Pascack Valley Uses Big Second Half to Speed Past Indian Hills

Without Junior Kyle Onderdonk, Pascack Valley would have been looking at a third straight loss.

His 13 points in the first half and 22 for the game drove the Indians to a hard fought 59-54 win over Indian Hills on Thursday night. 

"I was able to put the ball on the floor and create space for myself," said Kyle Onderdonk.

If it were not for Kyle and his twin brother Ryan, Pascack Valley would have struggled to score points in the first half  In fact, they wouldn't  have scored at all as the Onderdonks combined for all of Valley's 22 points during that time span. The rest of the team seemed to be out of rhythm. They were forcing shots instead of moving the ball to create open looks. The result was a tied halftime score with an Indians Hills team that Valley knew they should handle.

Coach Al Coleman must have gotten on his guys during the intermission because they came out with great intensity and attention to detail. Defensively, they caused countless turnovers that led to easy baskets in transition. More importantly, there were playing defense without fouling and were playing together.

"Everyone played harder defensively," added Onderdonk, "and everyone was jumping to the ball and talking."

The success on the defensive side carried over to the offensive end as well. The Indians were able to receive scoring from a number of players, not allowing Indians Hills to key solely on the Onderdonks. Senior Jamie Seymour had 8 points in the 2nd half while Chris Jackson added 7. Before Indians Hills could blink, Pascack Valley was up by double digits.

The game ended as a 5 point win, but the Indians were much more dominant then that in the second half. They reverted back to how they played earlier in the year when they had success against teams like Demarest and Tenafly. 

This was a good win for Valley to get back on track, but the night belonged to the lefty sharpshooter. Kyle Onderdonk (aka KO) scored a quiet 22 points and leads the team in scoring by averaging 16 through seven games. Not only is he a shooter, but can also create his own shot off the dribble or by using the shot fake. 

The road doesn't get much easier for Pascack Valley going forward. They are blessed to play Paramus Catholic, Ramapo, and Hackensack in their next three contests.

To establish themselves as a serious contender going forward, it seems likely that the Indians need to win 1-2 out of the three games.

With Kyle Onderdonk on the wing, Pascack Valley has a good chance to make that happen.

@Feartheindian