Carter Nickel
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Brock Netter

Brock is SOSA's primary writer and has worked for the Coshocton Tribune, the Kankakee Daily Journal (Ill.), the Vinton-Jackson Courier and the Jackson Telegram. He's a six-time award-winning journalist, a lifelong WWE fan, a suffering Bengals fan and calls the sidelines his home.

Valley makes necessary adjustments, downs South Webster in important league matchup

The Indians earned an eight-point victory after trailing at halftime.

Brock Netter, Staff Writer

Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.

LUCASVILLE — When a starting five has been playing together as long as Valley’s has, there’s never a sense of panic. 

Valley’s Jace Copley scored 15 points in the Indians’ win over South Webster on Tuesday.
CREDIT: Derrick Webb/SOSA

Instead, there’s a level of trust and comfort knowing that they’ve been in the type of situations they found themselves in on Tuesday — and the Indians, once again, managed to prevail. 

Despite trailing for much of an important league contest, Valley switched game plans in the fourth quarter, attacked the Jeeps’ interior and imposed its will to earn a 74-66 victory in SOC II action. 

“I’m proud of our effort. Patience and unselfishness were the reason we won this game,” Valley coach Craig Tackett said. “When things broke down and we found ourselves in a hole, we showed patience and battled back, found the open guy and trusted one another. South Webster is a really talented team and they did a good job of face-guarding Jace [Copley] early, but other guys stepped up and played great.” 

Valley (2-1, 2-1 SOC II) never shies away from taking any shot, no matter where it is on the court. However, the Indians also realized that, after going 2-of-11 from deep in the first half, the shots weren’t falling. 

They picked up the pace offensively, spreading the floor and making direct cuts to the basket, to shoot 15-of-20 from the floor in the second half. That paved the way for the team to rack up 18 assists, led by Carter Nickel with eight on the evening. 

“This is such an unselfish group, and these guys will turn down good shots if they see someone else has a great shot,” Tackett said. “We run a lot of sets for different guys, but if things break down, the guys make cuts to the basket for open layups and they did a great job of keeping their heads on a swivel.” 

However, the beginning of the game was all about South Webster’s Tyler Sommer.

The junior forward had a hot hand from the beginning, connecting on a pair of 3s early. Then Eli Roberts connected from distance to put the Jeeps (3-2, 1-2 SOC II) ahead 16-6. Valley answered with an 8-0 run following back-to-back triples from Jace Copley, but the Jeeps maintained an 18-17 lead after the first. 

That track-meet-like-pace didn’t slow down throughout the second. Valley’s Colt Buckle scored 12 of the Indians’ 17 points in the frame while Roberts and Will Collins combined to score 13 of the Jeeps’ 17. In the end, it was the Jeeps who went into the break with a slim 35-34 advantage. 

“We did a lot of press early and packed it inside, but all it did was lead to open shots that they were connecting on,” Tackett said. “It had to be a complete effort staying in from of them and limiting them to just one shot for the rest of the game.” 

All eyes went back to Sommer in the third and he heated back up.

He scored five straight points before later burying a triple as part of an 8-2 run that pushed the Jeeps’ lead to 52-44. Yet, Valley had an answer as Buckle, Levi Stewart and George Arnett combined to go on a 9-2 run to end the third, which cut the lead to 54-53. 

That created momentum heading into the fourth.

The Indians opened the quarter with back-to-back buckets from Copley and Nickel to take a 57-53 lead.

The group’s passes and cuts to the basket were crisp, leading to open layups that slowly began to create distance as time ticked away. Then Arnett canned a triple with less than two minutes left, pushing the lead into double digits at 68-57 before putting the game away for an important conference victory. 

Buckle finished the game with a team-high 22 points and eight rebounds for Valley, and was followed by Arnett with 18 points. Copley ended with 15 points while Stewart had 13 points, nine rebounds and five assists. 

For South Webster, Sommer finished with a game-high 28 points and four rebounds, while Roberts had 19 points and seven rebounds. Collins added 14 points as well. 

Valley returns to action on Friday at home in a non-conference bout against Spire Academy while South Webster rebounds in SOC II action at home against Waverly that same evening.

“Our guys adjusted really well to switching things up, and that’s the sign of a really coachable group of kids,” Tackett said. “We saw some things down below and it felt like our guards had an advantage in strength and size, so we ran some stuff for George, Jace and Colt that seemed to work out really well for us. We connected on a couple timely shots from deep that really helped us down the stretch to close out.” 

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