The Valley Central boys’ basketball team got off to a slow start, but a huge third quarter propelled the Vikings to a 66-38 non-league win over the Port Jervis Raiders on Friday night.

“I think we finally woke up in the second half,” Valley Central coach Eric Bartle said. “We picked up defensively our aggressiveness. I thought we did a better job there. Pushed the ball up the floor. And we found some shooters.”

The Vikings (2-7) fell behind by nine points after the first quarter, closed the gap to two points at halftime before blowing Port Jervis out of the gymnasium in the third.

Valley Central outscored the Raiders (2-6) 18-2 to take a commanding lead.

“About halfway through the second quarter, we started to finally pick it up a little bit,” Bartle said. “They responded after our little halftime discussion. That’s what we’re looking for.”

And then the shots started falling.

Connor Fitzgibbons led the charge in the second and third quarters as he racked up a game-high 19 points. Overall the Vikings knocked down 11 3-point baskets. Fitzgibbons had four.

Che Conde Rodriguez added four on his way to 12 points, while Tyler Villani, Jayson Amodis and Cameron Davidson had one each.
“When you put pressure on the defense and they can’t get set, it allows guys to free up some shots,” Bartle said.

The Vikings didn’t have a ton of time to enjoy Friday night’s victory as they were right back on the court on Saturday afternoon at Mt. St. Mary College in Newburgh to face the Minisink Valley Warriors.

“We have to still progress,” Bartle said. “It was good today, but it’s just one game. We have to be more consistent with what we did tonight and try to put that through four quarters.”