By Tom Reck
TERRE HAUTE — Shakamak outscored West Vigo 8-4 in the final 50 seconds of their Pizza Hut Wabash Valley Classic game Wednesday evening to defeat the Vikings 48-45 and take third place in the event.
“We would rather have been playing in the last game [but] it’s good to finish third. It would have been good to finish fourth in this tourney. It is a great event and is great preparation for the big tournament,” said Shakamak coach Steve Brett following the contest.
The Lakers led most of the way and took a five-point lead into the final quarter when Tyler Wampler led a West Vigo rally and hit one of his six baskets to give the Vikings their first lead of the game since the outset at 41-40 with less than three minutes to play.
The Vikings had two chances at the free-throw line to hike that lead but could not connect and Billy Newton hit two free throws to put the Lakers back into the lead at 42-41 with 49 seconds to play.
Tyler Richardson hit two more free throws six seconds later to make it a 44-41 game but Wampler hit a free toss with 27 seconds to go to cut the Lakers’ lead to two points.
Newton then scored on a breakaway layup and Shakamak was up by four points. Jordan Houser got a field goal before Richardson hit another free throw and Wampler’s basket and Richardson’s free toss closed out the scoring.
“We made some pressure free throws and made some big stops on defense. You can’t simulate that in practice,” said Brett.
“We shot ourselves in the foot in the last minute . . . we missed four free throws, had a turnover and gave up a breakaway layup on a missed assignment. We’re a young team and still learning,” said West Vigo coach Joe Boehler.
“We did a better job on defense in the second half. Tyler and John [Smith] did a good job on Wampler. It was a team effort,” said Brett.
The Lakers had an 8-5 lead after one period and fronted 16-14 at the intermission as the teams combined to hit 13 of 39 shots.
The Lakers shot 50 percent for the game with no 3-pointers while West Vigo was good on 46 percent of its shots with four treys.
Shakamak had a 27-24 edge on the boards with Newton grabbing a game-high nine and Cody Thornton having eight for the Vikings.
Both teams took good care of the basketball. West Vigo had 10 turnovers and Shakamak 11.
Newton had 25 points for the Lakers, now 6-2 for the year. He hit his last nine shots and was 5 of 6 at the gratis stripe in addition to grabbing the nine rebounds.
“We’re happy to win. It will give us a lot of confidence going into the Greene County Classic [next week],” said Newton.
Richardson added 12 points to the Shakamak totals and hit four free throws.
Wampler led the Vikings, now 6-5, with 17 points. Houser and Ryan Crowther each scored eight points. Crowther also had seven rebounds.
West Vigo 45
Player fg 3pt ft r s pf tp
Wampler 6-13 2-6 3-6 3 1 3 17
Houser 4-10 0-5 0-2 1 1 4 8
McCalister 0-0 0-0 0-0 3 0 0 0
Thornton 3-6 0-1 0-2 8 0 2 6
Mix 1-3 1-2 0-0 1 0 1 3
Crowther 3-5 0-0 2-2 7 2 2 8
Kent 1-2 1-1 0-0 1 1 3 3
Lydick 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Totals 18-39 4-15 5-12 *24 5 15 45
Shakamak 48
Player fg 3pt ft r s pf tp
Newton 10-15 0-1 5-6 9 0 2 25
Richardson 4-11 0-3 4-8 3 1 4 12
Smith 3-4 0-1 0-1 3 2 2 6
VanHorn 2-5 0-0 1-2 4 0 1 5
Langford 0-1 0-0 0-0 3 0 3 0
Crody 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Dowell 0-2 0-1 0-0 2 0 2 0
Totals 19-38 0-6 10-17 27 3 14 48
West Vigo 5 9 17 14 — 45
Shakamak 8 8 20 12 — 48
FG Pct. — WV .461, S .500. 3P Pct. — WV .266, S .000. FT Pct. — WV .416, S .588. Turnovers — WV 10, S 11. Team rebounds (*) — WV 1, S 3.
Next — Shakamak (6-2) faces North Central in the Greene County Invitational on Tuesday. West Vigo (6-5) is at Riverton Parke on Jan. 8.
