CHAMPIONS OF CHARACTER CLASSIC
The Champions of Character Classic at Grace is yearly one of my favorite days. A full lineup of teams playing at the college is a fun one as you get to see a variety not just from this area, but others, and you get to see it on a college court. While I will admit, the environment has been better before, we got to see some fun games and some blowouts alike.
East Noble opened the day with a loss to a very tough Concord team. The Knights looked sharper earlier in the game, while Concord pulled away in the second half enough to get comfortable with Avery Johnson scoring eight alone in the third. Kobe Ritchie had 13 points to lead East Noble in the loss. While Saturday’s loss was disapointing, East Noble should be happy with a trajectory that included a major conference win Friday over Columbia City behind 17 points from Mason Treesh and 16 from Owen Van Gessel.
In the second game, Leo jumped out on Snider early and looked to be pulling away with Ke’ron Billinglsey and Trell Hogue in early foul trouble. The Leo trifecta of Jackson McGee, Trey Hiteshew and Sol Richard ramped up the energy early and Nolan Hiteshew had a nice first half himself before getting in a bit of foul trouble in the second half. Snider should get credit for always pushing back and doing so by committee. There was a clear part of this game where it looked like Leo was going to pull away and Snider just did not allow it. Trey Hiteshew’s second half was big though, where he scored 12 points and no Panther had more than 11 total, led by Braylin Fertil. If Snider is going to be a contender, which they’ve looked like early in the season, it will be interesting to see how they bounce back from back to back losses. Leo, meanwhile, has won 5 straight.
Concordia was certainly the underdog against South Bend St. Joe. And either the Cadets ramped it up Saturday or St. Joe was still getting their feet after a tough game Friday night. Or both? Either way, Concordia kept pace and then opened up a lead in the third quarter as Cole Hayworth was fantastic on his future college home court, scoring 11 of his game high 23 in the third quarter alone. St. Joe had a balanced effort but they just couldn’t keep up with Hayworth in any way.
In the fourth game, Warsaw absolutely dominated South Bend Washington behind a Robbie Finlinson 22 point, nine rebound effort in an 86-45 win. The Tigers have a great competitive balance to their offense and having a non-usual leading scorer only shows that. I’m not sure you take much out of this game because Warsaw was just clearly the better team and this actually turned out to be the biggest mismatch of the day.
In the finale, Blackhawk Christian did Manchester in and boy did the BC Barstool let me know about it postgame. Kudos to the less experienced Braves guards, who in my preview I wondered if they were ready for Manchester’s tenacity. And they were. More importantly, the Braves did a great job of limiting Gavin Betten, who had just two points at halftime and 13 total at the end of the game. Kellen Pickett, meanwhile, had 24 points while Isaac Smith added 18 for Blackhawk Christian. The Braves are becoming a versatile group and kudos too have to go in this game to Aiden Muldoon and Bryce Sefton for handling Manchester’s attempts to pressure the guards.
WHAT DO WE MAKE OF BISHOP LUERS?
It has been a highly intriguing season for the Bishop Luers Knights, one that continued that way this week.
The girls hoops Knights opened their week on Tuesday with a thrashing of Adams Central. And while the Flying Jets are going through some growing pains, I can’t imagine many were expecting the 72-34 result that we got in that game. The diversity in Luers’ offense is just astounding all season and against Adams Central, there were five players in double figures scoring. Annika Davis continues to be one of the most underrated scorers in this area. Why? Well, there is so much help that she doesn’t need to put up wild numbers every night but her smooth 19 points, to go along with four assists and four steals on Tuesday is a great reminder of the player she actually is.
Still behind her on Tuesday, Maggie Parent scored 12, hitting a pair of third quarter triples, Addie Shank scored 11, Miley Wareing had 11 and Reese Rhodehamel added 10 points. Any team that gets that kind of scoring spread is a massive threat to anyone on any given night.
Although Luers girls lost to Homestead on Friday night, they are still a team that could be one of the most dangerous in the SAC and Northeast Indiana. That means a lot as you approach clutch games where the Knights can play spoiler and it means even more in the postseason with that interesting Sectional.
The boys hoops team at Luers is just rolling and picked up a major conference win on Friday night opposite Homestead. We have seen some really good brother duos over the years in this area, but what Dereon and Drelyn Truesdale are doing is truly special. And they do it in a way that seems so effortless.
Who had the best week of those two? Its hard to tell. Dereon Truesdale had 24 points and 5 rebounds Wednesday in a 67-65 win over Canterbury. Drelyn Truesdale had 24 points and 5 assists Friday in a 60-47 win over Homestead. Having Damiun Jackson back in the lineup so he can have stat lines like nine rebounds against Homestead is key too.
With Wayne dispatching of Carroll this week, it looks like we are setting up for January 26’s game between the Knights and Generals to possibly determine the SAC. And yes North Side, I know you factor in too.
AREA’S BEST SHOT BLOCKER
I posed a simple question this week on Twitter. Who is the best shot blocker in Northeast Indiana?
It isn’t a stat we readily focus on, for whatever reason. Not every school sends or releases stats with that information and, fairly, when you gander at MaxPreps, points and rebounds, even assists and steals, take precedent. But who doesn’t love a good blocked shot?
The answers varied, including some clear ones like Blackhawk Christian‘s Kellen Pickett and Adams Central‘s Isaac Schultz. These two are widely considered the best big men in Northeast Indiana so it is no surprise that they are up there as well respected rim protectors. I also liked the submitted answer of Dallas Lawrence of Northrop, who had a phenomenal showing on both ends of the court Tuesday in a close loss to Leo.
North Side‘s Jaxson Fugate showed his name should be in the conversation with three blocks on Friday night in a win over Snider. So too could you consider Manchester‘s Gavin Betten, who had five blocks on Friday night in a win over Southwood and six on Saturday in a loss to Blackhawk Christian.
One answer that I am not mad at is Columbia City‘s Molly Baker. A hallmark of some of the best girls basketball teams in recent memory is a stopper on the interior and Baker is absolutely that. Her defensive range is very underrated in my eyes and no, you don’t want to have to try and score on her in the paint.
While I am not here to give an outright answer, I have to throw some other hats in the ring, even if just based off this week’s watching. Leo‘s Landon Ruoff has already shown that he is ready to block anything he can get a hand on around the rim. His snatch block against Snider on Saturday at the Champions of Character Classic was something pretty; one of four blocks in the game for the junior. His teammate Sol Richard blocked four shots between Friday night’s win over Huntington North and Saturday’s win over Snider, showing some strong prowess from the guard position.
So who is the area’s best shot blocker? The debate is still open and you know I’d love to hear your thoughts.
BIG SCORING BATTLE
I won’t be long here, but it is worth its own note to talk about the absolute battle between Adams Central and Woodlan on Friday night for an early edge in the ACAC. The Flying Jets get the edge with a 77-70 win and with such a small conference, it will be hard for anyone to catch them with Woodlan considered the best challenger in this conference.
But the outright offensive strength in this game, the trading of baskets, was phenomenal.
In the end, Isaac Schultz (29) and Micah McClure (23) led the Flying Jets, while Trey Yoder (28) and Braden Smith (20) led the Warriors. It was strength on strength and did not disappoint. In the game, Smith became Woodlan’s all-time three point make record holder, a fitting spot for one of the area’s best shooting aces.
Even better? We are likely to see this matchup again at some point in the ACAC Tournament. That blind draw is eminent and hopefully this is set up as a potential finals matchup and not something we get too early in the week.
OTHER BOYS NOTES
Canterbury‘s Devon Lewis scored 16 points in Tuesday’s loss to Adams Central, surpassing 1,000 points for his career. He is just the 5th Canterbury player to ever do so; the last was Will Shank, who played for the same AAU organization Total Package Elite….Speaking of TPE, their guard Jackson McGee of Leo committed to play D2 Grand Valley State on Saturday after one of the best consistent scoring weeks in recent memory with 20, 27 and 19 as Leo went 3-0….If McGee caught your attention in Friday’s win over Huntington North, so should have Huntington North’s Ethan Zahn (22 points) with a solid breakout performance….Bellmont‘s win Friday was their first win at New Haven since 2005.
OTHER GIRLS NOTES
With her 35 points Thursday in a win over Hamilton, Lakewood Park‘s Ava McGrade now has the highest scoring single game in the area this season, boys and girls….Eastside (11-1) is off to their best start since 1977….Columbia City‘s Addison Baxter had 16 total steals in two wins this week including nine against East Noble in a conference win.
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