Denny Dumps Dixie

Dixie entered Saturday night’s game with a two game losing skid after losing to Tri Village the previous week and dropping a game to league opponent Milton Union the night before. But it would be a tall order for Dixie to fulfill as Valley View came into the game with some height in the lineup and potent scoring weapon Zack Denny. And to make it even more of a challenge, Dixie would not have the services of senior guard Andrew Barnett who was unable to play in either weekend game.

Dixie employed their man to man defense, but also used a zone defense in the half court – occasionally trapping out of this set. Valley used a couple of different zone defenses and Dixie was able to get some points scoring from outside. But they had to play catch up all night. Valley View started with a 7-0 run before Dixie took a time out and got things figured out. Dixie tied the Spartans at one point in the first half, but the Spartans kept a 2 point lead going into the locker room at half time.

In the third quarter, the Greyhounds inexplicably were cold shooting from the floor. And since Valley View had decent height, there were not many second chance shots from rebounds. At the other end of the floor Valley View was steadily pulling away as they connected on shot after shot. Entering the 4th quarter, the Spartans lead had now grown to 12 points.

Dixie desperately went into a full court press to try and get some points from turnovers. Although they got some points from steals, they gave up some baskets in transition. And Zack Denny had a phenomenal game, when Dixie tried to make a surge, he was able to make some critical shots against a stalwart defense. For the game he had 31 points. Turnovers were also a problem for Dixie Saturday evening, time after time passes were picked off and converted into easy points.

Although Dixie had their best quarter of the game, scoring 17 points in the final stanza, Valley View bested them by scoring 18. Valley View would extend the Dixie losing streak to 3 as they would win 54-41. Next week the Greyhounds will play league foes Middletown Madison and Carlisle.

Coach Creamer commented after the game, “It’s been an extremely difficult week. It’s been harder for us in the locker room and in practicing than on the game floor. We’re dealing with some things and we just need to grow and mature as players and as a group. Of the three games that we have now lost, I thought that tonight was our best effort. I thought we played very hard tonight. But when you can’t put the ball in the hole, it makes the turnovers even that much more glaring. We are not where we want to be as a basketball team – but we not really that far away either. “

Scoring for Dixie: Luke Bowling 8, Zach Grubb 3, Landon Hicks 2, John Isaacs 14, Matt Isaacs 9, Jon Sauer 5. Scoring for Valley View: Patrick Boyle 4, Zack Denny 31, Josh Haeseker 5, Brad Miller 2, Cooper Nolte 2, Jeff Pierce 2, Andrew Zellner 8.