Valley overcomes shaky start to win

Four minutes into the game Monday it looked as though Valley might struggle to end up with more points than turnovers.

The Vikings had turned the ball over four times in four minutes, and the trend continued throughout the first quarter as Silverado turned eight Vikings turnovers into 11 points to take a 15-12 lead.

But Valley took better care of the ball, committing just five turnovers in the next two periods, on the way to a 74-60 victory over the Skyhawks in the Amare Stoudemire Each 1 Teach 1 National Invitational at Durango.

"Our kids just needed to focus up a little bit," Valley coach Brian Farnsworth said. "We expend a lot of energy on defense, and sometimes that hurts us on offense.

"I expect more out of them, and they expect more out of themselves."

Valley plays Denver East in the semifinals of the Amare Stoudemire bracket at 6:30 p.m. today.

The Vikings did a good job defensively, forcing eight Silverado turnovers in the first quarter, but were unable to take advantage early on because of their own miscues.

Once they settled in, that defense turned into points as the Vikings scored 14 off turnovers in the next two quarters.

"A lot of it was our pressure defense," Farnsworth said. "If you play good defense and force some turnovers, you don't have to run much offense. Our kids kind of thrive off that. We got a little momentum going, and we never let it go."

Christian Kessee led Valley with 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting.

"He's a great spot-up shooter, and he's a really smart basketball player. He chooses good shots," Farnsworth said.

Khristian Kirkwood, the Vikings' leading scorer, added 10 points and five assists.

"He was solid for us," Farnsworth said. "He didn't have to score a lot, and he's OK with that. The kid wants to win."

"We're a multi-faceted team. We have five or six kids that could be our leading scorer any night, and we just have to find who the hot hand is and keep going to them."

Contact reporter Damon Seiters at dseiters@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4587.