Spring Valley boys stay strong
After knocking off No. 3 Blythewood on Tuesday, the Spring Valley boys basketball team showed no signs of a hangover against Ridge View.
The Vikings led wire-to-wire, and turned in one of their most impressive performances of the season in defeating Ridge View 79-61 on Thursday for their seventh straight victory.
“We came out and played well. We played hard for four quarters, which was really important,” Spring Valley coach Perry Dozier said. “One thing I really like was that we were real poised.”
Spring Valley (12-4, 3-0) moves into first place over the Blazers by a game and Blythewood by 1 1/2 games in the Region 4-4A standings.
“We are pretty excited,” Spring Valley senior Jordan Bruner said of the team’s 3-0 start. “We didn’t have good games out of region. But, we had a clear mindset and started working harder when we got into region, and take it one game at a time.”
Noah Harper led Spring Valley with 18 points, and Javondi Myers added 17 points and 10 rebounds. Myers scored 13 of his 17 in the first half.
Bruner had his second straight double-double with 13 points, 10 rebounds and six bocks. Five Viking players scored in double figures.
The Vikings led 22-9 after the first quarter and maintained a double-digit lead until Kaiden Rice converted on a four-point play to cut the lead to 59-50 with 4:21 left. Spring Valley, however, answered with a 6-0 run and wasn’t challenged the rest of the way.
“The past couple games, we have come out a little slow and had to turn it up in the second half,” Bruner said. “But we have been really focused coming out strong and putting them away so we didn’t have to worry as much in the second half.”
Dozier admitted he was a little nervous when the Blazers made that run in the fourth quarter, especially because Ridge View overcame a 16-point deficit to defeat his brother’s Westwood squad Friday. But he was pleased with the way his team handled themselves down the stretch.
“I started worrying because this team always runs people down,” Dozier said of Ridge View. “That is one of my biggest concerns. I told them at halftime we got to play in the second half like we did in the first half.”
Xavier Mason led Ridge View (10-4, 2-1) with 17 points, 15 coming in the second half.
Both teams will take part in the inaugural Crescent Construction MLK Bash on Monday at Keenan High. Ridge View faces Heathwood Hall at 2:45 p.m., and the Vikings take on Wilson at 4:45 p.m.
SV: Noah Harper 18, Grant 2, Deangelo Ward 10, Kendall Wall 10, Jordan Bruner 13, Davis 4, Javondi Myers 17. RV: Griffin 2, Justine Alewine 10, Lewis 2, Fleming 2, Rice 6, Xavier Mason 17, High 2, Johnson 2, Corley 5, Coatie 3.
GIRLS Ridge View 50, Spring Valley 41
Armanii Grice scored 18 points and the Blazers closed the game with a 13-0 run over the final 4:32 to knock off the Vikings.
The loss snapped Spring Valley’s 13-game winning streak. The Vikings entered the game as the No. 1 ranked team in the The State’s girls high school poll and third in the Class 4A South Carolina Basketball coaches poll.
Each team had big runs in the game with Spring Valley’s coming in the second half. The Vikings (13-2, 2-1) scored six straight points, including hitting 3-of-4 free throws following Laura Ajukwa’s technical foul to lead 41-37 with 4:32 left.
Ridge View (10-4, 2-1) answered as Ajukwa scored four straight points to tie it at 41. Then, Grice hit one of the game’s biggest shots when she buried a 3-pointer to put the Blazers up 45-41 with 1:09 left. Grice had four of the team’s six 3-pointers.
“The biggest thing was our composure,” Ridge View coach Terrence Gibson said. “We played a tough schedule and had been in this situation before so the biggest thing was trusting in ourselves and we did.”
Christian Hithe led Spring Valley with 11 points.
SV: Matthews 4, Lewis 1, Christian Hithe 11, Wall 2, Jones 6, Hall 8, Taylor 9. RV: Laura Ajukwa 14 Addison 9, Armanii Grice 18, Tisdale 5, Anderson 4.
This story was originally published January 14, 2016 at 11:28 PM.