Conneaut Valley 64 West Middlesex 52

I have had this date set on my calendar for a month or so because I wanted to see Troy Mild of WM before the playoffs begin. He did not dissapoint me but I saw oh so much more. Valley came to play on their Senior Night. I was very impressed with Doug Beil who tied Mild for high scoring honors as they both netted 25.

Valley won the tip but it was WM #11 Matt Murray who got on the board first with a long range 3 ball. It was quickly followed up by a two for Valley's Beil. After Mild hit for two, Valley went on a 4 point run to make the score 6-5 at the 4:16 mark. Mild then hit two free throws to give WM the lead again at 6-7. Valley's Beil regained the lead with a bucket just to watch Mild grab it back at 8-9. Valley scored the next 5 to grab a 13-9 lead with Freshman #3 Casey Baker scoring his fourth point. Mild hit another 2 but that was followed by Beil scoring 4 strait points to give Valley a 17-11 lead to end the first quarter.

This was an old fasioned shootout and boy was I enjoying it until it was marred somewhat by an ankle injury to WM guard Matt Murray while scoring in the lane. Murray would not return. Valley had a 5 point run and an 8 point run to build a 34-19 lead at halftime.

The third quarter saw Valley build the lead to 46-30 at the 1:50 mark but WM cut the lead a bit by outscoring Valley 5-2 the final 1:50 to make the score 48-35 after three quarters. Tyler Jones scored 6 in the frame for Valley and Mild netted 7 for WM.

The fourth quarter was much like the rest of the game with Valley holding WM to one shot on most possessions. At the 1:52 mark Valley held a 61-43 lead as Troy Mild's evening was over with his fifth foul. WM did end the game with a 9 point run to make the final score 64-52. Valley's Hakeem Spotswood made a WM comeback really tough as he came off the bench with a great effort to net 8 points in the final quarter.

BigSkinny Player of the Game goes to Valley's Doug Beil who had a monster night on the boards to go with his 25 points.

Observations - Troy Mild is the real deal and I am sure we will see him again in the playoffs.

Valley is certainly peaking at the right time and should make some noise in the A bracket of the D10 Playoffs. I really liked their effort and energy tonight.

More photos at: http://www.bigskinnyonline.com/ValleyWM.htm