job of playing through physical played and they played an aggressive game.
“We were able to get the ball where we wanted to and our guys stepped up and made big plays.”
Freshman point guard Kole Nungester scored six points in the first quarter, helping the Vikings get off to a solid start and a 12-10 lead after a period of play.
Sam Miller led the way for the Vikings in the second quarter with five points and freshman guard Brody Fields hit a shot at the buzzer, sending both teams into halftime deadlocked at 25-25.
Fields picked up from where he left off going into halftime by scoring six more points in the third quarter to help the Vikings take a 37-35 lead into the final eight minutes of action.
Ryan Allton stepped up with a huge fourth quarter to help the Vikings get out to a lead and finally put away the Golden Bears.
The senior guard hit six free throws during the period and converted on a pair of driving layups to score 10 of his game-high 19 points.
“I can’t say enough about Ryan, because he stepped up big time tonight and hit some really big free throws for us,” Barnett praised.
Brayden Primmer added an important putback basket midway through the quarter that gave the Vikings a boost.
“That was a big basket, but Brayden may have had the play of the night when he blocked an Upper Arlington shot late in the fourth quarter that would have cut our lead down to a point if UA had made the shot,” Barnett said. “Brayden does so many things for us that do not show up in the state lines.”
Fields followed Allton with 11 points, Nungester tallied 10 and Sam Miller added nine.
“Our freshmen continue to play really well, and it was nice to see Kole and Brody combine for 21 points,” Barnett said. “Sam Miller also had a big game inside for us.”
Nate Schoeny had 18 points and Weston Gregg added 11 for the Golden Bears (5-4).
The Vikings (6-2) continue non-league play on Tuesday when they host New Albany.
Teays Valley 53,
Upper Arlington 43
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 F
Teays Valley 12 13 12 16 53
U. Arlington 10 15 10 8 43
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