CAMDEN – Preble Shawnee won their own boys basketball Holiday Tournament, but they would have to wrestle it away from Valley View who made a strong run late. The Arrows were able to hold on for a 62-56 win.
Valley View erased a 15-point deficit trailed by just one point late behind a special 34-point performance from freshman guard Brody Denny.
Not to be outdone Mason Shrout stepped forward to keep the Spartans at bay as the senior leader scored the last 10 points for the Arrows to secure the win.
Shrout would end the game with 29 points to go along with 45 he had the night before against Tri-County North. His two-game total of 74 points earned him tournament MVP honors. In addition to setting a tournament record for points scored, he set the school single game scoring record with 45 points, and in the same game he broke the school career assist record.
“Nobody works harder than him, he deserves all the records he’s breaking, he’s worked his butt off to get them. The guy can score it, pass it, rebound it … there’s not a lot he can’t do, just an all-around great player, really a once in a lifetime special player and I’m proud of him,” Preble Shawnee coach Jake Turner stated.
Shrout had a good first quarter with 8 points but needed help in the opening quarter of the championship game with Valley View. He got that from senior Logan Hawley who scored 8 points including an alley-oop dunk that helped spark the Arrows who led 18-10 to end the 1st quarter.
Hawley would find foul trouble in the 2nd period and Preble Shawnee looked for scoring in other places. Shrout had 5 points, Isaac Blankenship and Brayden Robinette both had 4 and Brody Morton 2 points.
Valley View would find themselves trailing 33-20 heading into the half.
The Spartans used the break to their advantage and roared back in the 3rd quarter scoring 21 points, 12 from Brody Denny with 7 coming at the free throw line as the freshman attacked the basket.
Preble Shawnee Logan Hawley who eventually fouled out of the game spent much of the 3rd and 4th quarter on the bench which allowed the Spartans to get into the paint.
Robinette scored 5 and Shrout 4 in the 3rd quarter as the Spartans closed the gap trailing 46-41 heading into the final stanza.
In the final frame Denny scored 10 points including a drive into the lane to cut the margin to 54-53 with just under two minutes to play … but Shrout answered with a pull up jumper and followed up with a lay-up to push the lead to 58-54 with 30 seconds to play.
The Arrows then closed out the game on 4 straight free throws by Shrout who had 12 points in the final frame to secure the 62-56 win over a young but talented Valley View team.
“They made a lot of plays you got to give a lot of credit to them, and you got to give credit to the freshman factor they got a couple good players and made some big shots. They are a good team with some big wins already and will have a lot more,” Turner said after the game.
“I think we got beat off the bounce way too much. Maybe gave their guy a little bit too many clean looks and he knocked him down. Our help side defense wasn’t very good. I thought we forced a lot on offense because when we did move the ball we got whatever we wanted,” Turner shared.
“I’m happy for our team that we found a way to win but we got to fix some stuff,” Turner concluded.
Preble Shawnee improves to 8-0 on the season and remains tied with Tri-Village and Bradford in the league with 4-0 records. Bradford won the Covington Holiday Tournament while the Patriots won the Dixie Holiday Tournament.
The Arrows will be back in action on January 5th traveling to Lewisburg to play Tri-County North again a team they beat 80-22 in the Holiday Tournament.
