by JACOB MEREDITH / sportingpumpkin.com
ASHVILLE —Teays Valley was out front all night on the way to a 59-38 win over in-county and MSL rival Logan Elm to stay undefeated in league play.
Sam Miller got the Vikings (9-3, 7-0) started as he scored all 11 of Teays Valley’s points in the first quarter — nine in the last three minutes.
“We got off to a slow start. We tried to go inside right away after that first bucket then missed a few and thankfully rebounded in the second,” TV coach Brian Barnett said.
The Vikings were 4 of 13 shooting in the quarter.
The Braves (4-9, 2-5) collected a Cam Redd layup and Carson Summers added a free throw and jumper to trail the Vikings 11-5 after the first.
“Teays has a great team, and they have a lot of weapons and we felt like we needed to come in and take (Brody) Fields away and Brady Neff did a great job. But they have other guys pick up with someone in the scoring,” Logan Elm coach Nate Dropsey said.
A three from Kole Nungester opened the scoring for Teays in the second, followed by a tip-in off a Brody Fields miss by Cavin McDowell. LE’s Redd answered with a layup to begin the scoring for Logan Elm. Another Nungester three was matched by LE’s Tyler Speas when he dropped a three of his own.
“I feel like our best quarter was the second but then they made a run and made it challenging,” Dropsey said.
Baskets from Burgett and Miller capped off the Vikings’ scoring in the half and the Braves closed with a Speas layup and a Summers three to trail 23–15 going into the half.
Fields drove to the basket to start the second half scoring for the Vikings. Nemiah Waugh dropped one of two free throws to begin the scoring for the Braves. Luke Burgett added a layup for the Vikings and LE’s Summers answered, but the next seven points came from the Vikings on a three from Nungester and a pair of baskets from Fields. The Braves closed the scoring in the third with a three from Speas and a jumper from Kyle Rine. A Burgett score and some foul shots from Nungester had the Vikings up 39-23 after three quarters.
“We came out a little flat after the half. We struggled offensively and couldn’t get anything going and that allowed Teays to get another run going,” Dropsey said.
Scoring in the fourth began with a Burgett three as he had eight of his 14 points in the final quarter. Keegan Diel and Waugh dropped consecutive baskets for the Braves then a Sam Miller jam followed by two free throws and a basket from Fields put the Vikings ahead 21.
Miller led the Vikings with 15 points Wednesday, Nungester with 12 and Fields had 10.
Speas led the Braves with 11 points.
