Teays Valley Storms Back to Snatch Sectional Boys Hoops Crown from Marion Harding

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Brian Barnett’s Viking celebrate their 54-49 tourney win at Marion Harding.
On to the District Semi-Final Wednesday.@TV_Athletics @TV_Vikes pic.twitter.com/K0pVhSiMrf
— Litter Media (@litter_media) March 2, 2024

Trailing 28-17 with 6:32 remaining in the third quarter, the (16-7) Teays Valley Vikings found their next gear as they roared back from that deficit for a 54-49 Division 1 Sectional Championship victory at Marion Harding, Friday night. The Vikings 35-14 scoring run between that point of the third period to 2:38 left in regulation, propelled TV to their biggest lead of 52-42 where they managed to hold on for the Vikings final margin of victory.

It is Teays Valley boys basketball’s first sectional crown since 2015.

Vikings’ 6’3 sophomore Brody Fields, 6’5 senior Sam Miller and 6’5 sophomore Kaden Purdon carried most of the offensive load in the second half comeback. Fields scored 13 of his game-high 23 points in the second half, Miller had 10 of his 15 points and 7 rebounds in that stanza, while Purdon scored all of his 8 points in the final two quarters. Luke Burgett and Cavin McDowell rounded out the scoring with 6 and 2 points, respectively. Fields and Miller were named Litter Media Radio’s “McDonald’s Players of the Game”.

Marion Harding was led by 6’2 Marquis Long and 6’8 Trey Cady as each scored 15 points. Logan Thrapp added 12, Boston Pearson 5, and Alex Stokes scored 3.

Teays Valley shot 20/43 from the field- including 6/18 from the arc for a total of 47% for the contest. That represented a 50% clip in the second half after shooting only 29% in the first half. The Vikes added 8/13 from the charity stripe.

“Basically, we talked about staying strong” Coach Brian Barnett told Litter Media RADIO when asked what the Vikings discussed at the half.

“The game plan. You have to follow the game plan we laid out. No matter how many you get up or down, stay with the plan. And that’s exactly what they did” said Barnett.

The Presidents of Marion Harding shot 17/50 from the floor- including 3/11 from the arc for only 34%, while adding 12/16 from the foul line.

Teays Valley committed 10 turnovers to only 4 for Harding. The rebounding edge went to the Presidents 25-23.

“I thought at the half, we weren’t battlin’ enough” said Barnett. “We weren’t competing… and man, did they come out and compete in the second half.”

(16-7) Teays Valley heads to the District Semis on March 6th against Reynoldsburg, who advanced with a 76-47 win over Franklin Heights. The game be played at Saint Charles High School at 7pm. Litter Media Radio plans to broadcast the game live, with airtime at 6:50pm.