Carter-led Valley holds off Shady Side Academy

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, December 20, 2018 | 11:06 PM

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Valley rode a wave of emotions Thursday — exhilaration to frustration, back to exhilaration, back to frustration.

Exhilaration won out. So did relief.

Valley got out to a double-digit lead in the second half and held off a late Shady Side Academy charge, making enough winning plays down the stretch to pull out a 73-71 victory over the Indians in a Section 3-3A game at Shady Side Academy’s Mellon Gym.

“The game really presents a lot of emotion and chaos that really brings out our strengths and weaknesses,” Valley coach Mark Faulx said. “We just speak frequently about how can we grow. They buy into that, and that’s how I like to live. Tonight gave us new information that hopefully we can take and work into our growth.”

The Vikings (2-4, 2-0) faced plenty of adversity, including a decent-sized portion of the self-inflicted kind. Three Valley players fouled out, and the team committed 17 turnovers as a 13-point second-half lead dwindled to a one-point margin in the waning seconds.

But Nyjewel Carter scored 11 of his game-high 28 points in the fourth quarter, including three of his eight 3-pointers, and junior reserve Jalil Johnson calmly sank one free throw with 0.9 seconds left before missing the second intentionally, giving Valley the victory.

“It’s a battle every game, whether it’s the first quarter, second quarter, fourth, whatever,” Carter said. “You’ve just got to play through it. We stuck together. That was the main part: When times got tough, we huddled up, said what we needed to do, and we got it done tonight.”

Shady Side Academy got 25 points from Grady Munroe, including 19 in the second half, but the Indians (3-4, 2-1) couldn’t completely dig themselves out of their early hole.

“We did not start the game as though we were ready to play,” Shady Side Academy coach David Vadnais said. “We can’t get down like that in the first quarter or the third. I’m proud of our guys for battling, but we can’t put ourselves in that position. I thought we had some careless turnovers. We knew how they were going to play defense, and we still just dribbled into traps, we allowed them to punch the ball from behind. We just didn’t take care of the ball enough.”

Valley caused Shady Side Academy problems with its pressure, forcing 12 turnovers in the first half, but the aggressive defense came with a downside for the Vikings: foul trouble. Four starters picked up three fouls in the first half, and three eventually fouled out: senior leader Deonte Ross, Roman Flenory and David Primus.

With so many key players dealing with foul trouble, Faulx turned to his bench and got significant contributions from Isiah Mangol, who scored 10 points, Adisun Jackson, and even little-used reserves Johnson, a junior, and freshman Ben Aftanas.

Johnson played key minutes down low and scored the final point of the game, while Aftanas hit a pair of free throws.

Carter credited Aftanas and Johnson for the win, but the senior sharpshooter played a significant role himself, making several big 3s and converting a breakaway layup after Shady Side Academy cut its deficit to 70-68 with 38.8 seconds remaining.

“We took a couple of tough losses over the last two (games), Saturday against Latrobe and Tuesday at Knoch, and we were just really hungry to try and change how we felt we were playing,” Faulx said. “This was important for us.”

After an 8-0 Shady Side Academy run to close the third quarter cut Valley’s lead to 51-46, the Vikings responded by building their advantage back up to 12 points in the fourth.

The Indians made it 63-59 on a Colm O’Connor basket, but Carter answered with a corner 3. Ronan O’Connor cut it to 66-63 with a putback with 1:38 remaining, but Mangol responded with a pair of free throws.

After Mason Tomlin’s steal and layup made it 70-68, Shady Side had a chance to tie with under 20 seconds remaining. However, Will Cochran missed a shot in the lane, Elijah Jackson grabbed the rebound for Valley and fired it ahead to a wide-open Carter for a layup.

Then, after Munroe hit his fifth 3 of the game to make it 72-71 with 2.2 seconds left, Valley got the ball to Johnson, who put the game away.

Ronan O’Connor scored 14 points and Will Cochran had 10 for Shady Side Academy; three of the Indians’ four losses have come by a combined four points.

“We’ve got to figure out how to play better in the fourth quarter,” Vadnais said. “Winnable games, you have to win, especially at home in section games.”

Valley might be winless in nonsection games, but the Vikings still sit atop the section two games into that schedule.

“I think it’s going to get us rolling,” Carter said. “That’s why it’s very important. We needed to click, build our chemistry better. Getting this win today was important.”

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Doug at dgulasy@tribweb.com or via Twitter @dgulasy_Trib.

Tags: Shady Side Academy, Valley