The Press-Dispatch
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The Press-Dispatch Sports Wednesday, December 11, 2019 B- 3 GORBY Continued from page 1 about him, and I know that when you do things the right way, good things happen for you and I know he is going to have a great season and career." The Chargers (0 -4, 0 - 1 PAC) had a chance to tie the game and force over- time in the game's final 20 seconds, but the Tigers' de- fense held strong and Pike Central's desperation heave came up short. "We put ourselves in a position to possibly win the game against a ranked team and that is a position these kids have not been in before at the varsity level, " Elliott said. "They knew what set we were trying to run at the end, but they took [Ethan] Scott away and we could not get into it, we need to learn to just be aggressive and make a play at that point. We will learn from this game both good and bad, and con- tinue to get better. "As a whole, I thought the team played great. We are preaching the importance of being selfless and play- ing for each other and we did a nice job of that Satur- day night." Ethan Scott led the Char- gers with 14 points, five re- bounds and a block. "He played a very solid game, and is a very tough player to guard," Elliott said. "He also did a great job leading and being vocal out there on the floor. I am very proud of the leader he is be- coming." Senior center Colin Craig stepped into a starting role for the game and came in huge for Chargers. He fin- ished with four points, four rebounds and took two charges. "We really pride ourselves on never missing an oppor- tunity to take a charge, and he stepped up and took two big ones," Elliott said. "I al- so thought Sean Hanselman played the best game I have seen him play on both ends of the floor. He finished with nine points and four assists [and a steal] and was awe- some defensively." Elliott said he was hap- py with the intensity and re- solve the team played with against a top five team. "The unity this team is displaying right now is spe- cial and really what can set us apart," he said. "Offen- sively, we took care of the ball much better and got a lot of great shots. This group is very capable of shooting the ball and we were able to show some of that Satur- day night going 8 -of-18 from the 3-point line. Defensive- ly, once again, our half-court defense was very good and we stuck to the game plan very well. Our kids took the loss pretty hard and that type of emotion shows just how much they care and how hard they are working." Pike Central's other con- tributors were Jaden Guth with three points, three re- bounds, five assists and a steal, and Jersey Mills with three rebounds and a steal. RAIDERS RUN AWAY FROM CHARGERS Gorby also played a great game against Southridge on Tuesday, Dec. 3, despite the Raiders (1-5, 1-0 PAC) de- feating the Chargers, 50 - 30, at PCHS. "He once again was very good on the boards and was finally shooting the shots I have been begging him to shoot," Elliott said. "While he only finished with seven points, he scored them con- secutively and then had to come out due to some blood on his jersey. He can really score the basketball and see- ing him play aggressive with a lot of confidence was great. He is one of the best catch and shoot players in the ar- ea, but he needs to show it and play like it." Southridge is a solid team despite their record and has a couple of the top players in the area in forwards Colson Montgomery (6 -foot-5 -inch) and Garrett Voegerl (6 -foot- 3-inch). "They're a tough match- up for anyone and can score any number of ways," Elliott said. "They are very strong defensively and have a cou- ple nice role players to com- pliment them." The Chargers played a de- cent first half and trailed 27- 17 at halftime. "We still turned the ball over too much and need to make sure we get the most out of each possession," El- liott said. "We did a nice job on the glass once again, but did not get to the free throw line enough and did not shoot the ball particularly well." Scott led the Chargers with eight points, four re- bounds an assist and a steal; Gorby had seven points, sev- en rebounds, two assists and a steal; Craig had sev- en points, three rebounds and a steal; Jersey Mills had three points and two rebounds; Hanselman had two points, a rebound and one assist; Guth had two points and three rebounds; Connor Young made a free throw and had a rebound; and Jaylon Mills and Aden Brown each had a steal. "I did think we did a lot of really great things," Elliott said. "The togetherness of our guys was evident and we handled adversity very well. We preach about doing all of the common things in an un- common way, from the way we interact on the floor, re- spond to calls from officials, to how we shake the hands of opposing teams. We do not overlook anything and we are going to learn from this one and improve. I per- sonally feel that I need to make some adjustments and add some more options and screens to the offense to help us out scoring the ball. We have some kids that can shoot it and score, and I need to insure I am putting them in the best position to do so." Pike Central has just two more games before the holiday break. They host Barr-Reeve (2-0, 0 -0 Blue Chip) on Friday, Dec. 13, and Boonville (0 -1, 0 -0 Big Eight) on Tuesday, Dec. 17. Pike Central's Sean Hanselman goes up for a shot against Southridge on Tuesday, Dec. 3. The Chargers' Ethan Scott attempts to drive past a Southridge defender on Tuesday, Dec. 3. Colin Craig shoots a free throw during Pike Central's loss to Southridge on Tuesday, Dec. 3. Chargers JV and freshmen basketball fall short By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net The Pike Central junior varsi- ty boys' basketball team lost to a talented Princeton team, 54- 33, on Saturday, Dec. 7 at Princ- eton. "I thought we played really well when we handled the pres- sure," Pike Central JV coach Josh Roach said. "Princeton was either in a full court press or a 1-3-1 all night. We had a lot of good moments against it, but we also had some really shaky ones. I thought we did great to battle back out of the hole we put ourselves in. We cut it to three points at one time, but I think we just ran out of gas with the energy it took to bat- tle back." Alex Clark led the team with nine points. He was followed by Jeremiah Johnson (6), Kend- rick Sorgius (6), Hunter Tray- lor (5), Garrett Boyd (3), Con- nor Young (2) and Peyton How- ald (2). The JV team also lost 33-20 to Southridge at home on Tuesday, Dec. 3, at home. Clark scored nine, Traylor had six, Young chipped in for four, and Sorgius and Ashton Evans each finished with three. The team will host Barr- Reeve on Friday, Dec. 13, and Boonville on Tuesday, Dec. 17. FROSH DROP TWO Pike Central's freshmen team also suffered a pair of setbacks this past week. The Chargers lost 41-17 to South Spencer on Thursday, Dec. 5, at home. "This game was definitely a big step in the right direction," Pike Central freshmen coach Joe Chamberlain said. "We played really good basketball in the first half, but stumbled in the final few minutes before half. They went on a big run and it got to us mentally. That car- ried over into our second half, which was a turnover fest." Pike Central had zero turn- overs in the first half and 22 in the second. "They pressured us and we caved," Chamberlain said. "It was shocking at how quickly we went from playing so well to not being able to do any- thing. Have to give South Spen- cer credit though, they applied good pressure and hit a lot of outside shots in the second half. Their group ran the table in the PAC as eighth graders last year. We'll work on slowing ourselves down and getting these guys some court time against our ju- nior varsity and varsity press in practice. Overall, there were a lot of positives to take away." Peyton Howald and Kend- rick Sorgius led the team with six points each. They were fol- lowed by Peyton Chanley (3) and Braden Howald (2). The freshmen also lost at home to Southridge, 33-20, on Tuesday, Dec. 3. "Missed opportunity here," Chamberlain said. "This was a very winnable game and we let them control the game from the tip. I don't know if we were still full from Thanksgiving or what, but did not have a lot of posi- tives. We had an opportunity to steal the game back late, but miscommunication on screens on back-to-back possessions al- lowed them five easy points and it was all but over after that." Braden Howald and Sorgius led the team with four points each. They were followed by Trent Zimmerman (2), Peyton Chanley (2) and Brycen Knepp (1). The freshmen team was on the road at Forest Park on Tues- day, Dec. 10. They will also trav- el to South Knox on Monday, Dec. 16. LADY ESKIMOS BASKETBALL The Winslow Eskimos' Braelyn Barnett brings the ball up the court against Hunting- burg on Monday, Dec. 9. Gloryanna Sallee competes for the Winslow Eskimos fifth-grade girls' basket- ball team on Monday, Dec. 9. Winslow's Katelyn Neal knocks the ball loose from a Huntingburg player on Monday, Dec. 9, at PES.