AKRON – It took a while, but Bill Patrick reached a mini milestone Thursday night.

Tippecanoe Valley’s 61-31 win over Wabash gave the Hall of Fame coach win number 762, surpassing Pat Rady for second all-time in Indiana coaching wins. Patrick, in his 47th year on the bench, trails just Jack Butcher’s 806 for the most in Indiana coaching lore. Also right on the heels of Patrick are both Jack Keefer of Lawrence North with 755 wins and Bloomington South’s JR Holmes with 753 wins.

Patrick’s first win came on Nov. 1, 1963 when Sidney defeated Leesburg 83-61.

Valley didn’t shake Wabash until the third quarter, where the Vikings came out of the break on a 23-4 run over the span of the third quarter. A 27-18 Valley lead at the break reached almost 30 points, helped by some balanced scoring across the roster.

Alec Craig was the high man for Valley with 15 points followed by Keith Wright with 11 points, Wes Melanson with 10 points and Jarod Dusenbery and Tanner Trippiedi both with eight points. Alex Morrison added nine rebounds.

The win breaks a six-game losing slide for the Vikings, which hadn’t won since a home win over Northfield on Jan. 6. Valley moves to 7-11 overall and bumps to 3-4 in the Three Rivers Conference.

Wabash (7-9, 3-4) was led by the 15 points of Trenton Daughtry.

Valley plays again Tuesday at home against Maconaquah, which sits on top of the TRC at 6-0. Wabash hosts Rochester next Friday.