The Valley Patriots made history Friday night by winning the program’s first regional title in 42 years.
Valley snapped a long dry spell dating back to 1983 to advance to the UIL Class 1A Division I state semifinals after hot shooting helped handle Wildorado 63-50 during the regional championship at a packed Lubbock-Cooper Liberty.
“Valley is full of tradition,” Valley head coach Aaron Green said. “Especially in football. We’re happy to put this team on the map in basketball. The community support has been huge and behind us all the way. Everyone is excited but no one is satisfied where we’re at yet.”
The Patriots (33-3) now turn their attention to the state semifinals where they will battle Garden City (20-15) at 6:30 p.m. Monday night at the United Supermarkets Arena on the campus of Texas Tech University in Lubbock.
Valley was unstoppable on the offensive end in the first half. Coming out firing the Patriots were an incredible 14-for-14 form the field inside the 3-point line in the first half giving Valley a commanding 30-16 halftime advantage. In the second half, the Patriots pushed that lead to 20 before the Mustangs put together a late fourth quarter rally but never cut the deficit closer than nine points.
On the opposite side, the Mustangs couldn’t have started colder opening the game 2-of-12 in the first two frames.
The brother duo of Corbin and Kanyon Taylor was the difference inside. Wildorado didn’t have an answer for 6-foot-7 freshman Corbin nor the 6-foot-8 Kanyon in the paint. The Taylor’s combined for 48 of Valley’s points with Corbin posting a game-high 29 and Kanyon following with 19 including five dunks.
“The Taylor boys were huge for us,” Green said. “Everyone has to double down on them so that opens up the outside. When they play like they did against Wildorado that makes us hard to stop and they work hard at their craft. It was a great effort, and I love coaching this team.”
Wildorado’s Ashden Iler did his best to keep the Mustangs in the game scoring 25 of his 28 points in the second half finishing with nine 3-pointers. Wildorado wraps up a superb year at 25-7.