WILLOW WOOD — The clamps were more like a vice grips.

The Symmes Valley Vikings tightened their defense in the fourth quarter and pulled away from the Coal Grove Hornets 63-47 Saturday.

Symmes Valley led by just 3 points at the end of the third quarter, then held Coal Grove to just 4 points in the fourth quarter to win going away.

“In the fourth quarter we put the clamps on them. The defense definitely came through,” said Vikings’ coach Jerome Fuller.

Part of the Vikings strategy was to wear down the Hornets. Both teams played Friday, but the Vikings won by 20 and rested their starters while the Hornets beat Rock Hill at the buzzer.

“We tried to pressure them and force them to go hard. They played a tough game (Friday) night and we tried to wear them down. It seemed to work in the fourth quarter,” said Fuller.

While the defense was doing its job, Kris Tibbs was providing the offense for the Vikings. The 6-foot-3 senior scored 34 points as he connected on 13-of-22 field goal attempts and made 5-of-8 free throws.

“(Tibbs) definitely set the tone tonight,” said Fuller.

Tibbs scored 16 points of the Vikings points in the first quarter as they took an 18-15 lead.

The Hornets (9-4) came back to cut the deficit to 31-30 at the half.

But again Tibbs took over and scored 12 more points in the third quarter and the lead was 46-43.

That set the stage for the fourth quarter as the Vikings outscored the Hornets 17-4.

Luke Taylor added 12 points and 19 rebounds for Symmes Valley. Hunter Johnson had 10 rebounds.

Devin Monnier scored 19 points and Cody Damron 15 for the Hornets.

Coal Grove 15 15 13 4 = 47

Sym. Valley 18 13 15 17 = 63

COAL GROVE (9-4): Evan Ferguson 2 0 2-2 6, Wayne Sparks 1 0 3-4 5, Oakie Haynes 1 0 0-0 2, Cody Damron 4 2 1-2 15, Devin Monnier 4 3 2-4 19, Dion Cunningham 0 0 0-0 0, Jacob Pauley 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 12 5 8-12 47. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: Ferguson, Haynes.

SYMMES VALLEY (6-4): Drew Brock 0 0 0-0 0, Justin Payne 2 0 0-0 4, Kris Tibbs 10 3 5-8 34, Luke Taylor 3 0 6-12 12, Hunter Johnson 3 0 0-2 6, Josh Craft 2 1 0-0 7, Brandon Bowling 0 0 0-0 0, Michael Ferris 0 0 0-0 0, Jacob Patterson 0 0 0-0 0, Ryan Stanley 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 20-48 4-11 11-22 63. Fouls: 9. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 45 (Taylor 19, Johnson 10). Assists: 16 (Craft 4, Payne 3). Steals: 14 (Payne 4, Craft 3, Tibbs 3, Taylor 3). Turnovers: 11.

Symmes Valley 56,

Prts. Notre Dame 36

PORTSMOUTH — It’s not the number of shots you take, but the number you make.

The Symmes Valley Vikings didn’t take as many shots as normal, but they hit 40 percent as they beat the Portsmouth Notre Dame Titans 56-36 Friday in a Southern Ohio Conference game.

“We didn’t score a lot but we shot the ball pretty well. It was a slow-paced game and we used our bench a lot in the second half,” said Vikings’ coach Jerome Fuller.

Luke Taylor had 15 points and 8 rebounds for the Vikings (5-4, 4-2). Josh Craft scored 12 points and Kris Tibbs had 7 rebounds despite sitting out the fourth quarter.

Alex Glockner scored 9 points for the Titans.

The Vikings led 11-7 after the first quarter, but Taylor got 9 points in the second quarter and the defense limited the Titans to only 5 points and it was 31-12 at the half.

Friday’s Game

Sym. Valley 11 20 14 11 = 56

Notre Dame 7 5 13 11 = 36

SYMMES VALLEY (5-4, 4-2): Drew Brock 1 0 0-0 2, Brad Lemaster 0 0 0-0 0, Justin Payne 2 0 0-0 4, Kris Tibbs 4 0 0-0 8, Cory Brown 0 0 0-0 0, Luke Taylor 6 0 3-5 15, Hunter Johnson 2 0 0-1 4, Josh Craft 3 1 3-6 12, Brandon Bowling 2 0 0-0 4, Michael Ferris 1 0 0-2 2, Ryan Stanley 1 0 1-2 3, Jacob Patterson 1 0 0-0 2. Totals: 23-51 1-9 7-16 56. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 38 (Taylor 8, Tibbs 7). Assists: 11 (Payne 2, Taylor 2, Tibbs 2, Bowling 2). Steals: 8 (Taylor 3). Turnovers: 10.

PORTSMOUTH NOTRE DAME: Joey Story 0 1 0-0 3, Tyler Noel 1 0 1-4 3, Carlos Perez 0 1 0-0 3, Alex Glockner 1 2 1-2 9, Jeffrey Emnett 1 0 1-4 3, Blake Glockner 1 0 0-0 2, Jeff July 3 0 0-0 6, Brad Pierron 1 1 2-4 7. Totals: 8 5 5-14 36. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: None.