By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
HAMLER (January 19, 2024) – When no one is going to stop you, keep trying to score until someone does.
For 32 minutes Patrick Henry never stopped Evergreen’s Eli Keifer as the senior guard scorched the Patriots for 37 points, and the Vikings won every quarter in a 56-41 win.
The Vikings have not lost at Patrick Henry for eight years. “Anytime you come down here and win it’s a good win,” said Vikings’ veteran coach Jerry Keifer, who chalked up his 420th career win with the triumph.
“It’s a good win, we also stayed undefeated in the league, and it gives us a chance to keep getting better.”
Keifer the player wrapped a variety of moves, including an ankle breaking crossover that left a Patriot graasping for air, around Riley Dunbar’s putback for eight first quarter points to boost the Vikings ahead 10-6.
Mack Hieber’s long triple with 7.6 on the clock drew the Patriots within a point and began an 11-4 Patriot run that carried into the majority of the second quarter.
Thomas Smith’s bucket off a steal, Lincoln Creager’s baseline jumper and Hieber’s score off the offensive glass pushed Patrick Henry ahead 17-14 with 3:52 left in the half.
That’s when Keifer went off again and after the lanky guard powered his way to the rim for a hoop, hit back-to-back long-range howitzers and finished a 10-point burst with a swipe and score, Evergreen had a 24-21 lead that Drew Gillen expanded to 26-21 at the half with a score off his own miss.
“Give a lot of credit to all our kids to realize who had the bad matchup and in this case, it was Eli,” coach Keifer explained.
“We have had this before this season where our kids recognize who is hot or in a place to hit shots and our kids saw that before and did a good job with that again tonight.”
“Anytime you have a kid get 37 points and teammates give of themselves to see who is scoring well is a good thing.”
Evergreen never trailed again and continued to build the margin in the second half. Gillen scored on a dump inside from Blade Walker to start the second half and Dunbar tipped in a third try for a 30-21 lead.
Keifer’s three-point play, and Troy Manz’ triple helped build the bulge to 37-24 and the Vikings were never seriously threatened after.
Keifer canned 8/10 free throws in the fourth and Tyson Woodring who helped hold Patrick Henry’s Creager to five points on the night, picked the last of his four steals in the game for a solo ride to the iron for the Vikings largest lead at 54-37 with 2:34 to go.
The Vikings (10-2, 2-0 NWOAL) forced 19 Patriot turnovers in the game and outrebounded them 23-16. Smith had 18 and Hieber 14 for Patrick Henry (4-6, 0-2 NWOAL).
EVERGREEN 10 16 18 12 – 56
PATRICK HENRY 9 12 8 12 – 41
JUNIOR VARSITY: Evergreen 47, Patrick Henry 28
