Indian Valley takes the rematch with Sandy Valley to keep pace in IVC

MAGNOLIA — Indian Valley, which lost to Sandy Valley on the Braves’ home court back in December, turned the tables on the Cardinals on their home hardwood Saturday night, posting a 60-48 Inter Valley Conference decision over the Cards before a large crowd.

With the win, the Braves raised their overall record to 14-3 and their league ledger to 7-2, one game behind league-leading Hiland.

With the setback, Sandy Valley is now 12-5 overall and 6-4 in IVC action.

Indian Valley shot better in the rematch with Sandy Valley and was also successful in playing solid defense against the Cardinals’ dangerous transition game.

“There are a lot of things we wanted to do differently tonight from the first time, and I thought we did a better job in transition defense after the first quarter,” said Indian Valley head coach Tyrone Miller. “I think six of their points in the first quarter were in transition, so I thought we adjusted well throughout the game on that. That was a key for us coming in.”

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“(The Braves) went a little more up-tempo than coach Miller usually does, and with the squad he’s got, I can definitely see why he’s doing that,” said Sandy Valley head coach Gary Offenberger.

Indian Valley had a well-balanced offensive performance as seven players scored in the game. Leading the Braves were Ryker Williams with 14 points, Noah Soenderup with 13 and Tanyon McComb with 12. Tyson Pryor just missed double digits with nine points.

“In the first game against them we really didn’t shoot the ball well, and we did a lot better job tonight putting the ball in the basket,” said Miller. “The nice thing is we have different players who can step up on a given night. If you look at our scorers tonight, there wasn’t one guy that stood out that you can kind of take out of the game, because we’ve got a lot of guys that can step up and make plays. That’s the mark of a good team and I’m really proud of our guys for that.”

Sandy Valley was led by its sharpshooting standout Dantae Faiello who took game-scoring honors with 24 points, while Nick Petro added 12.

The Braves got the cushion they needed to start the third quarter as they went on a 10-0 run and their lead quickly ballooned to 15 points (34-19) just over two minutes into the frame. Indian Valley stretched its lead to 19 points (48-29) at the end of three.

“In the third quarter we had a really nice spurt to start the quarter,” Miller said. “Landon McPeek hit a really big shot for us and then we were able to kind of just get to the rim a little bit and get some nice, easy shots to fall and then we were kind of able to break it open.”

Miller felt rebounding was a key to the win as well.

“I don’t know what the rebounding numbers were, but I thought we out-rebounded them tonight,” he said, “and when we get offensive rebounds that also keeps them out of transition offense.”

Indian Valley travels to Tusky Valley Tuesday night in IVC South action.

“This was a battle for second (in the IVC) tonight and keeps us in contention (behind league-leading Hiland),” said Miller. “We told our guys we’ve got a big stretch of league games coming up and we’re just trying to take it 32 minutes at a time and knock them off one at a time. Tuesday night won’t be any easier at Tusky Valley, so we’ve got to make sure we’re ready to go for that.”

Sandy Valley ventures to Garaway Tuesday evening in IVC play.

SANDY VALLEY (12-5, 6-4 IVC): Lukas Gilland 1 1-6 3, Nick Petro 6 0-0 12, Luke Williams 3 0-0 6, Anthony Ross 1 0-2 3, Drew Graybill 0 0-0 0, Landen Wigfield 0 0-0 0, Gage Walter 0 0-0 0, Troy Snyder 0 0-0 0, Dantae Faiello 7 5-6 24, Thorn Stenger 0 0-0 0. Totals: 20 6-14 48.

INDIAN VALLEY (14-3, 7-2 IVC): Luke Wells 0 0-0 0, Sam Carter 1 0-0 3, Landon McPeek 2 2-4 8, Tanyon McComb 3 3-4 11, Tyson Pryor 3 3-4 9, Deagan Beaber 0 0-0 0, Jackson Murphy 1 0-0 2, Ryker Williams 4 6-7 14, Noah Soenderup 6 1-1 13. Totals: 20 15-20 60.

Sandy Valley   9-10-10-19—48

Indian Valley   14-10-24-12—60

3-point goals: Sandy Valley 2 (Dantae Faiello 1, Anthony Ross 1). Indian Valley 5 (Landon McPeek  2, Tanyon McComb 2, Sam Carter 1).

Total fouls: Sandy Valley 17, Indian Valley 15. Fouled out: Lukas Gilland, Luke Williams. JV: Indian Valley 43, Sandy Valley 33

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Indian Valley defeats Sandy Valley in key IVC contest