TVS Coach Tony Augspurger has been through ‘a couple’ of rival games with that ‘team up north’ and he noted that this is a game circled on the calendar and North always finds a way to light it up. He must have had déjà vu all over again when Jake Williams nailed North’s first attempt at a trey to start the game. Fortunately for Augspurger, South countered with an assist from Clint Spitler to fellow junior Eric Walker on the block and the 2009 episode of the friendly feud in the Twin Valley was on.

South made a defensive stop on the ensuing possession and stayed patient on their offense that worked the ball inside their first 3 out 4 times down the floor that opened a 6-3 lead.

On defense Augspurger deployed a box and one on North’s leading scorer, junior Brandon McAdams. After TCN’s Matt Robinson tied the game at 8 with an old fashioned 3 point play, North’s offense stalled and TVS took advantage.

Ryan Innis led TVS on a 9 – 1 run and contributed 9 of his game high 25 points in the quarter. Innis and teammates Eric Walker and Levi Robbins benefitted from Clint Spitler setting the table with assists. South ended the quarter with an 18 – 9 lead.

TCN started the 2nd quarter the same as the first when Robinson nailed his first 3 pointer to cut the lead to six. TVS turned the tide against TCN when they crashed the offensive boards and took advantage of TCN turnovers. Innis and Spitler found their range from beyond the arc and when Spitler nailed his trey at the 4:35 mark, it ended a 12 point run that gave TVS their biggest lead of the evening at 30-12.

North battled back with a rain of treys from Cody Burnside and McAdams. Robinson held the ball for the last shot of the quarter and when his NBA range 3 fell at the buzzer, North finished an 15 – 5 run that narrowed the gap to 8, 35-27.

North continued to battle in the 3rd quarter. The North Panthers narrowed the game to six early in quarter with two free throws and a bucket by Burnside. Each run by North was met with key buckets by South to maintain a comfortable margin. Ryan Nusius and Innis countered Burnside with a trey a piece that extended the TVS lead to 12.

TCN narrowed the gap to 5 with two buckets by Andrew Warner with just under two minutes to play in the 3rd. TVS built the lead to 9 with less than 50 seconds left. Matt Robinson ended the half with his 3rd assist in the quarter when he found Cody Broughton open in the paint. North narrowed the gap to 7 and from the midway mark of the second quarter through the end of the 3rd, TCN outscored TVS 30 – 21.

The 4th quarter started with plenty of opportunities for TCN to narrow the margin, but each TVS turnover was met with TCN returning the favor.

South controlled the tempo of the ballgame and they were able to open an 11 point lead with 4:55 remaining in the game with a 3 point goal from Spitler.

TVS finally took advantage of two TCN miscues that changed the momentum to their favor.

The first turnover did not seem to have much impact until TVS pounded the offensive glass and Innis scored to extend the lead to 13.

The next turnover resulted in Spitler taking the ball all the way to the hole and that bucket was the collective dagger that let the air out of TCN’s sail. TCN coach David Woodworth called a timeout with 3:54 left in the game, but North could not muster another run.

Coach Woodworth noted his team’s comeback from the 30 – 12 deficit. “We outplayed them the second and third quarters, but when we needed a stop tonight we couldn’t get it done. We just allowed Innis to get too many second chance shots in the paint. I tell our guys all the time that defense and rebounding wins basketball games. Sometimes your offense is taken away. When we needed those critical stops tonight to get that game within 3 points or even closer, we didn’t get it.” “We’re close; we work hard but we are missing that extra consistency”

Coach Tony Augspurger was happy to get a rival win and was happy on how his team passed and was looking for people up the floor. “Clint (Spitler) and Ryan (Innis) in particular” noted Augspurger. “They did a good job of looking up the floor for people and we got a few buckets in transition that way.”

“I thought we offensive rebounded well, which is not been a strength of us. I thought we defensive rebounded horribly, but offensive rebounded well!” continued Augspurger. The defensive rebounding is something we have to address. I thought their kids just out hustled us to balls on that end, but in the second half we pounded the offensive glass pretty hard.”

Innis finished the game with 25 points and Clint Spitler finished “with a bundle’ of assists” as Augspurger commented on his players effort on the evening.

“Ryan is an outstanding player and as he lets his confidence grow he is just going to get better. If he adds going to the O (offensive) boards like his coach has been yelling at him to do for two and half seasons that will only add to his offensive repertoire. I thought he and Clint had an outstanding game. I don’t know how many assist he (Clint) had but he had to have a bundle. I thought he did a good job of taking care of the basketball and looking up the floor. We will use this win and continue build on our team playing together to get better from here.”

Score by quarters
TCN …9…27…44…55
TVS…18…35…51…67

TCN
Burnside – 16
Williams – 3
Werner – 9
B. McAdams – 12
Broughton – 2
FT (8-12)

TVS
Spitler – 16
Innis – 25
Combs – 7
Smith – 4
Nisius – 3
Robbins – 3
Walker – 8
Burns -1
FT (11-13)