West Vigo boys get big road win at South Vermillion
TERRE HAUTE, Dec 01, 2012 (Menafn - The Tribune-Star - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --"We looked like we'd been playing for awhile," West Vigo's Adrien Corenflos said Friday night, which is as good a way as any to summarize West Vigo's season-opening 72-58 Western Indiana Conference boys high school basketball win at South Vermillion.
The Vikings, one of the later-starting teams in the Wabash Valley thanks to an opening game postponement, did indeed look like a seasoned unit Friday -- and with practically a brand new roster to boot.
And Corenflos, seeing his first action in even a longer span of time, was one of the main reasons.
The West Vigo center, who hadn't even been able to play in the jamboree two weeks ago because of his recovery from a knee injury, not only started the game but hit its first shot, a 3-pointer that got the Vikings off to a good start. It was 16-4 late in the first quarter -- the host Wildcats contributing to their demise by missing six free throws in the first eight minutes -- and the visitors had double-digit leads most of the rest of the way.
"The kids came out and played really hard; they did a lot of things well," coach Joe Boehler said after the game. "They were not perfect; there were some bonehead mistakes ... but we came to play, and I thought we played smart."
"[The Vikings'] extra practice really showed," coach Michael Byrum of the Wildcats agreed. "They've been productive with their time."
The fast start was vital for West Vigo because the Wildcats -- a five-win team last year that lost its leading scorer and rebounder to graduation -- showed signs of being an extremely dangerous team, particularly at the offensive end.
The Wildcats forced a quick tempo much of the game, slashed to the basket well enough to shoot 41 free throws, and had the lead down to seven points midway through the second quarter before West Vigo stretched the margin back to 33-19 by halftime.
Then South Vermillion really made a run.
After two straight 3-pointer by Corenflos early in the third quarter put West Vigo ahead 43-25, sophomore guard Jordan Branz got his team back in the game almost single-handedly by stealing the ball to draw two successful free throws, assisting on a layup by Cole Morgan, then stealing the in-bounds pass after that score and hitting a layup. Now the lead was just 43-31, and the home team continued its run to 12-0 when Logan Waldrop, Morgan and Kaden Lawson all used offensive rebounds to score two points.
With the lead cut to 43-37, however, West Vigo got through the Wildcat press for a layup by Kyle Stewart that seemed to stop the bleeding. When Aaron Kirby got an offensive rebound in the waning seconds of the third quarter and swished a 3-pointer from the deep corner just ahead of the buzzer, the Viking lead was back to 50-39. When the Vikings went from 64-53 to 68-53 in the blink of an eye -- a basket by Alex West, then a steal and score by Stewart -- the hard-charging Wildcats were finally too far behind.
"When you're a young team like we are, you're going to struggle with being consistent," Byrum noted. "We started off the game inconsistent; our shooting struggled, and I think our young players worried about that instead of fighting through it.
"When we do things we're capable of, they look good," the Wildcat coach continued. "We have a lot of potential, we just have to be consistent -- can you tell what our key word is?"
"They have a lot of guys who can score, and Kaden Lawson is one of the best guards in our conference," Boehler said of the Wildcats. "They've improved tremendously."
The Vikings have rebuilt well, considering that most of their roster is new and two four-year players graduated from last year's team.
"We all came out ready to play," Corenflos said. "Nobody's a star; this was a team win."
Stewart led the Vikings with 19 points while West added 17, Corenflos had 12 plus a game-high nine rebounds and Kirby scored 10. Cade Lindsey had seven points, five rebounds and ran the team efficiently, and bench players added help.
"Everybody out there made a significant contribution," Boehler said. "It's nice to be a little bit deeper ... we took care of the ball, we rebounded well, and we got good shots when we were patient."
Lawson had 19 points, seven rebounds and four assists for South Vermillion, while Branz had 13 points and eight rebounds.
WEST VIGO (72) -- Kirby 3-10 2-2 10, West 8-11 1-1 17, A.Corenflos 4-7 1-2 12, Lindsey 1-4 5-6 7, Stewart 6-13 6-6 19, Cardinal 0-3 0-0 0, Daley 0-1 0-0 0, Wilson 0-0 1-2 1, Stonebarger 1-1 1-2 3, H.Corenflos 1-1 1-2 3, Maples 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-51 FG, 18-23 FT, 72 TP.
SOUTH VERMILLION (58) -- Lawson 4-13 11-14 19, Luft 1-2 0-0 2, Hines 1-2 0-0 2, Branz 2-7 9-15 13, Spivey 3-7 1-2 8, Weyrauch 1-7 2-4 4, Waldrop 0-2 2-2 2, Morgan 2-3 2-4 6, Strayer 1-3 0-0 2, Crouch 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-46 FG, 27-41 FT, 58 TP.
West Vigo 16 17 17 22 -- 72
South Vermillion 5 14 20 19 -- 58
3-point shooting -- WV 6-17 (A.Corenflos 3-5, Kirby 2-5, Stewart 1-5, Lindsey 0-1, Cardinal 0-1), SV 1-11 (Spivey 1-1, Branz 0-1, Strayer 0-1, Lawson 0-4, Weyrauch 0-4). Total fouls -- WV 23, SV 21. Fouled out -- none. Turnovers -- WV 14, SV 11. Rebounds -- WV 43 (A.Corenflos 9, Wilson 6, Kirby 5, West 5, Lindsey 5), SV 34 (Branz 8, Lawson 7). Assists -- WV 16 (Kirby 4), SV 6 (Lawson 4). Steals -- WV 9 (Stewart 5), SV 7 (Branz 3, Weyrauch 2). Blocks -- WV 1 (Kirby), SV 1 (Morgan).
Next -- West Vigo (1-0, 1-0 WIC) plays tonight at Owen Valley. South Vermillion (1-1, 0-1) plays next Friday at Owen Valley.
--West Vigo 41, South Vermillion 22 -- In the opener of the Western Indiana Conference doubleheader at Clinton, the visiting Vikings emerged with more than enough offense after playing shutdown defense the entire game.
Ten different Vikings scored, none in double figures, but the key West Vigo player was one who had just four points and three rebounds. McKenzie Little had those numbers, but shut down high-scoring Wildcat senior Bailey Mack on the defensive end.
With Mack unable to get going, the rest of the Wildcats -- junior Katelyn Freed plus six sophomores and four freshmen -- rarely good a comfortable look; except for back-to-back 3-pointers in the second quarter by Carlie Johnson and in the fourth quarter by Taylor Andrew, in fact, the home team was all but shut out.
Shyanne Elkins led West Vigo with eight points and added six rebounds, while Brittany Voils had six points and six assists and Lexus Elkins grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.
Johnson scored eight, Andrew six and Freed five for South Vermillion, with Jamaica Wright getting seven rebounds.
WEST VIGO (41) -- L.Elkins 1-3 1-2 3, Little 2-8 0-0 4, S.Elkins 4-8 0-0 8, Voils 3-7 0-0 6, Lane 2-6 0-0 5, Edington 2-9 0-0 5, Cardinal 0-4 1-2 1, Byrley 1-4 0-0 2, Pointer 0-2 0-0 0, Houser 1-1 0-0 3, Morrison 2-3 0-0 4, Hudson 0-0 0-0 0, Curley 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-55 FG, 2-4 FT, 41 TP.
SOUTH VERMILLION (22) -- B.Mack 0-11 1-4 1, Andrew 2-4 0-0 6, Freed 1-8 3-5 5, Vitaniemi 1-6 0-2 2, Johnson 2-7 2-4 8, Spivey 0-5 0-0 0, Hixon 0-2 0-0 0, Wright 0-2 0-0 0, Russell 0-0 0-0 0, Rigsby 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 6-45 FG, 6-15 FT, 22 TP.
West Vigo 15 11 5 10 -- 41
South Vermillion 5 7 0 10 -- 22
3-point shooting -- WV 3-11 (Houser 1-1, Edington 1-2, Lane 1-3, Voils 0-1, Little 0-4), SV 4-17 (Andrew 2-3, Johnson 2-5, Freed 0-1, Hixon 0-1, Spivey 0-3, B.Mack 0-4). Total fouls -- WV 16, SV 5. Fouled out -- none. Turnovers -- WV 22, SV 25. Rebounds -- WV 49 (L.Elkins 9, S.Elkins 6), SV 38 (Wright 7, Freed 5, Johnson 5). Assists -- WV 14 (Voils 6), SV 4 (Vitaniemi 2). Steals -- WV 14 (Voils 3, Cardinal 3), SV 16 (Freed 4, Vitaniemi 3, Spivey 3). Blocks -- WV 3 (L.Elkins, Byrley, Lane), SV 6 (Wright 2).
Next -- West Vigo (2-5, 1-1 WIC) plays today at Owen Valley. South Vermillion (0-7, 0-3) hosts South Putnam on Tuesday.
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