by JACOB MEREDITH / sportingpumpkin.com
ASVILLE — A thriller began with a jam but ended in a slam of the door as the Vikings took a big edge in the Mid-State League title race with a 62-61 win over Bloom Carroll.
With TV on top 56-45, the Bulldogs started the fourth quarter with three consecutive baskets with TV’s Sam Miller delivering a layup and the Vikings taking a timeout to regroup.
“They started to pressure us a bit and that caused us to make some decisions that we weren’t making in the first half,” TV coach Bryan Barnett said. “Bloom is a really good team, and they came out to play, I envisioned this game being like this.”
A Brody Fields’ score put the Vikings ahead by eight, and a free throw and a three from BC’s Jayse Rockwood cut the Viking lead to four.
BC’s Jackson Wyant momentarily silenced the TV crowd with a drive making the basket and drawing a foul — but he missed the free throw with 1:05 left and TV up 60-58.
Luke Burgett scored with 41 seconds left to make the TV edge four points.
TV got the rebound off a Bulldog miss, but BC’s Carson Davis came up with a steal and fed Rockwood who laid it in to make it 62-60 with 22 seconds left.
After a pair of timeouts, the Vikings turned the ball over on the inbounds play. Wyant was fouled with six seconds left and looking at two free throws. He made the first but missed the second. Nungester grabbed the rebound and was immediately fouled.
BC’s defense caused a five-second call on the inbounds play and BC got the ball back under their basket with 4.2 on the clock.
The Bulldogs got the ball to Wyant who drove and put up a shot over the outstretched arm of Sam Miller that missed. Rockwood tipped it back up and in, but it was after the buzzer and the Vikings held on for the win.
“We knew this was going to be a tough game, they are second in the league and we are first and they came out to play and I give them credit because they are a great team,” TV Barnett said.
Brody Fields led the Vikings with 20 points, hitting four three-pointers, and had five rebounds.
Nungester had 14 points and 10 rebounds and Miller had 14 points and five rebounds.
The Vikings shot out of the gate with a tip-steal assist from Nungester to Miller, who threw down a dunk to begin the game’s scoring. After the teams traded a couple of baskets, TV got consecutive scores from Nungester to get out front on the way to a 22-15 lead at the end of the first quarter.
TV got five points each from Burgett, Fields and Nungester in the second to hold a 37-29 lead at the half.
The Bulldogs drew within a point in the third quarter before the Vikings added a couple of baskets and the finished out the quarter scoring the final nine points for a 56-45 lead entering the final period.
“Defensively in the first half we were really good, but after half we kind of had a lapse” Barnett said.
Rockwood led all scorers 24 points and Tryce Chaffin added 13.
The Vikings improve to 12-3 overall and 9-0 in Buckeye Division play. That gives TV a three-game lead over the Bulldogs (10-6, 6-3) and Hamilton Township (10-6, 6-3).
Up next for the Vikings is a trip to Fairfield Union (9-6, 5-5).
Teays Valley 62, Bloom-Carroll 61
Bloom-Carroll — Tryce Chaffin 5-0-13, Jayse Rockwood 11-0-24, Jett Jones 2-0-6, Jackson Wyant 3-2-8, Carson Davis 2-0-4, Parker Truex 2-0-6. Three-point goals — Chaffin (3), Rockwood (2), Jones (2), Truex (2). Total — 25-2-61.
Teays Valley— Kole Nungester 4-5-14, Brody Fields 7-2-20, Luke Burgett 5-0-11, Owen Hoffhines 1-0-2, Kaden Purdon 0-1-1, Sam Miller 6-1-14. Three-point goals — Nungester, Fields (4), Burgett, Miller. Total — 23-9-62.
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 F
Bloom-Carroll 15 14 16 16 61
Teays Valley 22 15 19 6 62
