Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

SCIOTOVILLE — The Symmes Valley Vikings are doing a lot of things well, and that includes winning.

A solid all-around performance sparked the Vikings as they beat the Sciotoville East Tartans 47-38 Friday in a Southern Ohio Conference 1 game.

“We’re taking better care of the ball, we’re taking good shots and we’re playing good defense,” said Vikings’ coach Donnie Saunders. “Rowe and Baldwin did an excellent job on Bias.”

Tyler Rowe and Austin Baldwin teamed up to hold East’s 6-foot-10 Tyler Bias to 8 points and 4 rebounds.

The Vikings had just 8 turnovers and forced East into 18 miscues.

Baldwin had 15 points as the Vikings improved to 8-4 overall and 6-2 in the SOC. D.J. Miller had 10 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. Rowe finished with 8 points, 12 rebounds and 6 steals.

Justin Crager had 15 points and Tyler Bradford 11 for East (9-3, 5-2).

The Tartans took a 4-2 lead, their only lead of the game.

The Vikings came back to lead 12-6, but Crager hit a 3-pointer before the buzzer and it was 12-9.

Symmes Valley was leading 18-17 with a minute to go in the half when Baldwin and Rowe hit back-to-back jumpers to open up a 22-17 lead at the break.

Bradford hit a 3-pointer with 1:47 left in the third quarter to get East within 31-28. Baldwin was fouled and hit the first of two free throws to make it 32-28. Rowe rebounded the missed second shot and fed Miller who hit a 3-pointer for a 35-28 lead.

Miller then stole the ball and went in for a layup and a 37-28 lead.

The Vikings used their stall game in the fourth quarter. East scored to cut the deficit to 45-38 with 22 seconds left, but Herrell scored on a run-out layup to seal the win.

The Vikings hosted Coal Grove on Saturday and entertain Portsmouth Clay Tuesday in a league game.

Sym. Valley 12 10 15 10 = 47

Sciotoville 9 8 13 8 = 38

SYMMES VALLEY (8-4, 6-2): Alec Herrell 4 0 0-0 8, D.J. Miller 1 2 2-2 10, Austin Baldwin 6 0 3-6 15, Clayton Toney 2 0 0-0 4, Dylan Malone 1 0 0-0 2, Tyler Rowe 4 0 0-0 8. Totals: 20-50 5-8 47. 3-point goals: 2-8. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 30 (Rowe 12, Miller 5). Assists: 11 (Miller 3, Herrell 3, Rowe 3). Steals: 9 (Rowe 6). Turnovers: 8.

SCIOTOVILLE EAST (9-3, 4-2): Justin Crager 2 2 5-7 15, Hayden Russell 2 0 0-0 4, Tyler Bradford 2 2 1-2 11, Patrick Bias 4 0 0-2 8, Michael Stiltner 0 0 0-0 0, Shain Siebert 0 0 0-0 0, Dakota Walker 0 0 0-0 0, Nick Basham 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14-42 6-11 38. 3-point goals: 4-10. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 15 (Bias 4). Assists: 4 (Crager 2, Bradford 2). Turnovers: 18.

RESERVES: Symmes Valley (10-2) 47-38. SV scoring: Brandon Craft 11, Johnathan Kouns 10. East: Michael Stiltner 11, Richard Bolda 11.