SWITZ CITY —
After a dominating first half, Barr-Reeve appeared to be in complete control, and then the second half happened.
The Class A No. 3 Vikings (19-1) defeated White River Valley (11-10), 45-41, Tuesday in a game that Barr-Reeve never trailed.
WRV had fought for three quarters to get back into the game, and with one flick of the wrist the game was tied for the first time since the score was 0-0.
Cade Hill connected on a 3-pointer to tie the game with 4:12 remaining in regulation. Barr-Reeve coach Bryan Hughes called a timeout to calm down his players, who had a 24-11 lead at halftime.
"We were challenged, but I said we've got a four minute game," Hughes said. "I thought our guys responded."
Out of the timeout, sophomore Addison Wagler was double teamed, and he found Brandon Wagler for a 3-pointer to give the Vikings some breathing room.
Hill cut the lead to one with two free throws at the 2:22 mark.
Addison Wagler scored a layup on a second effort and Micah Bullock scored a layup to push the lead to five, 40-35.
The Wolverines connected on a 3-pointer to cut the lead to two. Bullock and freshman Logan James connected on five free throws in the game¹s final 90 seconds to put the game away, as the Vikings secured the four-point victory.
"I liked what I was looking at in the huddle, you allow the team to come back and yet our guys never had any fear," Hughes said. "I think they understood that we just got to go do this." Bullock led the Barr-Reeve attack with 16 points, Addison Wagler scored 12 points and Brandon Wagler added 11 points.
The Vikings got an early 3-pointer from junior Micah Bullock to take an early lead, but both teams struggled to find themselves on the offensive end for the first half of the opening quarter.
Bullock scored Barr-Reeve¹s second basket of the game, a layup on a lob from freshman Logan James.
Junior Justin Barnett answered with a jumper to cut the lead to 5-2, but the Vikings found a rhythm on offense, and ended the quarter on a 9-2 run to take a 14-4 lead through the first eight minutes.
To start the second quarter, Barr-Reeve scored the first five points, on an Addison Wagler layup and a 3-pointer from senior Brandon Wagler to push the lead to 19-4, the largest Viking lead of the night.
The Wolverines continued to struggle to figure out the Barr-Reeve pressure defense, and Brandon Wagler's second 3-pointer of the quarter sent the Vikings into halftime with a commanding 24-11 advantage.
"I told them at halftime I wasn't thrilled," Hughes said. "I told some of them it looked like their feet were nailed to the floor, and they just weren't moving very well." To start the third quarter, the Wolverines scored six straight points, and outscored the Vikings 15-5 to cut the lead to 29-26 through three quarters.
Hill led WRV's comeback with nine points of his 18 points in the quarter, and Barr-Reeve couldn't get anything going offensively.
"It just wasn't a very good outing for our guys," Hughes said. "I thought we did some things there at the end to come out of here with a win. We'll take that and move on."
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