WVC improved to 4-0 on the season while Danville fell to 2-2.
Omar Sanders gave WVC a 2-0 lead before Danville took leads of 5-2 and 7-4. Desmond Holloway put the Warriors on top with a slam dunk on a fast break, at 8-7, and then WVC turned up the pressure.
The Warriors were forcing turnovers and sweeping the board, allowing Danville only one shot, and using those possessions to score points. WVC slowly pulled away and before the midway point in the first half they held a 21-11 lead, Thanks to Sanders' inside bucket.
Wabash Valley kept the pressure on, allowing Danville infrequent second shots while dropping in buckets from all over the floor on the Warriors' own offensive end.
Brandon McGee dropped in a pair of three-pointers and Cornelius Chatt put Wabash Valley in front by more than 20 points with a fast break trey. Holloway's fast break slam dunk put Wabash Valley in front by 26, at 45-19, with about four minutes to go in the half.
Danville cut it back to 47-28, on Lonell Reeves' three-pointer, but the Warriors took a 54-31 lead into the locker room as Chatt scored at the buzzer after taking a feed from Kreig Oxley, who had stolen the ball with just seconds remaining.
The second half wasn't so easy for Wabash Valley as the Warriors turned the ball over three of the first five times they had it. Danville cut the WVC lead down to 56-42, as Jarell Taylor hit a shot from the corner. But the Warriors used their defense again to get going. Oxley's inside shot about midway through the second half put Wabash Valley in front by 24, 72-48, the biggest WVC lead in the second half.
From there on out the two teams basically traded buckets.
"I was really pleased with our performance in the first half," said Warriors Coach Dan Sparks afterward. "I thought defensively we really took them out of what they like to do. We took away their dribble penetration. We really did a nice job of covering the perimeter."
Sparks said after Danville narrowed the lead to start the second half he made a couple of substitutions and the team got the lead back to 20 points.
"We just kind of matched them from that point on. We never really, defensively, played as well as we did the first half," the coach said.
"But I thought in the first half that the turning point, where we started getting the lead, was when we put Jason Landry and Oxley in," Sparks added.
The coach added that Oxley, who did not score in the first half, was "instrumental in getting us going."
He said the same thing happened in the second half.
"Those two kids really helped us out," said Coach Sparks.
"The first half I was pleased, the second half was all right but it wasn't what we wanted," he said. "Like I told them, it's a long season. We're played four games, we've got 26 more to go. There's going to be some peaks and valleys. And there's going to be some times when they're having a good game and sometimes when they're having an off game, and somebody's got to step up and pick up the slack. That's what we've got to have."
Holloway led WVC with 22 while McGee added 16, Brandon Dunson 15, Chatt 12, Josh Lockett 11 and Sanders 10.
Danville was led by Tim Toler with 20, and Taylor with 18.
BOX SCORE
Wabash Valley: Dunson, 3-3-0--15; Chatt, 4-1-1--12; Landry, 2-0-1--5; Oxley, 1-1-0--5; Holloway, 6-1-7--22; McGee, 5-2-0--16; Mustapic, 0-0-1--1; Sanders, 5-0-0--10; Lockett, 4-0-3--11; Britt, 1-0-0--2; Totals, 31-8-13--99
Danville: Clark, 1-0-0--2; Bradley, 2-0-0--4; Gage, 1-0-0--2; Hamilton, 2-1-1--8; Townsend, 1-0-2--5; Tucker, 0-1-0--3; Toler, 6-2-2--20; Victor, 1-1-0--5; Reeves, 1-2-0--8; Wright, 1-0-0--2; Taylor, 7-0-4--18; Stevenson, 1-0-1--3; Totals, 24-7-11--80
