Eli Lake hooks one to the hoop. (Photo/Kristy Kimball Massey)
COLUMBIA (Jan. 13, 2016) – A lot of missed baskets ended the Bengals (13-4/1-1) chances of making a late rally as Spring Valley (9-4-2-0) won a key region game Tuesday night, 74-66.
“We played our tails off tonight against a good Spring Valley team, but our shots did not fall at the right opportunity for us,” Blythewood head coach Ezekiel Washington said. “Despite our early struggles we continued to sustain Spring Valley’s runs tonight. We didn’t capitalize at the proper times throughout the game.”
Spring Valley jumped out to a 21-13 lead in the first quarter with Jordan Bruner scoring 12 points in the opening frame, breaking the Bengals full-court pressure. With the hot start by the Vikings their lead never made it past single digits thanks to some hot shooting by the Bengals in the second quarter. Blythewood put up 18 points to keep pace with the Vikings, trailing only 39-31 at the half.
Despite slowing down the Vikings’ runs in the third and fourth quarters with the hot shooting from Blythewood senior guard Eli Lake, who dropped in 21 points, the Bengals could not capitalize when it was crunch time as Spring Valley escaped 74-66.
“Our efforts were pleasing at time but we need to capitalize on opportunities when given to us. We will use this game as an opportunity when we play Spring Valley again,” Washington said.
Blythewood hosts Lugoff-Elgin Friday and Westwood on Jan. 19.
Spring Valley 74, Blythewood 66
BW: Johnson 2, Matthews 10, Jackson 6, Bowers 2, Hammond 4, Lake 21, Shakir-Harris 5, Womack 8, Bailey 4, Churn 4. SV: T. Bruner 5, Harper 8, Grant 4, Ward 19, Wall 10, J. Bruner 19, Guyton 2, Myers 6 REC: Blythewood 13-4/1-1. Spring Valley 9-4/2-0.
