HIGH SCHOOL ROUNDUP : Monte Vista Presses Issue, Overwhelms Valhalla

Standing room only. Two rival high school boys’ basketball teams. One minute 20 seconds gone. One team had eight points, the other crossed midcourt once .

That was early scenario Friday night as Monte Vista threatened to double-up Valhalla as late as the fourth quarter before settling for a 69-56 victory at Valhalla.

“We work on our press probably 40 to 45 minutes in practice every day,” Monte Vista senior Aaron Elliott said. “I think it really caused them trouble tonight. We came out and we really worked hard on the press. And it was effective.”

Indeed. Here’s how it started:

Monte Vista’s Matt Ehlke made a layup. Paul Watson then had a steal in the backcourt and dribbled in for a layup. After another Valhalla turnover in the backcourt, Ehlke was fouled while shooting. He made both free throws.

Valhalla finally crossed midcourt at 7:10 but missed its first shot. Monte Vista then missed a shot but Ehlke soon had another steal in the backcourt, and Jason Peck scored off an offensive rebound to make it 8-0 at 6:36.

Selected scores throughout the rest of the game were 21-8, 30-13, 42-26, 58-30 and 62-34.

Only a 22-7 Valhalla run down the stretch saved this from appearing as the rout it was.

And now for the kicker, Valhalla (15-6) had won nine in a row and was ranked seventh in the county.

Since starting the season 11-0 and losing to Mt. Carmel in the semifinals of the Mt. Carmel Tournament, No. 2 Monte Vista (17-1) has won six in a row by a combined 442-267.

Monte Vista had four players in double-figure scoring--Aaron Elliott (19), Ellis (16), Watson (16) and Ehlke (12)--but the telling statistic had to be that the Monarchs committed only one turnover in the first 27 minutes.

Wayne Sippial scored 14 in the fourth quarter to lead Valhalla with 19 points.