The Press-Dispatch
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The Press-Dispatch Sports Wednesday, November 28, 2018 B- 3 A fter a basket by Brown County junior Jordan Wat- son tied the score at 2-2, a three-pointer by Holder – off of an assist from senior Joey Church – gave Pike Central a 5 -2 lead with 5:42 left in the first quarter. Following a basket by Wat- son pulled Brown County to within 5 -4, a three-point- er by senior Judah Leathco and back-to-back baskets by Scott and senior Christian Benson extended the Char- gers' lead to 12-4 with 2:48 remaining in the opening pe- riod. A fter Brown County soph- omore Ricky Stanley hit a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to 12-6, a three-point play by Scott stretched Pike Central's lead to nine points – at 15 -6 – with 2:26 left in the first quarter. The Eagles – who had ear- lier dropped a 58 -35 loss to Loogootee – would rally, out- scoring Pike Central 13-6 to close to within 21-19 with 5:21 left in the second peri- od. Two free throws by Ben- son and a three-pointer by Scott extended the Char- gers' lead to 26 -19 before a three-pointer by Stanley cut Pike Central's advantage of 26 -22. Back-to-back baskets by Church and Scott and a pair of free throws by Leathco fu- eled a 6 -1 scoring run to ex- tend the Chargers' lead to 32- 23 with 35 seconds left in the first half. A pair of free throws by Watson at the end of the sec- ond quarter and a basket by junior Aaron McCann at the start of the third period pulled the Eagles to within 32-27 before Pike Central – following an exchange of bas- kets by Benson and Watson – scored seven straight points on baskets by senior Hayden Kabrick and Benson and a three-pointer by Kabrick to stretch its lead back to nine points, at 41-32, with 42 sec- onds left in the third quarter. A fter Brown County ju- nior Caleb Yeager hit a three-pointer to cut the Char- gers' lead to 41-35 heading in- to the fourth period, Kabrick answered with a three-point- er of his own – off of an assist by Scott – to give Pike Cen- tral a 44-35 lead with 6:44 re- maining. However, the Eagles would rally once again, scoring sev- en straight points – two by McCann and five by fresh- man Carter Kelly – to pull to within 44-42 with five min- utes remaining. On the Chargers' next pos- session, Leathco misfired on a three-point shot attempt. However, a leaping Holder was able to slap the rebound toward the basket, where a wide-open Fields grabbed it and scored to extend Pike Central's lead to 46 -42 with 4:35 left. Nine of the game's next 10 possessions would result in turnovers – including five by the Chargers – as Brown County drew to within 46 -45 on a three-pointer by Yeager with just under three min- utes remaining in the con- test. A fter Fields rebounded a missed three-point shot by Kelly in the game's final minute, the Eagles – having been whistled for just three personal fouls thus far – com- mitted three straight fouls, the last by Yeager with 18.7 seconds left, to set the stage for Pike Central's unconven- tional inbounds play. "I kept thinking we might be able to break through and get over that hump, and kind of get to a 12-, 15 -point game," Elliott said. "But they hung around. They played hard. But we just came out and it was a really good team effort tonight." Scott, who was named to the all-tournament team, scored a game-high 12 points – all in the first half – while dishing out a game-high three assists. He also had three steals. Benson and Kabrick, meanwhile, added eight points each, while Leathco and Holder – who also had a team-high seven rebounds – tossed in seven and six points, respectively. Church (four points) and Fields (two points) rounded out the scoring for the Char- gers. "We have four guards in the game a lot so we have a lot of playmakers out there," Elliott said. "But, you know, Ethan is one that we really rely on to make plays and go make some things happen. Him and Benson, we kind of rely on to do some scoring for us, but, tonight, I really felt like we kind of spread it across the board." For the game, Pike Cen- tral made 17 of 37 field goal attempts – a 45.9 percent av- erage – and hit eight of 10 tries from the free throw line while turning the ball over 14 times. Elliott said afterward that he was particularly pleased with his team's effort on both the offensive and defensive end late in the contest. One highlight, Elliott not- ed, occurred with 1:30 re- maining when Fields slapped the ball away from a Brown County player and Kabrick and McCann both raced to- ward and dove for the ball, which ultimately went out of bounds off of McCann. "Kabrick sprinted about three quarters of the length of the court and dove on that ball," Elliott said. "The first to the floor wins it 90 percent of the time is what I tell them. He got on the floor first and it was off their guy and we got the possession back." The 6 -foot-6 Watson paced Brown County (0 -3) with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Kel- ly and Stanley both came off the bench to add eight points each while McCann and Yea- ger tossed in six points each. McCann also had six re- bounds and three steals. For the game, the Eagles made 15 of 45 field goal at- tempts – a 33.3 percent aver- age – and hit seven of eight tries from the free throw line while turning the ball over 13 times. "The two games we played here, we had chances to win both, and kind of fell a little bit short," Elliott said. "But I think that's a little about these kids learning to play at the varsity level. But I think we came out and they really wanted it tonight, and they went out and made sure it happened." WIN Continued from page 1 HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' BASKETBALL Pocket Athletic Conference Standings PAC Overall Team W-L W-L Forest Park ...................................... 0 -0 .............1-1 Gibson Southern ............................. 0 -0 ............ 0 -0 Heritage Hills .................................. 0 -0 ............ 1-0 North Posey .................................... 0 -0 ............ 0 -0 Pike Central .................................... 0 -0 .............1-2 South Spencer ................................. 0 -0 ............ 0 -0 Southridge ....................................... 0 -0 ............ 0 -0 Tecumseh ........................................ 0 -0 ............ 1-0 Tell City ............................................ 0 -0 ............ 1-0 Results of November 21 Northeast Dubois 52, Pike Central 44 Crawford County 43, Forest Park 41 Tell City 65, Perry Central 37 Results of November 24 Forest Park 66, Springs Valley 37 Heritage Hills 71, North Harrison 43 Tecumseh 66, Dugger Union 18 Loogootee Tournament Rock Creek Academy 50, Pike Central 39 Pike Central 47, Brown County 45 Games of November 27 Jasper at Gibson Southern Owensboro Catholic (Ky.) at South Spencer Games of November 30 Evansville Central at Heritage Hills Evansville Mater Dei at South Spencer North Posey at Mount Vernon (Posey) Southridge at Washington Tecumseh at Barr-Reeve Games of December 1 Princeton at Pike Central: Junior Varsity, 6:30 p.m.; Varsity, 8 p.m. Corydon Central at Southridge Forest Park at Tell City Northeast Dubois at Heritage Hills South Spencer at South Central (Elizabeth) Wood Memorial at Tecumseh Games of December 4 Evansville Day School at North Posey Tecumseh at Boonville Games of December 7 Cannelton at Tecumseh Forest Park at Loogootee Gibson Southern at Evansville Central (Ford Center) Heritage Hills at North Posey Southridge at Tell City Games of December 8 Forest Park at Evansville Bosse (Ford Center) Heritage Hills at Washington Mount Vernon (Posey) at South Spencer Southridge at Evansville Mater Dei (Ford Center) Pike Central High School senior Austin Hold- er (5) tries to grab the basketball during varsi- ty boys' basketball action against Brown Coun- ty in the 11th Annual Loogootee Tip-Off Classic's consolation contest on Saturday, Nov. 24. Holder scored six points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds in the Chargers' 47-45 victory. Ed Ca- hill photo Pike Central High School senior Joey Church (left) finds his path toward the basket blocked by Rock Creek Academy junior Brendan Kane (right) during varsity boys' basketball action in the opening round of the 11th Annual Loogoo- tee Tip-Off Classic on Saturday, Nov. 24. Church scored four points in the Chargers' 50-39 loss. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School senior Christian Ben- son (12) goes up for a shot over Brown County ju- nior Caleb Yeager (32) during varsity boys' bas- ketball action in the 11th Annual Loogootee Tip- Off Classic's consolation contest on Saturday, Nov. 24. Benson scored eight points in the Char- gers' 47-45 victory. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School senior Judah Leathco (20) goes up for a shot past Rock Creek Academy junior Kevin Monkam-Meyer (right) during var- sity boys' basketball action in the opening round of the 11th Annual Loogootee Tip-Off Classic on Saturday, Nov. 24. Leathco scored six points in the Chargers' 50-39 loss. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School junior Mario Fields (right) looks to score while Rock Creek Academy junior Brendan Kane (24) defends during varsi- ty boys' basketball action in the opening round of the 11th Annual Loogootee Tip-Off Classic on Saturday, Nov. 24. Fields scored three points in the Chargers' 50-39 loss. Ed Cahill photo ROCK CREEK ACADEMY 50, PIKE CENTRAL 39 Senior Rickie Wright scored a game-high 19 points and junior Jonathon Brown- ing added 10 points to lead Rock Creek Academy to a 50 - 39 first-round victory over Pike Central. Entering the second half tied at 27-27, Rock Creek Academy outscored the Chargers 16 -4 in the third quarter to take a 43-31 lead into the final period. Pike Central would get no closer than nine points – at 48 -39 – the rest of the game. For the game, the Lions out-rebounded Pike Central 30 -25 while converting 16 of- fensive rebounds into a total of 19 points. The Chargers, meanwhile, had eight offen- sive rebounds but zero sec- ond-chance points. "It was rebounding again," said Elliott, who team was out-rebounded 30 -18 in a 52- 44 season-opening loss to visiting Northeast Dubois on Wednesday, Nov. 21. "That's something that we have to have some kids take a little bit more pride in." "I thought a couple of times, we might have been able to get an over-the-back call that we didn't get," El- liott added. "But, at the same time, if you're not checking out on a consistent basis, it's tough to argue that. We didn't have kids really want- ing the basketball like we needed to have." Scott scored 18 points to lead Pike Central in scoring while Benson and Kabrick added six points each. Hold- er (four points), Fields (three points) and Leathco (two points) rounded out the scoring for the Chargers. In addition, Church came off the bench to grab a team- high seven rebounds while Kabrick dished out a game- high four assists. For the game, Pike Cen- tral made 13 of 39 field goal attempts – a 33.3 percent average – and hit six of 10 tries from the free throw line while turning the ball over 15 times, including nine in the second half. "I think, man to man, they were really going to strug- gle to guard us," Elliott said. "We were going to get pretty much whatever look we want- ed to, man to man. But when they turned around and started putting a little bit of traps and pressure, our kids kind of cowered away from that a little bit, instead of con- tinuing to attack." "That kind of took us out of what we wanted to do," El- liott added. "You know, when somebody's applying pres- sure, you've got to apply it right back, and we weren't able to do that today." Senior Ray Johnson netted nine points for Rock Creek Academy, which improved to 1-1. Browning grabbed a game-high eight rebounds while Wright and junior Kev- in Monkam-Meyer had five each. For the game, the Lions made 19 of 52 field goal at- tempts – a 36.5 percent av- erage – and hit seven of 16 tries from the free throw line while turning the ball over six times. Pike Central will return to action on Saturday, Dec. 1, when the Chargers will host Princeton. The junior varsity contest will start at 6:30 p.m., with varsity game to follow at approximately 8 p.m. Following Saturday night's games against the Tigers, Pike Central – which dropped games against Evansville Bosse and Vin- cennes Rivet this season – will not play again until Tuesday, Dec. 18, when the Chargers will travel to South- ridge. "It's just kind of how it worked out," Elliott said. "It's not a bad thing for us, I think. We can really get back to the drawing board. Now we've seen some things we need to work on and adjust and I think we'll be able to do that in that little break there."