Photo by Keith Stewart
Okaw Valley’s Dylan Park (no. 13) gets around the pick set by teammate Joe Jeffers on Sullivan’s Kaleb Shumard Tuesday night. Despite Park’s 18 points, the Timberwolves fell behind in the fourth quarter and eventually lost 50-44.

December 10, 2014

Two 16 point quarters fend off OV in rivalry win

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

Neither team was surprised Tuesday evening in Findlay.
The annual county matchup between Sullivan and Okaw Valley’s boys’ basketball teams resulted in the same physical, high-paced game that at any time is anybody’s ball game.
But the Redskins were able to net 16 point performances in both the second and fourth quarters and hit free throws down the stretch to outdo the Timberwolves 50-44.
“Free throws were a lot better,” said Sullivan head coach Chester Reeder, comparing Tuesday’s 16-of-24 to Saturday night when the Redskins shot just 14-of-30 in their 49-47 loss to Jerseyville. “It was our best shooting night yet in our short season. But I was not happy at all with the rebounding. I thought we should have had more offensive rebounds. And turnovers, they didn’t really pressure us, so we shouldn’t have turned the ball over that much, but in an atmosphere like this and the way the game started, we were just kind of throwing the ball all over the place. To win ugly like that, it’s always a good thing.”
Okaw Valley got the best of the game’s energy at the start and managed a 7-0 run over a two-and-a-half minute frame to take a 12-5 lead.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.