By Dennis Clark
WEST TERRE HAUTE — Size doesn’t really matter as long as the basketball goes through the hoop. And boy can the small-in-stature West Vigo boys basketball team tickle the twines, if their first game is any indication.
West Vigo shot the ball at a sizzling 58.8 percent clip, exploding for 29 first quarter points, and breezed to an easy 80-58 victory over visiting North Vermillion in the season openers for both teams at the Green Dome on Wednesday.
“I’ll tell you what, I’ve been coaching a long time and I don’t know that I’ve seen a team shoot the ball any better than those guys,” NV coach Mike Ahrens said of the Vikings.
“I mean it’s not just one or two guys, it’s three or four or five. I can’t really imagine there are any better shooters in the state than these guys.”
Two familiar faces, senior Tyler Wampler and junior Scott West, paced the Vikings with 19 points apiece.
The smallest of the diminutive Vikings, sophomore guard Jordan Houser, contributed 16 points coming off the bench. Houser was a perfect 6-of-6 from the field, 4-of-4 from beyond the 3-point arc, and even had a blocked shot.
Others coming off the Vikings’ bench were solid too. Ryan Crowther tallied nine points and six rebounds, while Dalton Mix added seven points.
“I thought we did some things well,” West Vigo coach Joe Boehler said. “We got some points up on the board [early]. Sometimes that’s good and bad. You get a big lead like that and you get a little bit complacent … and I thought there in the second half we got a little complacent with things.
“We shot the ball extremely well. Did a pretty decent job as far as rebounding. It’s a good first game for us. It’s a good win. You take a win anytime you can get it. But we’ve got to get better.”
The game had two early lead changes, but the Vikings quickly assumed command by scoring on 10 of 11 possessions to close out the first quarter. The resulting 25-10 run featured 5 of 6 on 3-pointers, Houser accounting for three of those treys.
The Vikings went on a 10-2 run late in the second quarter to build a 20-point lead, before settling on a 48-30 advantage at intermission.
West drilled a 3-pointer to start the second half, followed up by an uncontested drive to the basket by Wampler from the top of the key. On the latter play, NV’s defense resembled the parting of the Red Sea resulting in Ahrens calling a quick timeout for a spirited “talk” to his team.
But the Vikings continued its onslaught, leading by 27 points after three quarters. Starting the fourth quarter, back-to-back treys by West and Brodey McCalister — his only shot of the game — created the Vikings largest lead at 75-42, a whopping 33 points.
“We’re not the quickest team in the world and we had a lot of problems early on matching up,” Ahrens said. “They ran out on us so fast. Our defensive effort was so much better from the second quarter on. We’ve still got a lot of work to do offensively.”
One bright spot for the Falcons was the play of sophomore center Lane Clark with a double-double of 18 points and 12 rebounds. Zach Jumps was their only other player in double figures at 17 points.
“I really believe [Clark] can be the best post man in the [Wabash River] conference this year and that’s what I’ve challenged him to do,” Ahrens stated.
But the consistent Vikings — connecting on 60 percent of their shots in the first half, 57.1 percent in the second half — were just too much to handle for the Vikings on this particular night.
“A lot of guys stepped up and really shot the ball well,” Boehler added. “We’ve emphasized shooting a lot in our practices this year. But you know, shooting comes and goes. Hopefully, it sticks around for a while.”
North Vermillion 58
Player fg 3pt ft r s pf tp
McCool 4-7 0-2 0-0 2 1 0 8
Leigh 3-10 1-4 0-1 3 3 3 7
L.Clark 8-13 0-0 2-6 12 2 2 18
Jumps 6-12 0-1 5-10 3 0 3 17
Rankin 1-11 1-5 2-2 7 0 4 5
Harrison 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0
E.Clark 1-3 0-0 1-2 2 2 0 3
Totals 23-58 2-12 10-21 30* 9 13 58
West Vigo 80
Player fg 3pt ft r s pf tp
McCalister 1-1 1-1 0-2 4 1 1 3
Kent 2-3 0-1 0-0 3 1 2 4
Thornton 1-4 0-2 0-0 2 1 4 2
Wampler 7-15 2-5 3-6 6 0 2 19
West 7-14 3-6 2-3 4 1 2 19
Houser 6-6 4-4 0-0 0 2 1 16
Crowther 3-3 0-0 3-4 6 0 2 9
Mix 3-5 1-2 0-0 1 1 2 7
Flesher 0-0 0-0 1-2 2 0 1 1
Lydick 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Kent 2-3 0-1
Totals 30-51 11-21 9-17 30* 7 17 80
North Vermillion 13 17 12 16 — 58
West Vigo 29 19 21 11 — 80
FG Pct. — NV .397, WV .588. 3-pt FG Pct. — NV .167, WV .544. FT Pct. — NV .476, WV .529. (*) Includes team rebounds — NV 1, WV 2. Turnovers — NV 13, WV 12. Blocks — NV 2 (McCool, Rankin), WV 1 (Houser).
JV — West Vigo 48 (Kyle Stewart 14, Nathan Gregg 14), North Vermillion 18 (Tyler Bradburn 6).
Next — West Vigo (1-0) is host to South Vermillion on Dec. 4. North Vermillion (0-1) plays host to North Putnam on Saturday.
