Teays Valley’s boys defended their home court in a game that went right down to the wire while the TV girls used a decisive third quarter to beat the Tigers during the first day of the Brad Morris Holiday Classic.
Teays Valley 47, Circleville 43 (boys)
ASHVILLE — In a game that saw Teays Valley with a 14-point lead at one time, the battle wasn’t decided until the final seconds with the Vikings securing a 47-43 win.
Fans were on the edge of their seats as Circleville pulled to within a point on two occasions in the final minutes while Teays Valley converted only three of its last eight free throw attempts in the final 90 seconds. But Tanner Smith hit the second of his two shots with nine seconds remaining to make it a four-point game and seal the win.
“We had so many opportunities at the line to put everything away, but, bottom line is, we’ve got to do a better job of taking care of the basketball and working in those late game situations,” TV coach Barnett said. “Give our guys credit — they battled through it and hung with it.”
“We knew this place was going to be packed, and I’m really proud of the fight that our guys showed tonight,” Circleville coach Evan Callihan said. “I thought we got some decent looks early on, and just couldn’t buy one, and that’s basketball sometimes.”
The game started in TV’s favor as Brody Fields nailed a three a few seconds in the game and the Vikings held the Tigers to a single basket in getting a 10-2 lead through the first quarter.
“We wanted to get a quick start and get Brody started a little bit, and that’s what we did,” Barnett said. Fields had another three in the period.
“I thought we did a good job defensively and rebounding that first quarter. And, by rebounding and defense, that translates into offense for us,” Barnett said. “We still only had 10 in the first quarter, but I don’t know how many little shots around the bucket that we missed.”
TV led 24-13 at the half.
“We missed a lot of easy bunnies, a lot of easy layups in the first quarter, the first half really, and some free throws,” Callahan said. “And in a game like this, that stuff makes a big difference.”
Mitchell Combs had a big third quarter for the Vikings as he hit three threes in the period to keep TV up 38-25.
“He had some big shots for us tonight. For us, that’s not really surprising but they haven’t seen that before,” Barnett said.
The Tigers scored the first four points of the fourth quarter on baskets by Ed Kirk and Jack Kline. After a couple of free throws from TV’s Jayden Morrison, 10 of the next 12 points were from Circleville’s Kole Nungester to close the gap 42-39. A basket by Riley Jenkins made it 42-41 with 2:44 left.
Fields sunk two free throws for the Vikings and Nungester scored again to make it a one-point contest with 1:40 left.
While the Vikings struggled at the line the rest of the way, they didn’t give up any easy shots to the Tigers and held on for the win.
Combs was named the Vikings’ Player of the Game as he led his team with 12 points – 10 coming in the third quarter.
Nungester had 12 of his 14 in leading Circleville’s charge in the fourth quarter to be named Circleville’s Player of the game.
Blain Fowler pulled down 11 rebounds to go with 10 points as Circleville had a 32-21 rebounding edge in the game.
The Vikings (4-3) will be back at it playing Logan Elm (403) at 4:30 Tuesday in Day 2 action while Circleville (5-2) wraps up the Brad Morris Holiday Classic at 7:30 p.m. against Westfall (2-7). Those games will be played at Circleville.
Teays Valley 47, Circleville 43
Circleville — Kole Nungester 6-0-14, Blain Fowler 2-7-10, Jack Kline 2-4-8, Riley Jenkins 4-0-8, Ed Kirk 1-0-2. Three-point goals — Nungester (2). Totals — 15-48 11-19 43.
Teays Valley — Jayden Morrison 3-2-10, Brody Fields 2-3-9, Tanner Smith 1-1-3, Calvin Wolpert 1-1-4, Kaden Purdon 3-3-9, Mitchell Combs 3-3-12. Three-point goals — Morrison (2), Fields (2), Wolpert, Combs (3). Totals — 13-31 13-33 47.
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 F
Circleville 2 11 12 18 43
Teays Valley 10 14 14 9 47
Teays Valley 51, Circleville 34 (girls)
ASHVILLE — A decisive third quarter propelled Teays Valley to a 51-34 win over Circleville Monday in the Brad Morris Holiday Classic.
Tied after the first quarter and with Vikings leading by five at halftime, the third quarter got off to a bang with Areyana Karshner hitting a three for the Vikings 11 seconds in and then scoring again 40 seconds later for a 29-19 lead.
Circleville’s Addison Edgington went to the line and sank two free throws 20 seconds later, but those turned out to be the Tigers’ only points of the quarter.
The next five points came on a free throw and a pair of threes from TV’s Cooper McManaway. Karshner added two more scores and a free throw from Amelia Brumfield had the Vikings in command with a 41-21 lead heading into the final period.
A highlight for Circleville came in the fourth when senior Maddie Blakeman took a TV turnover down for a basket to score her 1,000th career point. She finished with seven for the contest.
Karshner led the Vikings with 14 points and four rebounds to be named TV’s Player of the Game.
Edgington had 11 points and 11 rebounds to earn Player of the Game honors for Circleville.
Circleville had a 35-21 rebounding advantage and even pulled down 18 offensive rebounds, but TV’s defense didn’t let the Tigers convert many of those second chances as the Vikings forced 18 turnovers.
The Vikings (7-1) are back in action early Tuesday with a 3 p.m. tip against Logan Elm (7-1) while Circleville (6-1) takes on Westfall (3-6) at 6 p.m.
Teays Valley 51, Circleville 34
Circleville — Brooklyn Cramer 0-2-2, Maddie Blakeman 3-0-7, Kaylee West 1-0-2, Locelyn McLaughlin 1-2-5, Addison Edgington 4-3-11, Mallory McConnell 3-1-7. Three-point goals — Blakeman, McLaughlin. Totals — 12-42 8-14 34.
Teays Valley — Addi Helwagen 2-0-5, Amelia Brumfield 0-1-1 Hailey Matthews 1-0-2, Cooper McManaway 3-1-10, Cami Robins 5-3-13, Areyana Karshner 6-0-14, Avery Mann 2-0-4, Tessa Horsley 1-0-2. Three-point goals — Helwagen, McManaway (3), Karshner (2). Totals — 20-41 5-8 51.
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 F
Circleville 13 6 2 13 34
Teays Valley 13 11 17 10 51
