Vikings pull away from Flyers in typical matchup

Published 12:00 am Friday, December 14, 2007

WILLOW WOOD — New show, same script.

In yet another tight game between two small school rivals, the Symmes Valley Vikings edged the St. Joseph Flyers 68-64 Tuesday.

“It was one of those games of spurts,” said Vikings coach Alvin Carpenter. “We’d go well for a while and then they would play well for a while. It was a typical St. Joe-Symmes Valley game.”

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The Vikings used several big spurts to lead by as many as 18 points before the Flyers rallied to within a point in the second half.

“We just dug ourselves too big of a hole and we had a couple of lulls in the first half and got careless with the ball,” said Flyers coach Kevin Sheridan.

Chris Capper scored eight points in the first quarter as the Vikings spurted to a 16-11 lead.

Jacob Johnson had seven points in the second quarter and Symmes Valley opened up a 32-23 halftime lead.

The Vikings led by 18 points in the third quarter before the Flyers stormed back as Chad Harvey scored 8 points and Pat Gagai hit a pair of 3-pointers to cut the deficit to one.

Hunter Boggs and Chris Capper sank two foul shots each and Johnson nailed a 3-pointer as the Vikings opened up a 53-41 lead at the end of the third quarter.

St. Joseph came back again as Gagai and David Crossan hit trifectas and Caleb Blackburn made a free throw and the deficit was cut to 53-48.

But Smith converted 8-of-8 from the foul line over the final two minutes to preserve the win. The Vikings were 13-of-18 as a team in the quarter.

“I was glad to see the ball in Tyler’s hands,” said Carpenter.

Capper scored 21 points and Smith had 18 — he was 10-of-12 at the line — to lead the Vikings (3-2). Johnson added 11 points.

Kris Tibbs grabbed 11 rebounds and Capper pulled down 10.

Harvey led the Flyers (2-3) with 19 points and nine rebounds. Blackburn had 14 points and seven rebounds and Gagai added 11 points.

St. Joseph11121823=64

Symmes Valley16162115=68

ST. JOSEPH (2-3): Chad Harvey 6 0 7-11 19, Payton Blair 1 2 0-0 8, David Crossan 1 1 2-3 7, Joey Basedow 2 0 1-2 5, Pat Gagai 1 3 0-0 11, Caleb Blackburn 4 0 6-8 14, Alex Brown 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 21-43 16-24 64. 3-point goals: 6-12. Fouls: 21. Fouled out: Gagai, Blackburn. Rebounds: 11-20=31 (Harvey 9, Blackburn 7). Assists: 14 (Crossan 4, Gagai 3, Blair 3, Basedow 3). Steals: 11 (Gagai 4, Crossan 3). Turnovers: 17.

SYMMES VALLEY (3-2): Tyler Smith 4 0 10-12 18, Jacob Johnson 2 2 1-1 11, Kris Tibbs 2 0 1-2 5, Jesse Graybeal 0 1 0-0 3, Chris Capper 9 0 3-8 21, Matt Tibbs 1 0 2-2 4, Robbie Powell 1 0 0-0 2, Hunter Boggs 1 0 2-3 4. Totals: 23-55 19-28 68. 3-points goals: 3-11. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: Johnson. Rebounds: 35 (K. Tibbs 11, Capper 10). Assists: 14 (Smith 8). Steals: 12 (M. Tibbs 4, Johnson 4). Turnovers: 13. Blocked shots: 4 (M. Tibbs 2, K. Tibbs 2).