Tri-Valley & SW Lose At Walton
         

    WALTON--Sullivan County teams competing in the annual Walton Tip-Off tournament last Thursday both tasted defeat with Tri-Valley losing to Walton in the championship game 52-48 while Sullivan West struggled against Stamford Central 71-38 in the consolation game.
   The championship game against Walton proved to be a complete reversal for the Bears who in their first tournament game earlier in the week defeated Stamford 64-56 behind the high scoring duo of Robert Worden with 24 points and Shane Rennison with 17.
   Tri-Valley's bid for the championship took a big hit Thursday as both Worden and Rennison became unavailable Wednesday with Worden receiving a two-day in-school suspension and Rennison coming down with pneumonia.
   Resilient Tri-Valley coach Kevin Delaney used player knowledge and coaching experience to floor a starting lineup that came back from a 16 point 47-31 deficit in the third quarter to lose by four points as the final buzzer sounded.
  Delaney in commenting about the loss of Worden and Rennison in the lineup noted, "we didn't give up today and showed heart."
  "A couple of young guys stepped up and did a lot of hard work but it's pretty difficult playing with eight guys as Worden and Rennison are two seniors who posses a lot of experience that was missing from the floor in an away game at a home teams home tournament," Delaney said.
  Walton coach David Gardepe's starting five took advantage of the younger Bears starters and raced off to a 17-point 24-7 first quarter lead and went into the locker room at half-time leading 37-21.
  Tri-Valley started to chip away at Walton's lead late in the third quarter as the Bears outscored Walton 14-10 behind six points by Thomas Decker, four points by Thomas Mungeer and two points each by Chase Botsford Chris Mosher and Brennan Healy.
  The Bears entered the final eight minutes of play down by 12 points, 47-35.  
  Tri-Valley's defense came alive in the fourth quarter limiting Walton to five points while outscoring the tournament champions 13-5 off the scoring efforts of Mungeer with four, Botsford with 3 and two pointers by Mosher, Healy and Mungeer.
  Decker led Tri-Valley's scoring with 14 points off five 2's, one three pointer and one foul shot. Mungeer added 12 points for the Bears who are now 1-1 in non-league play.
  Alex Tweedie and Blake Hitt led Walton with 14 points each. Walton is not 2-0 in non-league play.
  Walton, like Ti-Valley is a class C school and plays in the MAC league.
  Walton Coach Gardepe praised both teams in this championship tilt.
  Named to the Tournament All-Star team from Tri-Valley were Chris Mosher and Thomas Mungeer. 
  Tri-Valley entered league play at home last night against S.S. Seward.
  In the Sullivan West-Stamford consolation game the young inexperienced Bulldogs were challenged on almost every possession by an aggressive Stamford Central team that jumped out to a 19-7 first quarter lead, outscored Sullivan West 19-6 in the second quarter for a 38-13 half time lead.
  The third quarter didn't get much better for the Bulldogs as Stamford outscored Sullivan West 21-15 as Stamford coasted 12-9 in the fourth quarter for the win.
  Bulldogs first year coach John Meyer in post-game comments said, "it's only our second game, we've got a long way to go and we got a lot to work on."
  "We'll watch the tapes and we 'll see how we can improve," Meyer said.
  Ryszard  Mujanovic and Austin Melchick led Sullivan West in scoring with 11 points each. Myjanovic hit for four 2's and one three pointer while Melchick scored 3 trays  and one two pointer.
  The loss puts Sullivan West at 0-2 in non-league play.
                                                                 
                                                                 

Tri-Valley's Thomas Decker (32) shoots for a two-pointer past Walton's Alex Sorochinsky (20) in the Bears 52-48 championship game loss to Walton last Thursday night in Walton's Tip-Off Tournament.
                                                         
                                                               

Sullivan West's Ryszard Mujanovic (11) attempts a two-pointer past Stamford's Connor Ogborn Sr. (10) in the consolation game last Thursday at the Walton Tip-Off Tournament. Stamford won 71-38.

                                                                     
                                                        

Tri-Valley coach Kevin Delaney (center) holds the second place trophy in the Walton Tip-Off Tournament held last Thursday. Two of his players, Chris Mosher (23) left, and Thomas Mungeer (22) right, were named to the Tournament All-Star team.