The Press-Dispatch
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B-2 Sports Wednesday, December 25, 2019 The Press-Dispatch UPCOMING SCHEDULE MONDAY, DEC. 30 Junior Varsity Girls' Basketball: Jasper at Pike Cen- tral, 6 p.m. Varsity Girls' Basketball: Jasper at Pike Central, 7:30 p.m. CORRECTION Correction: In the Dec. 18 issue of the Press-Dis- patch, we mistakenly identified a photo of Pike Cen- tral wrestler Blake Henson as Joe Cannon. We apolo- gize for the oversight. Pike Central seventh grader Noah Meece attempts to get past an Owensville defender on Thursday. Pike Central eighth grader Zach Miller sizes up an Owens- ville defender on Thursday, Dec. 19. Pike Central eighth grader Zane Gehlhausen brings the ball up the court against Owensville on Thursday, Dec. 19. Right: Pike Central eighth grader Chase Ridao puts up a baseline jumper against Owensville. Pike Central seventh grader Drew Dawson looks for an open teammate in the Chargers' win at Owensville on Thurs- day, Dec. 19. Left: Pike Central seventh grader Conner Loveless puts up a floater in the Chargers' win at Owensville. Pike Central Middle School Basketball Roundup By Dennis Marshall Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net The Pike Central seventh- and eighth-grade boys' bas- ketball teams split their matches with Loogootee on Saturday, Dec. 21. The eighth graders lost 42-27, which dropped their overall record to 8 -4. "Loogootee came out hot and did the little things bet- ter than us from the start," Pike Central eighth-grade coach J.J. Howald said. "We were never able to recover. They boys had a good first half of the season and we are excited to build on it af- ter the holidays." Julian Gish led the team with 13. Quade Morton had 12 and Joey Ridao added two. The seventh graders won their game, 44-41. "I'm so proud of these kids," seventh-grade coach Jake Robinette said. "We've won two games in a row against teams with winning records. They are believing in themselves and playing as a team and to their po- tential." Drew Dawson and Bren- ton Fryrear each scored 12 to lead the Chargers. "Drew Dawson has stepped up in a big way these last couple of weeks," Robi- nette said. "Brenton Fry- rear is our leader and really played big today. Jake Pauw came off the bench and gave us 11 points, knocking down 5 -of-8 free throws." Noah Meece added five and Albert Whitehead fin- ished with four. "We are off some during break, but hoping we keep up our momentum going in- to the last half of the sea- son," Robinette said. The eighth-grade team defeated Owensville, 43-24, on Thursday, Dec. 19. "Overall, solid game for us and it was good to get back on the winning track," Howald said. "Had to bat- tle through some adversity early with two of our start- ing guards having to sit with some foul trouble. Zach Mill- er and Dylan Charles did a great job coming off the bench and keeping us roll- ing." Morton finished with 19. Gish added 12, Meadors had six, Ridao had four and Zane Gehlhausen scored two. The seventh-grade team also defeated Owensville. The Chargers' Albert White- head hit a 12-foot shot with three seconds remaining to give the team a 42-40 win. It was Pike Central's first lead of the game. "This team is very talent- ed, but sometimes it takes some convincing," Robi- nette said. "I am very proud of these guys. I see the tal- ent and skills from these guys everyday in practice and it doesn't always trans- late during games. We have some things to work on, but these guys are starting to play as a team." It was a close game in the first quarter, until Ow- ensville knocked down a three-pointer at the buzzer, giving them a seven-point lead. The Kickapoos con- tinued to build on their lead in the second. "I told them at halftime that we have to be more ag- gressive on defense," Rob- inette said. "We weren't hedging our ball screens and were lazy on our close outs. Owensville hit five three-pointers in the first half. I said if we take away their shots by closing out and getting a hand in their face, we could make this a ball game. And that is exact- ly what they did in the sec- ond half." Meece led the team with 18 points, including two three-pointers. "Noah Meece continues to improve this year," Rob- inette said. "He was pene- trating inside off of perfect screens for some good bas- kets." Other scorers were Daw- son (7), Fryrear (5), White- head (4), Barrett Cooper (3), Jake Pauw (3) and Eli Arnold (2). The eighth-grade team al- so lost 34-21 to Forest Park on Tuesday, Dec. 17. "Was 9 -9 at halftime and was a very physical game throughout," Howald said. "They made a run in the third quarter, where they out hustled us for three or four possessions and we were not able to hit enough shots down the stretch to get back into it. Forest Park has a really good group and we are excited to hopefully see them again in the con- ference tournament when we are playing our best ball." The Chargers' scorers were Morton (10), Gish (6), Ridao (3) and Meadors (2). The seventh-grade lost 31- 17 to the Rangers. "Both the team and I felt like this one slipped away from us," Robinette said. "Too many times this season we get ourselves in a hole from the start of the game. It's hard to compete and get back into a game when you get yourself down 10 to 15 points. The boys came out in the second half and played with heart. I told them if they played like that in the first half, we would have won the game." Fryer had seven, White- head and Pauw each scored three, and Cooper and Meece each finished with two. The seventh-grade B Team lost 43-7. Andrew Woods scored three, Kole Besing had two, and Jakob Newkirk and Braden Schul- teis each had one. "The B-Team played against a tough Forest Park team that had a lot of play- ers that were in the A-Team game," Robinette said. "Kole Besing played with a lot of heart. He was working hard the entire game. I was espe- cially proud of Schultheis, Woods and Jayden Bolin, who came off the bench and got some points and a lot of rebounds." Pike Central's eighth- grade girls' team lost to Ow- ensville 43-24, on Thursday, Dec. 19. The Kickapoos improved to 10 -0 with the win. Brailey Mills led the Lady Chargers with 14 and Kelby Leighty added 10. The seventh-grade girls lost 31-16. Emma Hunt scored 11 and Karly Mor- son had five. Pike Central eighth grader Quade Morton sprints past an Owensville defender on Thursday, Dec. 19.