FRANKLIN FURANCE — “Dear God, I pray for patience and I want it right now.”

Coach Alvin Carpenter’s prayers were answered Friday as the Symmes Valley Vikings held off the Green Bobcats 60-53.

“The difference in the game was our patience on offense. We came out and we were pretty patient and we were taking good shots,” Carpenter said.

One results of the patience showed with just 15 turnovers.

The Vikings hot shooting in the first quarter saw Michael Humphrey score 7 points and Kyle Meadows 6 to build a 17-7 lead.

“We just had a slow start and no intensity and they were hitting everything,” Green coach David Hopper said.

Randy Ratcliff scored 14 points in the second quarter to rally Green and cut the Vikings lead to 29-28 at the half.

“(Ratcliff) was a man-child in there the way he played,” Hopper said.

“We hit our shots in the first quarter, but in the second quarter we were taking the same shots and couldn’t make them,” Carpenter said.

Green came back to tie the game at 41-41 at the end of the third quarter despite 8 points by Humphrey.

But in the fourth quarter, Jacob Johnson sank 6 of 8 from the foul line, Humphrey 4 of 4 and Kirt Shipley 2 of 2 to give the Vikings the win. They were 9 of 10 at the line over the final two minutes.

Despite the loss, Hopper was pleased with his team’s effort.

“I’m proud of them. They played hard. That was our best game of the year even though we lost,” Hopper said.

Humphrey finished with 22 points. Meadows had 13 points, 11 rebounds and 3 blocked shots while Johnson had 13 points and 5 steals.

Ratcliff scored 18 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. Nathan Patten scored 14 and Brock Russell had 10 points and 7 rebounds.

The game was pivotal toward remaining alive in the Southern Ohio Conference race. Symmes Valley is now 7-3 and 4-2 in the SOC while Green drops to 3-6 and 2-3.

Sym. Valley17121219=60

Green7211312=53

SYMMES VALLEY (7-3, 4-2): Tyler Smith 0 0 0-1 0, Brice Sexton 0 0 0-0 0, Jacob Johnson 2 1 6-8 13, Kirt Shipley 2 1 2-2 9, Jesse Graybeal 0 0 0-0 0, Chris Capper 0 0 0-0 0, Matt Tibbs 0 1 0-0 3, Kyle Meadows 5 0 3-4 13, Michael Humphrey 8 0 6-6 22, Nate Spencer 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 20-45

17-21

60. 3-point goals: 3-6. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 33 (Meadows 11, Johnson 6). Assists: 13 (Capper 3, Shipley 3, Smith 3). Steals: 10 (Johnson 5). Turnovers: 15. Blocked shots: 4 (Meadows 3, Humphrey 1).

GREEN (3-6, 2-3): Chris Willard 0 0 2-2 2, Nathan Patten 2 3 1-2 14, Randy Ratcliff 6 0 6-7 18, Ian Kelley 4 0 1-1 9, Corey Dyer 0 0 0-0 0, Austin Pollard 0 0 0-0 0, Brock Russell 5 0 0-0 10. Totals: 17

3

10-12

53. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: Willard. Rebounds: 30 (Ratcliff 12, Russell 7, Willard 5, Kelley 5). Assists: 13 (Kelley 4, Patten 3). Turnovers: 15.