WILLOW WOOD - With the exception of less than two minutes, Alvin Carpenter was pleased.

If Symmes Valley could erase the final moments of the game, Carpenter would be totally happy with the Vikings’ 76-67 win over the New Boston Tigers Monday in a Southern Ohio Conference game.

"The whole second half we played pretty good defense until they hit the 3s. But there really wasn't anything we could do about that," Carpenter said. "We made some adjustments at the half and we were able to shut them down in the third quarter."

Jarred Shafer scored 27 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the Vikings, 8-8 overall and 7-4 in the SOC.

Chris Elswick added 19 points and six steals while Kyle Gilmore had a strong all-around game with 15 points, seven assists, and eight rebounds.

"Elswick and Gilmore did a good job running the offense the second half. They did a good job getting the ball into Shafer," Carpenter said. "And Shafer did a good job getting us some big points."

Zach Messer had 16 points for New Boston (7-9, 5-7) with Matt Marshall and Greg Mauk scoring 15 points each.

New Boston took a 20-16 lead in the first quarter. Elswick scored six points to keep the Vikings close.

Justin Holland had all six of his points in the second quarter, but the Tigers pulled away to a 33-27 halftime lead.

But Shafer fired in 10 points in the third quarter as the Vikings scored 26 points. The defense limited New Boston to 11 and Symmes Valley was up 53-44.

Gilmore had 11 points including 4 of 5 from the line in the fourth quarter as the Vikings converted 15 of 19 foul shots.

"We were fortunate that we were making our free throws," Carpenter said.

The only problem with the Vikings making two free throws, New Boston was making four 3-pointers over the final 1:30 of the game.

"They hit some 3s, but we were able to make enough shots to weather the storm," Carpenter said.

New Boston20131123-67

Sym. Valley16112623-76

NEW BOSTON (7-9, 5-7):

Mark Salisbury 0 1 1-2 4, Aaron Spriggs 1 1 4-5 9, Matt Marshall 5 0 5-6 15, Greg Mauk 3 3 0-0 15, Michael Day 3 0 2-2 8, Zach Messer 4 1 5-5 16, Marty Mohr 0 0 0-0 0, Rocky Deskins 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16

6

17-20

67. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: None. Turnovers: 14.

SYMMES VALLEY (8-8, 7-4):

Chris Elswick 6 0 7-8 19, Kyle Gilmore 1 3 4-5 15, Cory Burcham 0 0 01-2 1, Craig Neal 0 0 2-2 2, Jarred Shafer 6 2 9-12 27, Michael White 3 0 0-0 6, Justin Holland 3 0 0-1 6, Seth Colegrove 0 0 0-0 0, Matt Owens 0 0 0-0 0, John Wiseman 0 0 0-0 0, Chase Higgins 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 24

(5)

24-30

76. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: White. Turnovers: 10. Assists: 12 (Gilmore 7). Steals: 12 (Elswick 6). Rebounds: 47 (Shafer 11, White 8, Gilmore 8).