Springs Valley Community High School

On Saturday, Springs Valley’s defense was different than any other night. On Feb. 3 the Blackhawks went head-to-head with Borden. The Braves were 10-7, which may not seem impressive, but given the competition they’ve played — North Daviess, Charlestown, Orleans, and Christian Academy were four of their last five opponents — it’s a respectable record. The Blackhawks had a slow start to the game, ending the first quarter down 12-11. Nobody for the ‘Hawks could get their 3-pointers to fall, as they went 1-13 from behind the 3-point line. Springs Valley made up for its lack of outside shooting with an excellent effort on the boards. If the Hawks’ hadn’t outrebounded Borden, the Braves would’ve had a much better chance of winning. Springs Valley ended up outrebounding them 26-18. Borden shot an incredible 6-12 on 3-pointers by the end of the first half. In the second quarter the Braves went 4-6 with Will Banet hitting three and Kasym Nash hitting the fourth one. In the second half the Braves stopped shooting well, going 1-6 on threes and that helped turn the tide in Springs Valley’s favor. “We started to run [Banet] off the three-point line in the second half, not allowing him to shoot any more threes,” Springs Valley coach Jonathon Bowles said. “Our guys adjusted really well and did a great job running him off the line.” The ‘Hawks started catching up in the second half of the game. After trailing 29-23 at halftime, Springs Valley turned up its intensity in a big way, utilizing a full-court press to stifle the Braves offensively. The Blackhawks also used that press to get themselves going in transition, scoring 14 points on the fast break. “That's really just us. We are capable of going on some big runs,” Bowles said. “Our defense also created some good transition offense.” The Blackhawks held Nash to 24 points. Nash is currently averaging at least 23 points per game and is capable of scoring much more than that. Earlier this season he scored 51 points against Eastern (Pekin), so the ‘Hawks keeping him near his average was a big deal. “I think we made it extremely tough on him the entire game,” Bowles said. “He got going a little bit in the 4th quarter, however I think we wore him out in the end.” Springs Valley did a good job of attacking and getting to the rim, scoring 42 points in the paint. Because of the Blackhawks’ struggles on 3-pointers, their interior scoring was even more important. If they didn’t find a way to attack at the rim then it would’ve been a completely different ball game. The win was a huge one for Springs Valley (12-6, 3-2 PLAC), as Borden is a quality program. The Braves finished second in the Southern Conference this season, only trailing a ranked South Central (Elizabeth) team. The Blackhawks will try to build on this momentum on Tuesday when they travel to Paoli. As they prepare for the Rams they will remember what they learned against Borden. “Our guys are resilient, no matter how far behind they continue to fight until the end,” Bowles said. “I think it just shows what we are capable of doing when we buy in on both ends of the floor.”