Pleasant pushes River Valley for 20-plus minutes before the Vikings respond in the MOAC boys basketball game Jan. 15, 2026.
MARION — River Valley can be as sudden as a twitch and as quick as a blink. And that combination can be as painful as a leg cramp for opponents. That was certainly the case Jan. 15 at Pleasant.
Ahead by four points with less than four minutes left in the third period, the Vikings finished the Mid Ohio Athletic Conference boys basketball game with a rolling clock, beating the Spartans 65-30.
"They’re a good basketball team. The pressure really wore on us," Pleasant coach Ben Snively said. "They went on a run, and I attempted to call a timeout once, but by the time I tried to call the timeout, they had already stolen the ball."
Pleasant was playing some of its best basketball of the season for the first 20-plus minutes, controlling the tempo and executing Snively's game plan.
"We know we’re not going to try to run up and down the floor, and for the most part up to that point, we were able to do that. We were right there for a certain amount of time," Snively said. "They make runs."
With 3:45 in the third quarter, RV led just 25-21. Eighty seconds later, it was 33-21 as the Vikings forced three straight turnovers with a half-court trap then a fourth one under the basket, turning those into baskets. They didn't stop. A Carter Myers steal-and-score 3-point play made it 38-21 by the end of the quarter.
The Vikes led 45-21 before Pleasant finally ended 20-0 run with 6:30 to go.
"They were really aggressive and attacked the rim and didn’t miss too many shots," Snively said of RV's second-half surge. "That’s ultimately the name of the game. It’s just a matter of time before their kids get going. They got going in that quarter."
River Valley responded to coach Rodney Brown's challenge at halftime, reminding them of last year's 51-48 loss at Pleasant that had a similar first-half vibe.
"I had to yell at them a little at halftime," Brown said. "I did get into them. I got into them about their defense. I got into them about our offense. Some of them I felt didn’t look like they were putting out enough effort. They all care, but I felt some of them were lacking the effort we needed.
"We’ve got to wake up. We’ve got to space the floor and get moving and defend the basketball."
RV junior Carter Myers heard the challenge and acted on it. He had a quiet seven points at halftime. He finished with a game-high 33 with 21 coming in the fourth quarter.
"We thought we could overwhelm them," Myers said of the second half. "I felt that really led to us getting the trap to work. In man (defense), we weren’t really getting after it. We weren’t forcing turnovers or forcing them to take bad shots. They were just holding the ball. We were a little frustrated, but not that crazy. We’ve been there before."
Chase Smith added 13 points and Eli Snyder 10 for RV (9-4, 7-0), winners of three in a row and six of their last seven. For Pleasant (5-7, 2-6), winners of its last two games and four of five, Collin Mattix and Evan Sickmiller both scored nine points.
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This article originally appeared on Marion Star: River Valley boys basketball gets second-half 'wake up' at Pleasant
Category: General Sports
