WILLOW WOOD - They could very easily have been holding those "D – fence" signs on the Symmes Valley bench.

The Vikings used a strong defensive effort to shut down the Portsmouth East Tartans offense as Symmes Valley rolled to a 57-37 Southern Ohio Conference win Friday.

Led by the defensive play of Chase Higgins and John Wiseman, the Vikings held the Tartans leading scorer Andrew Conley to just 6 points.

"This was one of the best defensive games we've played since I've been here," Vikings coach Alvin Carpenter said. "Conley is the defending player of the year in the league, so our kids did a heck of a job on him."

The Vikings did not have a player in double figures although 10 different players scored. Higgins had 9 points, Michael White 8 points and 10 rebounds, and Kyle Meadows 8 points and 10 rebounds.

Brent Downing had 10 points to lead East (6-4).

East was up 10-9 at the end of the first quarter, but Justin Ferguson had 5 of his 8 points in the second quarter as Symmes Valley rallied to take a 27-19 halftime lead.

Meadows scored 6 points in the third quarter as the Vikings extended their lead to 42-30.

Symmes Valley held East to just 7 points in the fourth quarter, all by Nathan Williams.

"We're getting better, but we have a tough stretch ahead of us. The next couple of weeks will determine who is going to win the league," Carpenter said.

Symmes Valley is now 6-4 overall but 4-1 in the SOC.

Prts. East109117-37

Sym. Valley9181515-57

PORTSMOUTH EAST (6-4):

Jeff Swick 0 0 8-10 8, Nathan Williams 0 2 1-2 7, Brent Downing 4 0 2-4 10, Andrew Conley 0 0 6-11 6, Brian Shepherd 0 0 2-2 2, Eric Runquist 0 0 2-3 2, John Luther 0 0 1-2 1, Travis Riggs 0 0 1-2 1. Totals: 4

2

23-36

37. Fouls: 22. Fouled out: None.

SYMMES VALLEY (6-4, 4-1):

Craig Neal 2 0 4-8 8, Cory Burcham 1 0 2-2 4, Chase Higgins 4 0 1-6 9, Derrek Cremeans 1 0 0-0 2, Justin Ferguson 1 1 3-7 8, Kyle Meadows 4 0 0-1 8, Justin Holland 1 0 2-4 4, Matt Owens 0 1 1-2 4, John Wiseman 1 0 0-0 2, Michael White 4 0 0-2 8, Kyle Burnett 0 0 0-0 0, Tyler Smith 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 21-64

(2-6)

13-32

57. Fouls: 25. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 41 (White 10, Meadows 10). Assists: 10 (Holland 3, Burcham 3). Steals: 16 (Neal 4, Holland 4). Turnovers: 11.