Boys Basketball: Vikings roll over Indians again

PORTAGE — Valparaiso’s recent success against Portage continued Friday as the Vikings won their ninth straight game over the Indians, sweeping the season series for the fourth straight year with a 62-32 win.

“I think we were really consistent offensively tonight,” said Valparaiso (9-2, 6-2 DAC) coach Joe Otis. “We did a really good job of spreading the wealth. When you have five guys get eight or more points and your team scores 62 … that’s a good night.”

Using some long possessions, Portage started the game with a quick 5-0 run. But their next eight possessions ended with seven turnovers and a missed 3-point attempt, allowing Valparaiso to score the game’s next 12 points. They didn’t trail again in the game.

“We didn’t execute well on our first few possessions and they did,” said Otis. “Then we hit one basket and got going from there. We were just sluggish to begin with, but you have to credit them because they hit some good shots.”

The Vikings’ run continued in the second quarter, outscoring the Indians 20-13 thanks to 8 for 14 shooting from the floor, including a trio of threes. Drew Boetel did the most damage, scoring all of his nine points in that quarter.

Portage’s offense, meanwhile, continued to struggle with ball-handlin, committing another five turnovers in the second period, giving them a total of 12 in the first half alone.

“We came in with a good gameplan, we executed early, we moved the ball well and made some nice plays,” said Portage coach Rick Snodgrass. “But then we just didn’t move the ball well, that’s the bottom line. We just make too many mistakes and we don’t know how to handle adversity.”

During halftime, Otis told his team: “We needed to hold them to 10 points in the third quarter, and we ended up holding them to 11 points in the entire half. You can’t really complain about that.”

David Jercha finished with the game with 10 points to lead the Indians, although all of those points came in the first half.

As a team, Portage hit just two of their 15 field goal attempts in the second half.

John Mosser finished with a game-high 11 points for Valparaiso.

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