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Caleb Claussen (left) and Blake Crager battle for a loose ball against Ark City on the road Jan. 6.

Valley Center adjusts to beat Ark City
By Randy Fisher
Last Updated: January 08, 2015

When you start the season 1-5, you use Christmas break to make changes. That's what the past two weeks were all about for the Valley Center High School boys' basketball team. It must have done something right during that time, as the Hornets stood their ground in beating Ark City 47-39 on the road Jan. 6. Now 2-5 overall, Valley is 2-1 in Ark Valley Chisholm Trail League II play.

"I think the kids did a good job of following through with the game plan," Hornet coach John Wetig said. "With the adjustments we made over the break, I feel they did a decent job."

It took awhile for the adjustments to stick. The Hornets eased in front 8-5 at the end of the first quarter. Skyler Bryant, who led all scorers with 16 points, had nine of them in the second quarter for Ark City. Carson Lee's 3-pointer with two seconds left pulled Valley to within a pair at intermission, 19-17.

"Overall, I thought we played pretty good team defense in the first half. We just weren't hitting shots," Wetig said. "The only thing that hurt us, we weren't doing very well in our team defense in transition. We talked about it at halftime and came out and did a lot better job."

Jason Barbour quickly hit for three to start the third quarter as Valley edged in front. The Bulldogs recaptured the lead at 23-20 before the Hornets took over. They extended their lead to 28-23 on two free throws and a fast-break basket from Nathan Brown; a little inside-out, give-and-go between Blake Crager and Barbour with Crager scoring on a layup; and Barbour scoring on a fast break. Valley was up 32-25 at quarter's end.

"Coming out the third quarter I thought that Jason did a good job getting us going offensively," Wetig said.

Valley built a 13-point advantage, 41-28, early in the fourth quarter. Nathan Brown scored eight points during that time on a 3-pointer and two more fast-break layups. The Hornets held on down the stretch for the win.  

"I thought that Nathan Brown played a tremendous defensive game in the second half," Wetig said. "I thought he really stepped up his effort and got us some opportunities for easy buckets."

Nathan Brown scored 13 points for Valley. His brother, Tyler Brown, made his first varsity start and responded with a dozen points at point guard. The freshman didn't seem to be nervous with starting.

"Naw, I just thought I should have shot a little bit better," Tyler Brown said. "I thought I played alright. I think I had a little bit of jitters, but not very much."

"I thought he did a fantastic job, being the second-leading scorer on the team," Wetig said. "I thought he was pretty well composed. He made a few young mistakes, but he bounced back and was very coachable."

JV pounds Ark City — Valley Center's junior varsity grabbed an 11-2 lead at the end of the first quarter and rolled to a 55-28 win. Parker Owens scored 13 as the Hornets improved to 3-4.

Freshmen drop another — The Valley Center freshmen fell behind 14-2 after one quarter and lost 53-28 to Ark City. Aaron Coash and Zach Gillig each scored six points for the 0-6 Hornets.

Valley Center 47, Ark City 39

Valley Center

N. Brown 1-2 3-6 4-4 13, Barbour 1-2 1-2 2-2 7, T. Brown 0-3 3-7 6-7 12, Claussen 0-0 1-4 0-0 2, Crager 0-0 2-4 0-1 4, Wetig 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Lee 1-4 0-2 2-2 5, Johnston 0-1 0-1 0-0 0, Garcia 0-1 1-1 2-2 4, H. Shockley 0-0 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 3-13 11-28 16-18 47.

Ark City

Spencer 1-3 0-2 0-0 3, Mecalf 0-0 0-1 0-0 0, McVey 1-2 1-4 0-0 5, Bryant 1-6 4-10 5-6 16, Haley 0-1 2-4 4-9 8, White 0-0 0-2 0-0 0, Miller 0-0 0-0 1-2 1, Lolar 1-1 0-2 0-0 3, Walker 0-0 1-2 0-2 2, Borror 0-0 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 4-13 8-27 11-21 39.

Valley Center 8 9 15 15 — 47

Ark City 5 14 6 14 — 39

JV

Valley Center 54, Ark City 28

VC scoring – Owens 13, Lange 9, T. Brown 9, H. Shockley 8, Postlethwait 6, B. Shockley 4, Arrowood 3, Garcia 2.

Freshmen

Ark City 53, Valley Center 28

VC scoring – Coash 6, Gillig 6, Lentz 4, Berschauer 4, Hager 2, Lange 2, Skocny 2, Burns 2.






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