CJ handed Valley View its first loss of the season 84-81 at the Benner Fieldhouse Classic held Tuesday in Xenia.
“I’m just proud of our guys,” CJ head coach Charlie Szabo said. “We’re a young group and still learning the finer points of being a varsity basketball team. But part of that is you’ve got to be locked in for 32 minutes and we weren’t. Credit to Valley View, they were ready.”
Valley View raced out to a 7-0 lead in just over a minute. Szabo called a timeout and could be heard from the huddle reminding his players their opponents had clearly come ready to play and his Eagles needed to match that intensity.
A pair of runs was his team’s response and helped propel CJ (5-4) into a big lead it never relinquished.
The Eagles grabbed its first advantage on a three-pointer by senior Caden Hatcher near the midway point of the second quarter. It was part of a 14-2 run to open the period that saw CJ grow the lead to as much as six.
Credit: Steven Wright
Credit: Steven Wright
CJ then used a 10-0 run in the the third quarter to create some distance after Valley View seemingly began to ran out of steam.
“We’re still trying to become a good defensive team and part of being one is you have to limit what you give the other team,” Szabo said. “In that first quarter when they scored 27 points, we’re then on pace to give up 108 and we were giving them way too much stuff. I thought we did a really good job in the second and third quarters in limiting what we gave them.”
A furious run in the fourth quarter by the Spartans saw them nearly overcome a 16-point deficit. After scoring 22 combined points across the second and third quarters, Valley View went on a 14-2 run in just over two minutes of play to close the gap.
Junior Brody Denny had been held down for most of the middle part of the game — Szabo credited junior Reco Vaughn for the defensive effort after the game — before the lid eventually came off for him.
“I told the boys after the game I wish we would have done a press earlier in the game after seeing how successful it was,” coach Zach Denny said. “But when you’re in foul trouble it’s hard to do those things sometimes early on.”
CJ found its footing and kept its opponent at bay by remaining patient on the offensive end through working clock and waiting for the right passing lane into the paint to open.
The Eagles would hit five free throws in the final minute to make a half court heave at the buzzer by Denny mean nothing but to reduce the final margin.
“We knew we were going to be a huge test on their schedule. And you can tell their kids were going to be ready,” Szabo said. “They came out locked in and hitting shots. I’m really happy how we responded.”
Valley View (7-1) had raced out to an unbeaten start this season thanks to a pair of buzzer-beating shots by Denny, one in a game at Carlisle on Dec. 12 and most recently in an 82-81 win over Bellbrook on Saturday.
Credit: Steven Wright
Credit: Steven Wright
Ty Fritz set the Valley View career record for blocks with his 141st coming in the second quarter.
A challenging schedule for CJ to start the season has seen them take close losses to Lakota East, Newark and Cincinnati McNicholas. Szabo said he doesn’t want a day-by-day challenge to be any different for his team, which continues Saturday with a game at Cincinnati Wyoming.
“I hope confidence comes from us meeting the challenges. We don’t back down,” he said. “This is commonplace to go in and play a great team and great player because we’re doing it every week. We hope our team’s in shape and ready and been tested and battle worn by the time tournaments come back.”
Valley View has a week off before returning to the court in a game hosting Eaton on Jan. 6.
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