Published: December 18, 2008 02:52 pm      

Eagles rally past Sacred Heart

By JIM OTTS

Register Correspondent

MUENSTER — The Valley View Eagles needed a change of strategy to overcome an 11-point deficit and dialed up just what the doctor ordered to sneak past the Sacred Heart Tigers 50-47 in a battle of undefeateds Tuesday.

The Eagles trailed 31-42 with 7:03 remaining but used full court pressure to cause six Sacred Heart turnovers down the stretch. The Eagles also held a rebounding edge in the waning moments, limiting the host Tigers to just one shot per trip down the floor while getting extra chances in their own offensive end.

Inside shots by Cameron Vesperman and Justin Holt help Valley View whittle the Tiger lead to 41-46 then Corey Davilla, Vesperman and Holt hit three-pointers in succession during the final 1:28.

“We pressed throughout the fourth quarter and we are not a pressing team,” Valley View Coach Paul Pliler said. “I think it was a good thing for us to have to come from behind like this.”

“Valley View has a really good team and they did a good job shooting inside in the fourth quarter,” Sacred Heart Coach Jon Lebrasseur said. “There were two very good basketball teams out there tonight.”

The game started on the sloppy side with each team committing seven turnovers in the first quarter.

The Tigers hit an early basket before Valley View reeled off 12 unanswered points and led 12-2 with 2:03 left.

A steal and lay-up by Pat Mojica and three free throws by Kevin Kulle cut it to 12-7.

The Tigers warmed in the second quarter, however. They hit four straight three-point shots and limited Valley View to one rebound and put-back shot and pulled ahead 21-14 midway through the stanza.

Sam Sparkman tossed in one of the long range buckets, Nick Popovich added one and Kulle netted the other two. Kulle added another three-pointer later in the second quarter.

Valley View got eight second-quarter points, all from Holt. He had three field goals and two free throws to keep the Eagles close.

Sacred Heart led 24-20 at intermission.

The Tigers got more three-pointers from Kulle and Popovich and inside shots from Sparkman and John Krawietz to lead 40-29 as the fourth quarter began.

“We were afraid they were going to go to a four-corner offense and not give us any chances to shoot so we went to the press,” Pliler said.

The Eagles move to 14-0 with the victory while the Tigers are now 7-1.

Holt led all scorers with 26 points and Vesperman pitched in 15. Scott Willis added 4 points for the Eagles, Davilla had 3 and Josh Anding added 2.

Kulle was the leading scorer for Sacred Heart with 20, Popovich had 12, Sparkman 7, Mojica 4, Krawietz 2 and Ian Barnhill 2.