Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

WILLOW WOOD — It was two different stories to two different halves, and neither story had a good ending as far as the Symmes Valley Vikings were concerned.

Trevon Turner made sure it was a happy ending for the Portsmouth Notre Dame Titans as he scored 28 points in a 59-50 Southern Ohio Conference win over the Vikings on Tuesday.

The Vikings’ offense struggled in the first half, then got rolling in the second half but came up short as Turner provided his best effort at the end.

“It was two different halves. We couldn’t come up with some offense the first half,” said Vikings’ coach Donnie Saunders. “Notre Dame is a nice team. Turner is a nice player. We had trouble finding someone to guard him. Both teams played.”

Shawn Belville posted a double-double with 24 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Vikings. Collin Webb added 12 points.

Turner finished with 28 points for Notre Dame while Hattachal Butayotee got 12 points.

Turner scored 6 points as Notre Dame jumped out to a 17-7 first quarter lead. Neither team did much scoring in the second quarter as the Tigers led 21-13 at the half.

“We had 12 turnovers but six came in the first quarter. That really hurt us,” said Saunders.

“If we cut down the turnovers and come up with a little more offense, it could have been a different game,” said Saunders.

Belville scored 8 of the Vikings first half points.

Belville had 8 points in the third quarter to offset 8 points by Turner as the Vikings cut the deficit to 37-31.

The Vikings got within 5 points to begin the fourth quarter in hopes of making a comeback.

Webb scored 9 points including 4-of-4 from the foul line and Belville scored 8 more points. But Turner scorched the nets for 14 points as the Titans recovered from the Vikings’ early surge and notched the win.

The Vikings play at SOC leader Sciotoville East on Friday.

Notre Dame 17 4 16 22 = 59

Sym. Valley 7 6 18 19 = 50

PORTSMOUTH NOTE DAME (10-1, 5-1): Isaiah Johnson 3 0 0-0 6, Sam Kayser 1 0 0-0 2, Trevon Turner 11 0 6-9 28, Ben Mader 0 0 0-0 0, Aaron Bazler 2 0 0-1 4, Hattachal Butayotee 6 0 0-2 12, Grant Sparks 2 1 0-0 7. Totals: 25 1 6-12 59. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: None.

SYMMES VALLEY (4-7, 2-4): Levi Cade 1 0 0-0 2, Chayden Renfroe 2 0 0-0 4, Collin Webb 2 1 5-6 12, Shawn Belville 12 0 0-3 24, Payton Hayes 0 0 0-0 0, Derrek Smith 0 0 0-0 0, Baldwin 0 0 0-0 , Forrest Humphrey 2 0 0-0 4, Jared Shepherd 2 0 0-0 4. Totals: 21 1 5-9 50. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None.