LATHAM — The Symmes Valley Vikings aren’t fans of the fourth quarter.

The Vikings played Southern Ohio Conference leader Western Pike close for more than three quarters of the game before the Indians pulled away to a 90-77 win Saturday night.

“We played pretty well, they just started to pull away at the end when we had to start fouling,” Vikings coach Alvin Carpenter said.

The Vikings, plagued early by foul trouble, were led by Kirt Shipley with 19 points and Seth Saunders who had 17 points and nine rebounds.

Kyle Meadows added 10 points for the Vikings (4-8, 4-4 SOC).

Michael White scored 26 points while Jeremy McCleod had 20 points,

nine rebounds and eight assists to help Western maintain its SOC lead at 7-1. Zach Kier had 15 points and Vince Shanks 10.

Owens scored seven points in the first quarter to offset eight by White as the Vikings took a 23-21 lead.

McCleod got the hot hand and scored 10 points in the second quarter as Western rallied to take a 44-42 halftime lead. Saunders scored nine points to keep the Vikings close.

The Indians (11-2) began to pull away in the third quarter behind seven points by Kier as the lead grew to 63-55. Shipley had seven points in the quarter for the Vikings.

Shipley had 10 more points in the fourth quarter, but White made five foul shots and McCleod two as Western went 7 for 7 from the line over the last 30 seconds to end any comeback hopes by the Vikings.

Sym Valley23191322=77

Western21231927=90

SYMMES VALLEY (4-8, 4-4): Tyler Smith 1 0 0-0 2, Kirt Shipley 5 3 0-0 19, Chris Capper 4 0 1-2 9, Seth Saunders 7 1 0-0 17, Kyle Meadows 5 0 0-1 10, Anthony Owens 3 1 0-1 9, Michael Humphreys 1 1 4-4 9, Alex Burnett 1 0 0-0 2. Totals: 33-63 (6-18)

5-8

77. Fouls: 24. Fouled out: Owens, Humphreys, Capper, Meadows. Rebounds: 37 (Saunders 9, Capper 9). Assists: 15 (Smith 6, Shipley 6). Steals: 9 (Saunders 4). Blocked shots: 4 (Meadows 3, Capper 1). Turnovers: 19.

WESTERN PIKE (11-2, 7-1): Jeremy McCleod 3 4 2-4 20, Blake Downey 1 0 1-2 3, Zach Kier 7 0 1-2 15, Michael White 7 2 6-7 26, Vince Shanks 2 0 6-11 10, Milan Pavlov 1 2 0-0 8, Bobby Smithson 2 0 4-4 8, Richard Rhine 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 23

8

20-30

90. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: None.