Vikings triumph in opener, end of the road for Indians and Warriors

SUNSET HILLS – The Class 2 District Tournament held at South County Tech High School had its share of MAAA boys teams (3-8) playing on Monday night in the opening round. However, out of the three that played, only one advanced on to Wednesday’s semi-finals.

The Valley Vikings were able to defeat their neighboring, conference foe, Bismarck, and the Valle Warriors were vanquished in the third quarter against Metro.

Valley 63, Bismarck 49

The Valley Vikings adjusted their defense in the second quarter, turning the tide on the hot-shooting Bismarck Indians and going on to a 69-48 win. The Vikings received a scare from Bismarck in the first quarter with the Indians hitting four three-pointers, with two by Tyler Henson.

Valley quickly changed their defense to a man-to-man, putting pressure on the perimeter in the second quarter, and Bismarck, which had scored 19 points in the first quarter, could only score three points in the second.

It took the Indians six-and-a-half minutes before scoring their first and only basket of the second quarter. Bismarck was plagued with turnovers, and what wasn’t turned over was usually blocked or the Indians were rushed on their shots.

The Vikings began an onslaught of free throws with a 22-29 performance at the line. John Tedder hit Valley’s only three pointer in the game late in the half to help the Vikings grab a 29-22 lead at the half. Andrew Neier scored half of Valley’s points in the second quarter on his way to a 24-point game and going 10-11 from the line to lead all scorers.

Neier also scored eight points in the third quarter, and was aided by Aaron Dickey who also had eight points in the frame. Dan Caldwell hit his second three in the game to try and spur the Indians back into the game, but Valley crashed the offensive boards, giving themselves several second chances to score, and building the lead into double-digits and beyond.

Bismarck found its range again from beyond the arc in the fourth quarter. Henson hit his third three and Justin Fortner connected for his first, but the Indians could draw no closer as the Vikings made 8-10 free throws to keep pace.

Bismarck finished its season at 3-21, and Valley, 14-12, advances to Wednesday’s semi-final game against Viburnum.

Bismarck 19 3 10 16 – 48

Valley 13 16 18 16 – 63

Bismarck – Henson 14, Mike Franklin 7, Tim Lincoln 7, Dan Caldwell 6, Matt Dunlap 6, Fortner 5, Travis Gambllin 3, Mathes 1.

Valley – Neier 24, Dickey 12, Tedder 10, Kearns 6, Lawson 5, Martin 2, Price 2.

3-Pointers: Henson 3, Caldwell 2, Franklin, Fortner, Tedder.

Metro 57, Valle 46

The Valle Warriors had a third-quarter collapse and could not recover as the Metro Panthers pulled away to a 57-46 win. Valle, which had led the first quarter and trailed by only five at the half, could only muster seven points in the third quarter to Metro’s 19.

Metro’s Jordan Loveless owned the boards with 11 rebounds in the game. Loveless scored six points in the third quarter on putbacks off of his offensive rebounds. Loveless led all scorers with 19 points.

Kyle Basler lit things up for Valle with four three-pointers to lead the Warriors in scoring with 12 points. Basler’s first three kept Metro guessing, since Valle’s main thrust on offense was to take the ball inside where Sean Odneal and Adam Hermann collected six of Valle’s 13 first-quarter points.

Metro’s Ryan Brown came off the bench in the second quarter and hit two three-pointers to leap-frog the Panthers into a lead they would never relinquish. Basler made his second three to help compensate for Metro’s momentum switch.

Valle fell behind by 18 points early in the second quarter, but the Warriors would not give up. With strong defensive play, Valle stopped Metro’s runaway, while going on an 10-2 run to cut the lead to 10 points. Time was running out for a comeback, and Metro was able to make 7-9 free throws down the stretch to close out the game.

Valley ends its season with a 6-20 record.

Valley 13 9 7 17 – 46

Metro 10 17 19 9 – 57

Valley – Basler 12, Grass 10, Odneal 8, Hermann 6, Meyer 6, Sexauer 4.

Metro – Loveless 19, Brown 12, Woods 9, Wells 6, Arnold 4, Johnson 4, Rechtien 2, Howard 1.

3-Pointers: Basler 4, Brown 3, Woods 1.