Photo by RR Best
Peyton Hagerman drives between two Shelbyville defenders Friday night. The senior tallied 22 points to help lead his team to a 68-58 win.

December 6, 2014

Endure 11-0 run by Rams in fourth quarter

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

Friday night’s season opener at Shelbyville might not have resulted in the 68-58 victory for Okaw Valley had it taken place last year.

“Not to look back, but last year we lost 10 games that we led or tied in the fourth quarter, so it’s encouraging to start off this year with the result being the opposite,” said OV head coach Tony Sparks. “But again, that’s the difference between playing sophomores and juniors and then juniors and seniors.”

After managing to keep a double-digit lead over the Rams for all of the third quarter and halfway through the fourth, OV succumbed to an 11-0 run by Shelbyville on the back of three 3-pointers and all within a minute-and-a-half, prompting a Timberwolf timeout.

“We went to a 2-3 zone there just to give them a different look for about three possessions, and it burned us,” said Sparks. “They hit three 3’s in a row, but we responded. And that’s what I expect a senior led team to do. We called a timeout, regrouped, and talked about it. Then got back to what was working before for us– man-to-man. Then we made some plays, got the rebounds, hit some free throws, and broke their press. We got some easy layups. That’s what we expect a senior led team to do.”     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.