by JOHN HOWLEY / sportingpumpkin.com
ASHVILLE — From the opening tip, it was evident Teays Valley wasn’t going to let visiting Circleville mess up senior night as the Vikings scored six points in the first minute on the way to a 77-49 win.
After senior Brayden Primmer controlled the opening tip, senior Ivan Smith scored the game’s first basket a few seconds later and fellow senior Ryan Allton had 11 of his team-best 21 points in the first quarter as the Vikings got out to a 20-11 lead.
“With senior night, we wanted to get out to a good start,” TV coach Brian Barnettt said. “We have to play with energy and be aggressive. Any time we play with energy and are the aggressor, we’re pretty good.”
In the second quarter, it was Teays Valley freshman Kole Nungester doing most of the damage as he had 12 of his 19 in the period to help the Vikings extend their lead to 38-20.
Teays Valley helped its cause by forcing eight Tiger turnovers in the first half while only committing one and only two for the game.
“Our ball handling is something we’re getting better at,” Barnett said. “With our three guards, Ryan, Kole and Brodie (Fields), they’re pretty good ball handlers and our post guys, our big guys, when we get it inside to them or get it on the perimeter, they take care of it.”
Teays Valley extended its advantage by a few points in the third to lead 58-36.
Along with the scoring from Allton and Nungester, Fields put in 15 and Sam Miller had 12.
Briley Cramer led Circleville with 21 and Slater Search had 13.
Circleville ended the night shooting 35 percent from the field compared to Teays Valley’s 50 percent and had 13 turnovers to the Vikings’ two.
“I thought we were prepared. We had a lot of energy before the game, it was an amazing atmosphere and they just came out and hurt us in every phase of the game,” Circleville coach Cody Carpenter said. “Unfortunately, we did not follow the scouting report, we struggled to get in sets, we struggled to defend around the perimeter. Every little detail about the game that we prepared for we just weren’t able to do.
“Teays played a really good game, we struggled and it was just a difficult night for us.”
Barnett said Saturday was no different than the rest of the season in that the team looks to its seniors for success.
“Our seniors have been our rock all year,” he said. “Ryan Allton – he’s not going to be able to walk when he’s 25, he throws his body all over the place. And he’s our energy guy. When we need energy plays, he’s our guy that we go to.
“Brayden is one of those guys who’s probably not going to show up big in the stat lines. Brayden is our glue guy, he holds everything together and keeps everything going in the right direction,” Barnett added. “Ivan has worked his butt off to get to where he’s at and he’s having a great senior season. His inside post moves are really coming along. Because he has worked and dedicated himself to what we are doing, he’s having a great year.”
Teays Valley had a 36-31 rebounding edge led by Allton with eight and Smith and Miller with six each. Search pulled down a dozen for the Tigers and Cramer had six.
Saturday’s win keeps the Vikings (14-4, 12-1 MSL Buckeye) in a virtual tie atop the league standings with Fairfield Union (17-3, 11-1).
The Vikings dropped their only league game to the Falcons last Friday.
“We came back the next day in practice and you couldn’t tell what the results were and they were focused on beating Hamilton,” Barnett said. (The Vikings beat the Rangers 70-60 Tuesday.) “They are focused on the next game at hand. They’re not looking down the road, they’re not looking at the post season, all they know is we play Groveport on Tuesday.”
Following Tuesday’s home game with the Cruisers, Teays Valley finishes up the league schedule at Liberty Union (9-9, 6-7) with a chance to clinch at least part of the league title.
Fairfield Union will be home for its final two home games next week. The Falcons host Circleville (10-10, 6-6) Tuesday and wrap up with Bloom-Carroll (11-8, 9-4) Friday.
Teays Valley 77, Circleville 49
Circleville — Nolan West 3-0-8, Matt Bradley 0-1-1, Briley Cramer 7-6-21, Joe Wray 1-0-2, Parker Kidwell 1-0-2, Slater Search 6-1-13, Ed Kirky 0-2-2. Three-point goals — West (2), Cramer. Total — 18-52 10-15 49.
Teays Valley — Kole Nungester 7-2-19, Brody Fields 6-3-15, Luke Burgett 1-0-2, Ryan Allton 7-4-21, Ivan Smith 2-2-6, Brayden Primmer 1-0-2, Sam Miller 6-0-12. Three-point goals — Nungester (3), Allton (3). Total — 30-60 11-15 77.
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 F
Circleville 11 9 16 13 49
Teays Valley 20 18 20 19 77
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