Five Takeaways: Tippecanoe vs Sidney

<p>Tippecanoe High School was the place to be in the MVL Tuesday night as the top 2 teams in the MVL standings squared off. At the end of the night, it was the host Tippecanoe knocking off the previously undefeated Sidney Yellow Jackets 71-57. Junior Zach Frederick led Tippecanoe with 19 points including shooting 3 for 6 from behind the arc. Sidney’s Dominick Durr had a big 2nd half and finished with 18 points. The Red Devils stormed to a 44-27 halftime lead and held off a pesky Yellow Jackets squad that never went away in the 2nd half. Below are my 5 takeaways from the game.</p> <p>1. <strong>Tippecanoe was hot in the 1st half beyond the arc</strong></p> <p>The Red Devils couldn’t miss in the 1st half and annihilated Sidney’s overaggressive perimeter defense. This was the key reason why Tipp put up 44 points at half. Ultimately ending 7-16 behind the arc, they were paced by sophomore <strong>Gavin Garlitz</strong> and junior <strong>Zach Frederick</strong> who combined for 5 of the 3’s. At times Tippecanoe’s entire 5 on the floor could knock down shots which created issues for Sidney on the defensive end.</p> <p>2. <strong>Sidney’s top player couldn’t buy a shot</strong></p> <p>Coming into this game, Sidney’s <strong>Darren Taborn</strong> (2020) was averaging 16 points per game. Against the Red Devils, he finished with only 8, including being held scoreless at halftime. It’s not all necessarily that Taborn was taking poor shots as he did miss several jumpers, but he just couldn’t get the ball to fall through the room. He made up for the disadvantage of shooting with stellar defense especially guarding Tipp’s <strong>Ben Knostman</strong> (2021).</p> <p>3. <strong>Nolan Mader</strong> <strong>makes this team even better</strong></p> <p>Mader made his season debut for the Red Devils after missing the first half of the season due to injury. His presence on the floor definitely made this team better as it provides them with another big inside-out caliber player. Overall he had a nice statline ending with 12 points and 13 rebounds on the game. While there were some moments where he seemed stiff and a little slower, I’m sure as he gets more game action he will speed back up and show us why he’s one of the better players in the 2020 class in Dayton.</p> <p>4. <strong>Sidney has some youth coming up</strong></p> <p>While Darren Taborn struggled throughout the night, some sophomores for Sidney stepped up and impressed me off the bench. <strong>Devin Taborn</strong> provides depth in the backcourt and is extremely strong for a sophomore. He found ways to get in the paint over and over again and really made the Red Devils defense create some costly fouls as a result. In addition, the Yellow Jackets had help in the frontcourt from <strong>Jaden Swiger</strong>. While he is not the most athletic player on the floor, he is muscular as heck and bullied the Red Devils on the defensive end and on the block offensively. All and all their youth is something that is going to make them solid looking into the future.</p> <p>5. One team looks solid, the other has some work</p> <p>In terms of MVL play, Tippecanoe is the team that is solid. The Red Devils are currently 6-1 atop the Miami division with Troy a whole 2 games behind them at 4-3 while Butler is in 3rd at 4-4. Meanwhile, Sidney is now tied at the top of the Valley division at 7-1 with Stebbins, although the Yellow Jackets have already defeated them once. West Carrollton is right behind at 6-2. While they’ve defeated both teams twice already, these games will be must wins for Sidney as there is no room for error at this point. Watch for seniors <strong>Lathan Jones</strong> and <strong>Dominick Durr</strong> to be supporting guys for Taborn as they try to take care of business in January/February.</p>