Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

PORTSMOUTH — The good outweighed the bad.

Symmes Valley did some good and some bad, but the good was too much for Portsmouth Clay as the Vikings whipped the Panthers 57-45 Friday in a Southern Ohio Conference game.

“We stepped it up and played pretty well,” said Vikings’ coach Donnie Saunders.

“We cut down on our fouls and we cut down on our turnovers. We played pretty good defense. We didn’t shoot well at the foul line. That was the only real negative we had.”

On the good side, D.J. Miller had 19 points and 3 steals while Austin Baldwin had 16 points. Tyler Rowe had 8 rebounds and Dylan Malone grabbed 7 in his first career start.

Eldin Sarajlic scored 17 points and Michael Schmidt 10 to lead Clay (2-4, 1-1)

The Vikings led 16-11 after the first quarter. Miller then scored 10 points in the second quarter and Baldwin drained a pair of 3-pointers as Symmes Valley opened up a 34-27 halftime lead.

The Vikings held the Panthers to a mere 4 points in the third quarter as they stretched the lead to 47-31.

The bad came into play in the fourth quarter. Sarajlic scored 9 points for Clay and the Vikings made just one of nine free throws attempts.

“We didn’t make our free thows at the end and we have to learn to do that in big games,” said Saunders.

“We have to get better at closing out games. But overall, I was pleased with our effort.”

But the Panthers only outscored the Vikings 14-9 as the comeback fell well short.

Symmes Valley will host Green in a league game on Tuesday.

Symmes Valley 16 18 13 9 = 57

Portsmouth Clay 11 16 4 14 = 45

SYMMES VALLEY (2-3, 1-1): Alex Herrell 0 0 3-5 3, D.J. Miller 6 0 7-13 19, Tanner Conley 0 0 0-0 0, Austin Baldwin 5 2 0-0 16, Mitch Corn 0 0 0-0 0, Clayton Toney 2 1 0-3 7, Dylan Malone 3 0 0-2 6, Tyler Rowe 3 0 0-0 6. Totals: 19 3 10-23 57. Rebounds: 33 (Rowe 8, Malone 7). Assists: 5 (Malone 2). Steals: 12 (Herrell 3, Miller 3). Turnovers: 13. Fouls: 10. Fouled out: None.

PORTSMOUTH CLAY (2-4, 1-1): Levi Evans 1 1 1-2 6, Aaron Phipps 3 0 0-0 6, Conner Phipps 0 0 0-0 0, Zack Phillips 0 0 0-0 0, Tony Whitt 1 0 0-0 2, Eldin Sarajlic 5 2 1-1 17, Mark Shaffer 1 0 0-0 2, Michael Schmidt 4 0 2-2 10, Mason Pelphrey 1 0 0-0 2. Totals: 16 3 4-5 45. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: None.