The final look back of the year 2023. Yes, we know there are plenty of games next week after the holiday, but Bounce is taking a rest from the weekly column.
Why? Well, part of it is to let Bounce and his football cronies take over next week for their end of season awards. But don’t worry, you will still hear from Bounce next week too. So what are some big stories this week?
A FEW COMEBACK STORIES
There were three quick comeback stories in two days to start the week, but two had happy endings. Well, I guess none of them did if you count the teams that gave up comfortable leads.
The first was Monday when the Columbia City girls had their roughest shooting game of the season and fell behind Bishop Luers 29-20 at the half and trailed 46-37 before a great fourth quarter comeback. In the fourth, the Eagles were down eight with just over three minutes left but rallied and tied the game two minutes later on a Tessa Tonkel basket, eventually forcing overtime tied at 52. But again, Luers shot ahead and the Eagles didn’t have another comeback in them, falling 65-55 after shooting 5-of-22 from deep while Reese Rhodehamel hit five from deep of her own for Luers to finish with a game high 22 points.
Its worth noting that the Eagles were without Anisa Tonkel, but make no mistake that we shouldn’t take anything away from a Bishop Luers team who, at their peak, are very tough right now. When you look at Rhodehamel, the 13 points and 16 rebounds from Miley Wareing and 15 points from Annika Davis.
On Tuesday, Leo boys supplied one of the greatest comebacks we have seen in years and one of the better ones we will see for some time. Down 21 to Homestead, Leo fought and clawed on Tuesday night to come back and win. Leo trailed 42-23 with 10 minutes left in the game, before pulling off the 53-48 win, their first over the Spartans since 1978. Leo outscored Homestead 30-6 down the stretch (22-4 in the fourth) as they were led by Jackson McGee‘s 16 points/10 rebounds, 14 points/5 assists from Trey Hiteshew and 11 points from Nolan Hiteshew. It was such an improbably comeback led by some really good ball movement that got Homestead’s defense off balance.
Again, kudos to the Spartans for the gap that they opened. Homestead shot the ball really well in the first half, both from three and with pull up jumpers; Michael Raudenbush led the Spartans with 20 points. Homestead’s offense, in its current state, is still very versatile and the lead they built is something that the still have to be given credit for.
The other Tuesday comeback could have massive NECC meaning when Lakeland went to Westview and beat the Warriors, 58-47. Nothing involved in that sentence is easy: its not easy to get up for a conference game on a Tuesday (especially a meaningful one), its not easy to beat Westview, and its not east to win at Westview most of the time. Tack on the comeback that the Lakers made and it was a banner night.
Westview led the game 34-26 at the half and Lakeland then outscored the Warriors 32-13 the rest of the way, shooting 45 percent to Westview’s 18 percent. The Warriors shot just 1-of-14 from three and Lakeland truly took advantage down the stretch to beat Westview for the first time since 2009. Keegan Merrifield led Lakeland with 21 points while Nate Keil had 16 points and seven rebounds and Justin Carlson scored 10.
No need to talk about it much here, because Sam Frick broke it down earlier this weekend, but Bellmont had a big comeback on Friday night to top county rival Adams Central, in part due to five three pointers from Gavin Krull.
PEAKING AT THE RIGHT TIME?
Two girls scores immediately drew my attention on Wednesday night.
First, we had Concordia Lutheran‘s 60-54 win over Woodlan. Yes, Woodlan has had some struggles as of late after a really nice start but they are still a quality team so a win over them is a great one for most programs. Included in that is Concordia, who hit four straight wins with the victory over the Warriors after a seven game skid. The Cadets have a pretty young core, so hitting a winning stride right now is huge for them. Concordia had not won four straight since 2021, so it is the longest winning streak under third year head coach Nicole Bolinger.
Alivia Bolinger finished with 16 points and continues to be an underclassman to watch. The sophomore is now averaging just over 14 points per game.
On Friday, the Cadets got their biggest win of the season with a low scoring, 28-25 upset of Bellmont.
Also on Wednesday, Huntington North improved to 7-5 with an upset victory over Warsaw, 63-56. Coming into the season, we expected the Vikings to be one of the teams who could throw a wrench in the NE8 but started just 2-5. The win over Warsaw was their fifth win in a row on a schedule that also includes a win over Bishop Luers; a win that looks a lot better after Luers beat Columbia City this week. Huntington North also competed well with Norwell in a loss not so long ago and with one loss in the NE8, don’t count them out for playing into how that conference standing ends up by year’s end.
Haiden Bailey led three Vikings in double figures in the win with 23 points, also have five assists, while Gracie Fields had 16 points and 12 rebounds
THE ACAC TOURNAMENT DRAW
On Wednesday, the draw for this coming January’s ACAC Tournament took place.
We will see South Adams at Adams Central, which matches up with Jay County getting the bye to the semi finals. On the other side of the bracket, Bluffton‘s teams will travel to Southern Wells and Heritage will go to Woodlan.
For the girls, I don’t hate this draw. Right now, we may have to put Jay County at #1, Bluffton at #2 and Woodlan at #3, so how this random draw worked out actually works decently.
For the boys, it may also make sense. There is a part of me that really likes Jay County as maybe the second best team in the conference but at the same time, I am ok with it being considered Woodlan so keeping the Warriors and Adams Central on opposite sides after they just had a stellar regular season game works for me too. And Woodlan hosting Heritage boys isn’t a bad opening night matchup either.
The random draw worked out. If often doesn’t, so we should actually be pretty happy with how the 2024 ACAC Tournament is aligned for both the girls and boys sides.
GAME OF THE WEEK TURNED DEFENSIVE SHUTDOWN
In a game that was suspected to be a Game of the Week candidate, Fairfield girls topped Bluffton on Thursday in convincing fashion.
Two surging teams early in this season, the game lived up to the hype much of the way, Fairfield up 20-14 after one and still leading 27-23 at the halftime break. And then, the Falcon defense just swarmed the Tigers, allowing two points – yes, two – in the entire second half, including a scoreless fourth quarter for Bluffton. Fairfield game out with the 42-25 win and really cemented how dangerous they are down the stretch of the regular season, into the NECC Tournament in January and a postseason where they will be taken with defending a state title.
Kaylee Dillon thrived, scoring 20 points for Fairfield, hitting one less field goal (7) than Bluffton’s entire team (8). Fairfield totaled nine steals and had 20 defensive rebounds to Bluffton’s 8.
Bluffton was averaging 60 points per game coming into the game.
THE PSM HOLIDAY SHOOTOUT
In the world without the holiday tournament we all (should) want back, Trine was the host site Saturday for another year of this single day shootout with some good blending of teams that wouldn’t have the chance to see each other in any other avenue.
Were the Fairfield boys the big winner at Trine? Of course they were. On Friday night, they beat Northrop 66-40 and really limited Dallas Lawrence. Any win for a NECC team over a SAC team is important and this was a big one for Fairfield to get some momentum into the new year. Again, it was a diverse touch that did it for the Falcons with Carson Smith leading the way with 14, Tyson Frey scoring 11, Noah Mast with 8 and Alex Hofer with 6 points.
North Side too looked good on Friday night at Trine as they improved to 7-0 behind their terrific duo of Jaxson Fugate (22 points, 6/8 threes) and Eugene Young (17 points, 9 rebounds), with five big steals from Javion Davenport in a win over Michigan City.
Those wins set up the final game of the Shootout on Saturday when the Falcons and Legends squared off in a really intriguing game on paper. Fairfield delivered in droves while North Side had significant shooting woes. Fairfield led 20-12 before a Max Goheen basket and a Young three made it 20-17 with 2:38 left in the second, but it was shockingly as close as it would get as the Falcons closed out a 54-43 win where the lead was as many as 21 late before both teams sent in the ends of the benches.
Late in the second, a Hofer dribble drive to Smith for a three was a big catalyst in ending North’s run and showing how all around crisp and quick the Falcon ball movement was all night. In the third, Fairfield ended another North Side push with Mast getting the trail pass and pulling up from the top of the key to bury a three with 4:30 in the third. With 36 seconds left in the third, a Brooks Custer long outlet pass for a Hofer layup made it 38-27 for the Falcons. Custer did a tremendous job Saturday, especially defensively with his first step when guarding Davenport, who is one of the most shifty and hard to defend lead guards in the area. Frey eventually pushed Fairfield up 20, 47-27, in the fourth. Smith led the way in scoring with 13, but again Fairfield was balanced as Custer had nine points and Frey and Mast each with 8 in the upset of the 6th ranked team in Class 4A.
For Fairfield, everything they did had a purpose: every pass, every cut, every movement. It really was fun basketball to watch out of the Falcons.
Lakeland also got a good SAC opponent win, beating both Northrop at Trine on Saturday. Nate Keil was wild in the win over Northrop, scoring 23 points but putting in one of the best stat lines in the area this season with six rebounds, five assists, three steals and three blocks. The Lakers did however fall to Michigan City in their second game of the day at the Shootout despite 27 points from Keil to complete his monster week.
On the girls side at Trine, the South Side girls picked up a pair of wins on the day, beating Lakeland and Concord. That gives South Side a three game winning streak going into the holiday. It is South Side’s first three game win streak since they won their first five in a row to start the 2020-2021 season.
Lakeland picked up their first win of the girls basketball season Saturday with a 61-55 overtime victory against North Side. It is the first varsity coaching win for first year coach James Benson.
The Northrop girls picked up two wins on Saturday at Trine, 49-35 over Elkhart and 49-40 over Westfield. In the second game, which was against Westfield, Khala Williams-Thomas had a big game with 18 points, 7 rebounds and 5 blocks.
OTHER NOTES
On Tuesday, DeKalb‘s Ashley Cox had 24 points and 20 rebounds against Blackhawk Christian, the first 20/20 game for the Barons since November 13, 2017 when Leigha Brown dropped an astounding 53 points to go with 24 rebounds. Not bad company for Ashley Cox….A 20 point win for Central Noble at Wawasee on Wednesday was eye opening. Its a good win and when you factor in the absences of Drew Pliett and Jackson Andrews, it is an even more massive one for the Cougars, who got 22 points from Isaiah Gard on 11-14 shooting in the win.
These opinions represent those of Bounce and Outside the Huddle. No opinions expressed on Outside the Huddle represent those of any of our advertisers. Follow Bounce on Twitter at Bounce_OTH
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