Valley, Whitko Cagers Honored By Conference
The Tippecanoe Valley and Whitko boys basketball teams each placed a pair of outstanding players on the All-Three Rivers Conference team for the 2015-16 season.
The All-Conference squad, which was announced Monday, has one player each from the Vikings and the Wildcats on the team and another from each squad named as an honorable mention choice.
Alec Craig was tabbed from Valley to the all-league team. The junior guard was the top scorer for coach Bill Patrick’s team at 13 points-per-game this season.
Nate Walpole represents the Wildcats on the all-conference team. The junior guard for coach Roger Fleetwood’s team ranked among the state’s top scorers at 27 ppg.
The remainder of the All-TRC team includes Wyatt Hughes, Brayden Murphy and Chandler Pitts of Maconaquah, Chase Firsts of Manchester, Cody Holmes and Noah Shear of Northfield, Tyler Murphy of Peru and Alex Harmon, Carson Blair and Peyton Trexler of Southwood.
Neil Clampitt of Valley and River West of Whitko were among the honorable mention picks to the team. Senior Clampitt averaged 12 ppg., while sophomore West netted 15 ppg.
The rest of the honorable mention choices were David McAtee and Koehl Fluke of Manchester, Trevor Linn of North Miami, Bailey Gardner and Jeremiah Johnson of Peru, Alex Holland and Gavin Bennett of Rochester and Taylor Vigar or Wabash.
Valley finished 12-13 overall and 4-5 in league play. The Vikings lost Saturday night to No. 1 NorthWood in the championship game of the Class 3-A NorthWood Sectional.
Whitko was one of the state’s most-improved teams record wise this season. The Wildcats went 14-10 overall and 6-3 in conference play under second-year coach Fleetwood. Whitko, which was 6-17 last year and 1-20 two years ago, lost to eventual sectional champion Westview in a semifinal game last Friday night of the Class 2-A Westview Sectional.
Southwood won the TRC title this season at 9-0 in league play. Maconaquah, Manchester and Whitko all finished at 6-3, followed by Northfield (5-4), Peru (4-5), Valley (4-5), Rochester (3-6), Wabash (2-7) and North Miami (0-9).