Vikings Knock Off Western, 61-59

Symmes Valley's Bronx Carpenter tries for 2 down in the lowblock. (Photo by Kayla Niece)

Western's Alex Siliven goes up for a basket in the post. (Photo by Kayla Niece)

Symmes Valley's Ethan Smith tries to get separation from a defender. (Photo by Kayla Niece)

WILLOW WOOD — The Symmes Valley Vikings held up their end of the deal. Now they just wait.

The Vikings slipped past the Western Indians on Saturday night to win 61-59 and finished 8-2 in the Southern Ohio Conference 2 race.

Beaver Eastern is 8-1 and plays Northwest on Tuesday. The Eagles need a win to take the title outright, but a loss would open the door for the Vikings to grab a share of the conference championship.

The Vikings are now 15-6 overall and finish 8-2 in the SOC. Eastern is 18-3 on the season and 8-1 in the league.

Foul shooting played a part in the outcome but in a not-so-positive way.

In the fourth quarter, the Vikings only connected on 3 of 11 from the foul line while the Indians were 8 of 14. For the game, the Vikings were 15 of 24 and the Indians were 14 of 26.

The teams were tied 38-all going into the fourth quarter.

The Vikings’ Bronx Carpenter converted a 4-point play to open the fourth quarter. The Indians’ Drew Haggy hit a 3-pointer that tied the game at 51-51 with 3:35 to play.

The Vikings went up by 6 points as Will Jones sank a free throw with 41 seconds to play and made 2 more foul shots after a steal by Ethan Smith.

Foster Davis hit a 3-pointer for Western with 21 seconds left to get the Indians within 60-57.

Smith converted one of his two free throws for a 4-point lead but Haggy was fouled on a desperation 3-point attempt with 1.2 seconds left.

Haggy made the first two shots but missed the third one intentionally hoping for Western to get the offensive rebound and score to tie the game. But Haggy was whistled for stepping into the lane too soon and the Vikings got the ball inbounds to run out the clock.

Haggy hit a 3-pointer and scored 5 points as Western took a slim 7-6 first quarter lead.

The scoring pace picked up in the second quarter as the Vikings took a 24-20 halftime lead with.

Kam Janes and Haggy scored 4 points each for the Indians.

Western (13-8, 5-5) rallied to tie the game in the third quarter as Haggy hit a pair of 3-pointers and scored 9 points.

Smith scored 7 points including 3 of 4 at the line for the Vikings with Tanner Corn adding a 3-pointer.

Smith scored 24 points to lead the Vikings with Carpenter scoring 16.

Will Jones was a vacuum cleaner on the boards with 12 rebounds to go with 4 assists. Asher Maynard had 5 rebounds and 2 steals, Carpenter had 4 assists, 4 steals and 2 blocks with Corn nabbing a couple of steals.

Haggy scored 23 points and Alex Siliven 13 for the Indians.

Western    7 13 18 21 = 59

Sym. Valley 6 18 14 23 = 61

WESTERN (13-8, 5-5): Tyler Kerns 0 0 0-0 0, Samuele Cattaneo 0 0 0-0 0, Drew Haggy 1 5 6-13 23, Landon Owens 2 1 2-3 9, Kam Janes 3 0 1-1 7, Alex Siliven 5 0 3-3 13, Cutter Clay 0 0 1-2 1, Ayden Riggs 1 0 0-2 2, Foster Davis 0 1 1-2 4. Totals: 12 7 14-26 59. Fouls: 21. Fouled out: Janes.

SYMMES VALLEY (15-6, 8-2): Gradee Holland 0 0 0-0 0, Logan Simpkins 1 0 0-0 2, Ethan Smith 6 2 6-9 24, Tanner Corn 3 1 0-2 9, Bronx Carpenter 0 4 4-5 16, Will Jones 0 0 5-8 0, Levi Owens 0 0 -0 0, Asher Maynard 1 1 0-0 5. Totals: 19-54 15-24 61. 3-pt goals: 8-26. Rebounds: 9-O 15-D = 24 ((Jones 12, Maynard 5). Assists: 11 (Jones 4, Carpenter 4). Steals: 12 (Carpenter 4, Maynard 2, Corn 2). Blocks: 3 (Carpenter 2, Smith 1). Turnovers: 10. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: None.