LATHAM — Somebody please order a load of fill dirt.

Symmes Valley fell behind by 14 points in the first quarter and couldn’t overcome the Western Pike Indians’ big lead as they lost 69-57 Saturday in a Southern Ohio Conference game.

“We missed a couple of shots early, they hit a bunch of 3s and we dug a hole that we couldn’t get out of,” Vikings coach Alvin Carpenter said.

Michael White, who scored 25 points including five 3-pointers, helped get Western off to a fast start.

The Indians took an 11-2 lead to start the game as White hit four 3-pointers in the first quarter and scored 13 points. Michael Humphrey had a6 points for the Vikings in the quarter.

Each team scored 16 points in the second quarter — Kirt Shipley had 7 for the Vikings — and it was 44-30 at the break.

Again, the teams matched each other in the third quarter with 10 points a piece and it was 54-40 heading into the finals quarter.

Kyle Meadows had 5 points in the fourth quarter as Symmes Valley got within 5 points on several occasions before the Indians pulled away.

“After the first quarter, we played them pretty even. In fact, we outscored them by 2 points,” Carpenter said.

The Vikings (2-2, 1-1) were led by Humphrey with 18 points, 14 rebounds and 3 assists. Meadows had 11 points and 10 rebounds while Shipley added 11 points.

Along with White, Western’s leading scorer Jeremy McLeod had 15 points and Zach Kier 12.

The Vikings play at Ironton St. Joseph Tuesday.

Sym. Valley14161017=57

Western28161015=69

SYMMES VALLEY (2-1, 1-1):

Tyler Smith 1 0 0-0 2, Brice Sexton 0 1 0-0 3, Jacob Johnson 2 0 0-0 4, Kirt Shipley 2 2 1-2 11, Chris Capper 4 0 0-0 8, Kyle Meadows 5 0 1-2 11, Michael Humphrey 8 0 2-2 18. Totals: 25-52

(3-)

4-6

57. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 38 (Humphrey 14, Meadows 10). Assists: 11 (Johnson 3, Humphrey 3). Steals: 3 (Meadows 2, Shipley 1). Turnovers: 20.

WESTERN PIKE (4-0, 2-0):

Chris Penwell 2 1 0-0 7, Jeremy McLeod 6 1 0-1 15, Zach Kier 6 0 0-1 12, Michael White 3 5 4-6 25, Vint Shank 0 0 4-4 4, Tyler Cooper 0 0 0-2 0, Bobby Smitherson 3 0 0-0 6. Totals: 20

7

8-14

69. Fouls: 9. Fouled out: None.