Valley boys basketball fends off Norwalk’s second-half surge to advance to state semifinal

Valley boys basketball shrugged off the sophomore droop and beat Norwalk, 63-48, within the Iowa state event quarterfinal on Wednesday. The Tigers superior to the state semifinal and can face 8-seed Nice Valley (20-5) on Thursday at 5 p.m.

“It feels nice,” Valley coach B.J. Windhorst mentioned. “We knew it was gonna be extraordinarily powerful sport. Norwalk’s a supremely disciplined group; they have good gamers who play rather well collectively. However anytime anyone’s made a run at us, in most video games we work out a technique to reply.

“Going into the season, my purpose was simply to get them down right here. Now we’re within the semis and we have got loads of work to do within the subsequent 24 hours.”

The primary half didn’t go in keeping with plan for Norwalk. The Warriors — who common 61.2 factors per sport — scored simply 18 between the primary two quarters.

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Norwalk shot 25.9% from the sector and 27.3% from 3-point vary within the first half, whereas Valley made 64.7% of its pictures and located success on 55.6% of its makes an attempt from past the arc. The Tigers outscored Norwalk, 14-5 within the second half to take a 31-18 lead at halftime.

Valley began the second half with a strong lead, but it surely didn’t final lengthy. The Warriors outscored the Tigers, 18-12, within the third quarter. Valley’s as soon as double-digit lead was lower to 7 factors, because the Tigers struggled with ball-control points.

The Warriors managed to maintain issues shut for a lot of the fourth quarter however landed in foul bother late. That handed Valley a number of additional alternatives from the charity stripe, and it was an excessive amount of for Norwalk to beat.

True group effort pushes Valley previous Warriors

For opponents, the hardest a part of guarding the Tigers is that they’ve so many choices. This beginning lineup of largely sophomores all contribute, and the main scorer may be completely different in any given sport.

Six completely different gamers registered no less than 4 factors, together with Chuck Epperly who went 2-for-2 from 3-point vary off the bench. Norwalk restricted Stinson’s manufacturing, and so this time it was Zay Robinson and Kiki Deng who took on a bigger position.

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Valley goes to want some gamers to step up greater than others, particularly as Stinson continues to get double-guarded by most opponents. With Stinson, Robinson, Deng and Trevin Jirak all ending within the double digits, will probably be exhausting for Valley’s subsequent opponent to determine who to dedicate their time to.

“We will all rating,” Robinson mentioned. “It is a larger menace for defenses. They do not have to fret about one, they gotta fear about everybody. Everybody performed rather well — beginning lineup, even individuals off the bench.”

Norwalk doesn’t depend on luck to place up factors

The Warriors’ taking pictures struggles weren’t fully their fault. There have been loads of moments towards Valley when Norwalk received good pictures off, however they only didn’t fall. This might have been a a lot completely different sport had the Warriors not had a number of pictures bounce the flawed method.

“I feel Valley deserved to win this sport,” Redek Born mentioned. “They have been higher on the free throw line, they shot higher from three. So, though pictures did not fall, you gotta give credit score to Valley. They made pictures after they needed to.”

Redek Born stored Norwalk within the sport with 8 factors, 5 rebounds and a pair of steals within the first half. He continued to supply within the second, but it surely was Aidan Tougher who stepped up over the ultimate two frames. He went from making 1-of-7 makes an attempt within the first two quarters to scoring on 3-of-6 pictures within the second half. Two of these discipline targets have been 3-pointers.

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Norwalk’s protection additionally did its offense some favors. The Warriors had extra steals (9) and capitalized off Valley’s 14 turnovers with 14 factors off them. Norwalk additionally stepped up with an aggressive offense, with 11 offensive rebounds and 10 second-chance factors.

Alyssa Hertel is the school sports activities recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at ahertel@dmreg.com or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.