WILLOW WOOD - Coach Alvin Carpenter believed his team could win.

And boy, did they.

The Vikings blistered the Latham Western Indians 80-46 Tuesday in a Southern Ohio Conference game.

Carpenter was pleased with his team's effort, especially since it was more than he had hoped for.

"It kind of surprised me. I didn't think it would be as easy as it was," Carpenter said.

Four Vikings reached double figures as they improved to 10-9 overall and 7-6 in the SOC.

Justin Ferguson had 14 pints to lead the starters. Matt Owens scored 13 points and John Wiseman added 10 points for the Vikings. Kirk Shipley came off the bench to scored 13 points.

Symmes Valley jumped out to an 18-2 lead in the first quarter. Ferguson had 8 points in the second quarter to offset 9 points by Western's Jeremy McLeod as the lead went to 37-18 at the half.

Wiseman scored 6 points in the third quarter and Symmes Valley added to its lead at 54-31. McLeod had 9 more points for the Indians.

Shipley had 8 points in the fourth quarter as the reserves finished up. McLeod

had 9 more points for Western.

"McLeod had a lot of points, but he got most of them in the second half when we started losing up our defense," Carpenter said.

McLeod finished with 29 points.

Western2161315-46

Sym. Valley18191726-80

WESTERN PIKE (NA):

David Cox 0 1 0-0 3, Mitch Cowley 0 0 2-4 2, Kyle Park 2 0 0-0 4, Jeremy McLeod 9 1 8-12 29, Jack Kier 3 0 0-0 6, Rich Ryan 1 0 0-0 2. Totals: 15

(2)

10-16

46. Fouls: 20. Fouled out: Cox.

SYMMES VALLEY (10-9, 7-6):

Craig Neal 3 0 0-0 6, Tyler Smith 1 0 4-5 6,

Cory Burcham 1 0 2-2 4, Kirk Shipley 3 2 1-2 13, Derrek Cremeans 1 0 0-0 2, Justin Ferguson 2 3 1-3 14, Kyle Meadows 3 0 1-4 7, Matt Owens 1 3 2-2 13, John Wiseman 4 0 2-6 10, Alex Burnett 2 0 1-2 5. Totals: 29-58

(8-17)

15-26

80. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: None. Assists: 16 (Holland 5, Smith 4). Steals: 13 (Wiseman 4, Cremeans 3). Rebounds: 48 (Wiseman 10, Burnett 10, Meadows 10). Turnovers: 13.