Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
WEST PORTSMOUTH — High-level players are able to use a scouting report and their own experience to make winning plays in tight games.
And by looking off a defender, Valley’s Christian Copen was able to create a small opening for Blake Lundy on Wednesday. Seconds later, Copen connected with a cutting Lundy for a go-ahead layup with just under a minute to play to win a wild, important 45-42 game at West.
“I saw the bottom guy of their zone was going to the left corner, so I knew the backside would be open,” Copen said following the win. “So I just threw it and [Lundy] was there.”
CREDIT: Sam Walsh/SOSA
“With Christian, you know if you don’t stop moving that he’ll find you eventually,” Lundy added about Copen. “He finds the open man. He’s easily our best playmaker.”
While Copen and Lundy combined for the game-sealing play, they were far from the only playmakers in Wednesday’s win.
After a rough shooting performance in the first half, Valley’s Braxten Conaway came off a screen on the opening possession of the second to bury a triple.
It was one of two 3’s for the sophomore as he also knocked down a corner 3 in the fourth quarter to help the Indians (7-3, 1-1 SOC III) pick up some momentum down the stretch.
“In the first half, he wasn’t hitting well and I told him, I said, ‘You’re going to hit some big shots in the second half,'” Copen said. “I just trusted him. He’s our shooter. He’s been our guy. He hit some big shots down the stretch.”
West had its share of playmakers as well.
Will Kegley scored nine of the Senators’ 15 first half points to keep the Senators within striking distance, cutting a 15-7 lead to 17-15 late in the half. However, a pair of interior baskets from Lundy gave the Indians a 21-15 lead at the break.
Kegley only added a pair of baskets in the second half, but Logan Wolfenbarker picked up the slack, scoring 11 of his 14 in the final two quarters, including consecutive scores to end the third and give the Senators a 32-30 lead.
The final stanza saw only one lead change, but a battle for all eight minutes.
The aforementioned corner 3 from Conaway gave the Indians the lead, before consecutive scores from Jaxsyn Bender pushed the advantage to 37-32.
With just under three minutes to play and Valley leading 42-38, West (7-3, 1-1 SOC III) began to show its depth.
Christian Quirasco scored on a baseline drive, followed by a floater from Mason Parker to tie the game at 42-42 with 1:42 remaining.
The Senators then got a stop and ran half a minute off the clock, but a costly turnover gave possession back to Valley. That set up the Copen-to-Lundy connection to put the Indians ahead 44-42.
Throughout the game, the Indians moved the ball well inside against the vaunted zone defense of the Senators. But the floor spacing on the winning possession helped make things possible.
Conaway was in the left corner, forcing extra attention to be paid on the shooter, leading to the backside cut from Lundy to be open and, ultimately, give the Indians a late lead.
Later, after splitting a pair at the line, West quickly got the ball up the floor. But a late challenge from Bender forced the final shot to go just off the rim, sealing a huge Southern Ohio Conference win for the Indians.
“Me and Christian, we text all the time, back and forth and this is one of the games that we knew, if we won, we had a real shot,” Lundy said. “We have goals set up all over our locker room. One of them is being top three in the SOC. We knew if we won this one, it’s a big step towards that.”
Lundy led the Indians with 12 points, while Conaway added 10. Bender and Copen each tallied nine points, while Bender pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds. Copen passed out six assists.
West returns to action on Tuesday at Wheelersburg, while Valley travels to play at Waverly on Friday.
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