By JIM WALKER

Tribune Sports Editor

BEAVER — It was the defense and rebounding of Symmes Valley against the long-range shooting of the Eastern Eagles.

Defense and rebounding won.

The Vikings used defense to shut down the Eagles’ 3-point shooting for three quarters, then made enough free throws to withstand their fouling tactics as the posted a 76-65 Southern Ohio Conference win Friday.

“Eastern has shooters. They have the best shooters of anyone we play,” said Vikings’ coach Jerome Fuller. “But our defense limited them to one shot most of the time, we rebounded well and we found enough to win.”

Symmes Valley is now 13-3 overall and 8-2 in the SOC. Green and Portsmouth Clay also have two league losses. Eastern lost for the fourth time in SOC play.

Luke Taylor had a huge game for the Vikings with 27 points and 17 rebounds.

But he had plenty of help.

Corey Brown scored a career-high 15 points, Josh Craft had 12 points and 10 rebounds and Jacob Patterson added eight points and seven rebounds. Ryan Stanley also had seven rebounds.

“Patterson played well and Stanley was solid. Brown really came up big and helped us,” said Fuller. “Alec Herrell played in the fourth quarter and gave us some good minutes.”

Eastern was led by Chad Lands with 18 points. Aaron Satterfield scored 16 while Caleb Watkins had 11 and Jordan Thornsberry 10.

Taylor scored 14 points in the first quarter as the Vikings raced to a 20-4 lead, but Eastern cut the deficit to 32-23 at the half.

“We got the big lead, but I knew they were going to come alive. It was just a matter of time,” said Fuller.

Brown had nine points in the third quarter as the Vikings extended their lead to 49-36 at the end of the third quarter.

Eastern hit five of their nine 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, but Craft was 10 of 16 from the line and the Vikings were 21 of 34 in the quarter.

“They started fouling us with five minutes to go and we were able to make enough shots to win,” said Fuller.

The two teams won’t have to wait long to meet again. Eastern plays at Symmes Valley on Tuesday.

“We’ve been through a tough stretch. We went to Clay, we played Green at home, we went to Eastern and now we have them at home. These are all the top teams in our league and you just don’t know if you can play that well every night. So far we’ve been up to the challenge,” said Fuller.

Symmes Valley 20 12 17 27 = 76

Beaver Eastern 4 19 13 29 = 65

SYMMES VALLEY (13-3, 8-2): Alec Herrell 0 0 0-0 0, Brad Lemaster 0 0 0-0 0, D.J. Miller 2 0 3-4 7, Corey Brown 5 0 5-5 15, Luke Taylor 8 1 8-13 27, Tyler Wilson 0 0 2-4 2, Josh Craft 1 0 10-16 12, Jacob Patterson 3 0 2-4 8, Ryan Stanley 2 0 1-1 5. Totals: 22-58 31-47 76. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 1-4. Rebounds: 48 (Taylor 17, Craft 10, Stanley 8, Patterson 7). Assists: 9 (Patterson 2, Brown 2, Craft 2. Steals: 12 (Taylor 4, Craft 3). Turnovers: 21. Blocked shots: 5 (Stanley 2, Patterson 2).

BEAVER EASTERN (NA): Caleb Watkins 2 2 1-3 11, Dakota Hawks 1 0 2-2 4, Chad Lands 4 2 4-4 18, Morgan Cisco 2 0 0-2 4, Jordan Thornsberry 3 1 1-1 10, Blake Roberts 0 0 0-0 0, Tavarius Pickett 0 0 2-4 2, Aaron Satterfield 2 4 0-0 16, Billy Lykins 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14 9 10-16 65. Fouls: 29. Fouled out: Cisco.

RESERVES: Symmes Valley 37-30. SV leaders: Alec Herrell 10, Tyler Rowe 9.