Each Sunday, yours truly will take a look at some of the bigger stories and important notes of the week with a wrap up column.
We head into the full swing of boys basketball season as even the late wait for a start teams now have some action in under their belts while on the girls side, we are starting to get a smidgen of conference clarities.
UPSET ALERT
Statements were made throughout the week on the boys side, some by teams opening their seasons and some by teams continuing on the path they started the week of Thanksgiving.
No bigger statement was made than that of Leo, who topped Wayne on Wednesday night in a game that was a bit lopsided at times, even though Wayne made an attempt at a furious comeback towards the end. Yes, you could point to the absence of injured Trey Dillard as a sticking point for the Generals but keep in mind that Leo is still missing Jaiyre Sampson.
Instead, it was Wayne’s struggles from the field (28.6 percent) and Leo’s tempo and composure that really played the biggest role. Solomon Richard has shown continued growth in being a lead guard and making things happen on the court. The tempo of the game also seemed to help push Colton Wallace, who was able to thrive in a bit of chaotic pace. The ability of both of those two to get downcourt and find Landon Ruoff in the post was impressive. Richard finished with 10 points and nine rebounds in the win, while Ruoff added 10 points.
But that win also plays into a big win for Heritage, who topped the Lions 67-61 on Friday night. Despite Richard having another great night with 18 points and 10 rebounds, the balanced effort of Heritage was the key for the Patriots in a signature win for the early part of the season; made more signature by Leo’s own big win earlier in the week. Lantae Cassell‘s 16 points led a balanced Heritage scoring load against Leo, where Taurean Brown added 15, Landon Lybarger scored 13 and Braden Walter had 10 points.
Friday night also saw a pretty big upset in the SAC as the young and hungry Snider Panthers dropped a conference game at South Side on the first night where we were seeing conference girl-boy double headers. Zacariah Belcher led the Archers with 20 points as they shocked Snider 56-39 and potentially helped open up the SAC race. The Panther girls did win their end of the double header behind 16 points from Kyra Parker.
Garrett too has drawn some interest in their hot start on the boys side, including a 14-point win over Woodlan on Tuesday. The Railroaders also topped Lakewood Park on Friday night for their fourth win of the young season; the Railroaders last started 4-0 in 2008. In Tuesday’s eye opening win, Gabe Armstrong’s defense on Woodlan’s Trey Yoder (who scored 30 in a game later in the week) helped Garrett jumped up by as many as 20 points, while senior Parker Reed led the way with 18 points. Isaiah King had 18 in Friday’s win over Lakewood Park, while Carter Coffman had 17 points and 5 steals.
Tuesday was also the stage for Northrop‘s 64-52 upset of New Haven. The Bulldogs opened their season with a win over Woodlan and finished this week with a close battle against Blackhawk Christian. But in between, the loss to Northrop shows us how much fight the Bruins can put up with Marshawn Warfield looking really solid and James Browning‘s 21 points leading the way. With Northrop’s win over Churubusco on Saturday, the Bruins are 2-1 after only winning one game last season; a win that didn’t come until January 20.
HOMESTEAD BOYS HAVE MY ATTENTION
In my predictions last week, I said I wasn’t going to pick against a Chris Johnson coached team very much ever. So I picked Homestead to topple big man Gavin Betten and Manchester and they certainly did that.
Betten scored 19 points but after Manchester’s early 15-12 lead, they never led again as Homestead blitzed them 71-48. Mack Welker‘s 20 points paced a really heavy scoring balance for the Spartans, who are doing a really good job of playing up tempo and scoring on all levels. Owen Smith scored 17 and Josh Rodgers added 14 points in the dominant win over Manchester. The defense really did a good some on their game plan of sandwiching Betten on scoring attempts and although he had 19, he did so coming off a 35 effort in his previous game.
The Spartans lost on Friday night against Warsaw, but who expected it to finish with a two point game in overtime? The Tigers needed a banked in 15 footer from Mydin Burgher to finish off a Homestead team that is showing how much they can still flex how good they are across the board. This was after all eighth-ranked Warsaw that we are talking about. Jake Coolman hit seven three pointers and had a game high 29 points for Homestead.
DO WE WANNA TALK EASTSIDE?
Last week, an anonymous (to you) e-mailer suggested that the Eastside girls were being overlooked by Bounce. That’s just not so. In fact, Eastside girls often appear in our Performance of the Week FAN VOTES and in the first in-season Power Poll, Bounce had them at #4, one spot ahead of their preseason #5, both spots that many other Bounce followers may think are too high for the Blazers.
But no oh no, not only do I see their potential, I see how dominant they are. That’s why I am not overlooking the Blazers. But this is fact too: right now three of their eight opponents have winning records. Eastside will have a hard time surpassing teams ahead of them in the area until that schedule thickens up in January with the likes of Bellmont, Fairfield and the NECC Tournament. It doesn’t mean Eastside isn’t great, but it also means we are being realistic.
And Tuesday’s win over Woodlan is one of those closer to marquee wins that will help propel Eastside to their eventual goals being met. The Blazers ran over one of the top teams in the ACAC, 52-35 as Lily Kreischer scored 18 points and Lucy Kitchen added 13. Eastside jumped out 9-2 on Woodlan in the first quarter and never looked back.
On Saturday, the Blazers picked up another conference win, stopping Garrett 61-22, led by 18 points each out of Kreischer and Sydnee Kessler. The win boosted Eastside to 8-0, tying their 1877-1978 team for the best start in program history. It was also Eastside’s Coaches vs Cancer Night, one of the many great things that the program does each season to keep things fun and energized in Butler. Again, Eastside held their opponent to nine points in the first quarter with a 22-9 advantage over the Railroaders.
BLACKHAWK RECHARGED
If you were counting on Blackhawk Christian to be down for some reason this season, think again.
Kellen Pickett was sensational in a 34 point win over North Side, getting to the rim with some enhanced aggression and throwing down multiple eye opening dunks along the way. He finished with 18 points and is only getting started on what is expected to be a stellar senior season. He added 22 points in Friday’s win over New Haven.
But we know about Pickett, so lets give some credit to move in Briggs Pardon, who has certainly fit in immediately with the Braves. Pardon scored 30 in Tuesday’s win over North Side while only hitting one three and doing so well at getting to the rim.
Drake Sefton is another new face to get used to. The freshman scored 14 points in Friday’s win over New Haven and considering how important both of his brothers and his father have been to the Braves program, it is nice to have another 4 years with a Sefton helping pace things at Blackhawk Christian.
The Braves exit the week 3-1 after a Saturday loss to Avon but have a very winnable three game stretch coming up leading to the Lawrenceburg Tournament after Christmas.
OTHER BOYS NOTES
While this should have mentioned last week, congrats to Manchester‘s Gavin Betten for surpassing 1990 grad Andy Holderman as the program’s all-time scoring leader in an opening win over Oak Hill. Betten scored 35 points with 17 rebounds in the game to get to 1,459 career points and counting….Angola forced 24 turnovers in Friday’s win over Central Noble to get them to 2-0 for the first time in 8 years….All 41 points scored by Norwell Tuesday in a win over Mississinewa came from one of the three McBride brothers, led by 15 from Josh McBride….Ayle Taylor debuted with 16 points for Bishop Luers as the junior led the Knights by Mishawaka Marian Saturday….Wayne scored 94 points Saturday in a win over Saginaw United (Michigan), marking their second straight year hitting 90-plus points, something that had not been done prior since 2017.
OTHER GIRLS NOTES
Ava McGrade of Lakewood Park has continued her tear to start the season with 26 points and 7 steals in a Tuesday home win over Prairie Heights. Later in the week, she scored 23 points (with 10 rebounds and 7 steals) in a win over New Haven including a first quarter beating shot, her third buzzer beater of the season….Zoey Bowman of Lakeland recorded her first career double double on Tuesday….Allison Recendiz scored a career 19 points for West Noble in Thursday’s win over Westview….Bluffton‘s 73 points this week against Blackford is their 6th game of 70 or more points this season; they had 4 last season and their offensive average of 72.9 points per game is ranked 2nd in the state….Alyssa Anderson had her third 20 rebound game of the season for Woodlan Saturday in a win over Adams Central.
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Thank you for the thoughts on the Lady Blazers. It just gets frustrating on the lack of coverage that happens up here even from some of our own media. Thank you, Dave Yates