The Press-Dispatch
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The Press-Dispatch Sports Wednesday, December 23, 2015 B- 3 By Ed Cahill Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net Tyler Toopes scored a game-high 32 points to lead the Pike Central High School boys' basketball team to a 77- 60 victory over visiting Boon- ville on Monday, Dec. 21. The 6 -foot-5 senior forward made 12 of 16 field goal at- tempts – including five of eight tries from beyond the three- point line – and was 3-for-5 from the free throw line while grabbing six rebounds and dishing out three assists. Toopes scored 21 of his points in the second half, in- cluding two on a one-handed dunk that extended the Char- gers's lead to 62-41 with 1:20 left in the third quarter. "He just pretty much did everything we needed him to do," said Pike Central head coach Jason Roach, whose Chargers remained unbeat- en at 6 -0 with their third win in four nights. "He crashed the boards, he made the ex- tra pass, he looked for his shot and he drove really well. He just did it all." Pike Central scored on each of its first five posses- sions – on baskets by junior guard Colton White, junior center Gabe Elliott and soph- omore forward Bryant Nalley and back-to-back three-point- ers by Toopes – to take a 12- 4 lead, forcing Boonville head coach Steve Alstadt to call a timeout with 5:20 left in the opening period. A fter play resumed, Nalley quickly picked up two person- al fouls and was relegated to the bench for the rest of the half with 3:54 remaining in the first quarter. Back-to-back baskets by junior Lane Miller and senior Kyler Klein pulled the Pio- neers to within 12-8 before a basket by Elliott and a three- pointer by White stretched Pike Central's lead to 17-8 with 2:18 left in the opening period. Boonville, however, ral- lied, on a pair of baskets and two free throws by Miller that slashed the deficit to 17- 14 heading into the second quarter. However, leading 29 -24 midway through the second period, Pike Central scored nine straight points – seven by Elliott and two by junior Trey Wornica – to open up a 38 -24 lead with 2:31 left in the first half. Boonville ended the second quarter with a 7-2 scoring run – on a pair of baskets by Klein and a three-pointer by sopho - more Glen Rouch – to close to within 40 -31 at the intermis- sion. "I think we were a little tired," Roach said. "We came out with a lot of intensity, but then we weren't playing real- ly solid defense. We were giv- ing up a lot of points that way. I didn't really use any time- outs the first half because they were using a couple, so we were getting some breaks there." "But we wanted to make sure that we stayed focused and kept our energy up," Roach added. "That was kind of our talk before the game – with three games in four days, we just needed to bring a lot of effort to this one because we may not have the energy that we're used to having. But we wanted to bring that effort and get as much out of them as we can." The Chargers started the second half much like they be- gan the first half, scoring on each of their first four posses- sions – on back-to-back bas- kets by Nalley and a three- point play and a three-point- er by Toopes – to open up a 50 -34 lead with 6:10 left in the third quarter. A basket by Elliott and an- other three-pointer by Toopes would extend the lead to 55 - 34 with 4:39 remaining in the third period as Boonville (2- 4) turned the ball over on six of its first eight possessions to start the second half. The Pioneers would get no closer than 16 points – at 55 -39 – while falling behind as many as 26 – at 73-47 – before out- scoring Pike Central 13-4 to end the game. "We did a lot of good things," Roach said. "We moved the basketball pretty well. We looked for our open shot and we got it mostly on the kick-out, which is what we wanted. We really tried to pound it inside and our guys did a good job of getting them the ball. We did a nice job of driving and then kicking or driving and finishing." "We attacked the bas- ket pretty well, and once we got that lead we just had to make sure we maintained it because, as you know, we haven't done that real well all the time," Roach added. "We had to make sure that we just stayed focused." While both teams shot the ball well – Pike Central made 31 of 53 field goal attempts (58.8 percent) while Boon- ville made 27 of 50 field goal attempts (50 percent) – the game's rapid tempo suited the Chargers, Roach noted. "That's kind of a key com- ponent to us," Roach said. "We've going to give up some buckets here and there and it's going to look bad or ug- ly at times, but as we get go- ing, it really goes into our fa- vor. Playing at that tempo, you're going to give up some open three's and you're go- ing to give up some bunnies here and there. At that tempo, that we're used to playing and practicing all the time, we may give up one or two, but that's going to give us a few more." Elliott added 16 points and six rebounds in the winning effort while Nalley – after scoring just two points before going to the bench with two fouls early in the first quarter – returned to the floor with a vengeance in the second half, netting an additional 12 points to finish with 14 points. "He does a great job," Roach said of Nalley, who was 6 -for-8 from the field and 2-for-2 from the free throw line. "He does everything you want him to do and he's just going to get bet- ter, especially because of his work ethic. He got a couple of quick ones there and had to sit. But the second half, he was raring to go and he got his opportunity and he knocked down a few and really opened things up." White added 10 points, grabbed four rebounds and dished out four assists. Wor- nica netted just two points but had game-high totals in as- sists (5) and steals (5). Also scoring for the Char- gers were junior Chase Davis (2 points) and senior Ty Hick- ey (1 point). Roach said that he and the team were ecstatic to reach the Christmas break with an undefeated record. "We want to continue to keep getting better and keep building on each day, prepar- ing for each team," Roach said. "This is right where we wanted to be. You can expect that we're going to have some hard-fought battles. Friday night's game could have gone either way. We just happened to make the right play at the right time. We want to contin- ue to just keep doing the best we can, keep preparing, and keep it rolling." Pike Central returns to action on Tuesday, Dec. 29, when the Chargers will take on Clay City in the open- ing round of the Graber Post Buildings Classic at North Da- viess. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. The winner will play either Park Tudor – which won two consecutive Class 2A state ti- tles and is currently ranked No. 1 in Class 3A at 7-0 – or North Daviess in the tour- nament's semifinal round on Wednesday, Dec. 30, at 7:30 p.m. The top half of the eight- team tournament bracket fea- tures Barr-Reeve (6 -0 and ranked No. 1 in Class 1A), Brownstown Central (5 -0 and ranked No. 7 in Class 3A), Ris- ing Sun (4-2 and ranked No. 16 in Class 1A) and South Knox (6 -1 and ranked No. 12 in Class 2A). "It's never going to be an easy night, that's for sure, and that's one thing that's good about it – you know you're in for a battle each night and you've got teams from all over the state ... so you play kind of different styles, different types of teams," Roach said. "It allows you to see where you're at. We just want to go in there and compete." • In the junior varsity game, Ross Kirkland scored 10 points to lead Boonville to a 37-33 win over Pike Central. Sophomore Tyler Tormohlen paced the Chargers with 16 points. However, after Thomas hit a three-pointer to give the Patriots a 33-32 lead early in the third quarter, a three-pointer by White sparked a 9 -0 scoring run that gave the Chargers a 41- 33 lead with 4:54 left in the period. Pike Central would ex- tend its lead to as many as nine points – at 44-34, 46 -37 and 49 -40 – before a three- pointer by senior Lance Lane began a 13-0 run that gave Vincennes Rivet a 53- 49 lead with 4:51 left in the fourth period. "The third quarter looked pretty good for us, and we said, 'Don't let this be a stopper for us,' and it kind of was," Roach said. "Vin - cennes Rivet came out, made a couple of good plays, hit a couple of shots and they were right back into us, and they kind of controlled it from there on out. They did a great job." However, following an ex- change of baskets left the Patriots with a 55 -51 lead with 3:15 remaining, White scored on a lay-up – off an assist by Elliott – less than a minute later to pull Pike Central to within 55 -53. Vincennes Rivet turned the ball over on its final two possessions – on steals by Toopes and Nalley – before Roach called a timeout with 20.2 seconds left to set up what would prove to be the final shot. "We wanted an option to go inside or outside," Roach said. "We had to be prepared for both zone and man. We decided to go inside. I thought Gabe was going to get the bucket to tie it up." "I'd like to say it went ex- actly as we drew it up but I can't say that," Roach contin- ued. "That's our kids play- ing basketball and doing the things that we're teaching in practice and preaching to them. Tyler could have taken that last shot with a guy on him. That's his range. He's got the green light. But he found an open teammate in the corner and he kicked it there and it won the game." White said that the play Roach drew up during the timeout "broke down pret- ty early." "So we were trying to pass it around and everybody was focused on Toopes," White said. "He just passed it over and got that wide open three to win the game. It was ex- citing." "When we were down four, I was a little nervous, but I knew that we'd some- how pull it out," White add- ed. "We're a scrappy team, we get things done in the clutch it seems like, so that's good." White hit nine of 16 field goal attempts – including three of seven tries from three-point range – and was 2-for-3 from the free throw line while scoring a game- high 23 points. He also had two assists and two steals. "We knew he was going to have a breakout game soon," Roach said. "You could just kind of see that things were starting to click for him. He does so many good things for our team. Every now and then, he loses focus and we'll have to pull him out and we have to refocus him, but to- night every timeout I kept going up to him and told him he was having a great game, a really great game." "He's really hard to guard," Roach added. "He posted a little bit. He was a good slasher. He cut with- out the basketball. He re- bounded. But I think that one thing that he did for us tonight was he got in there and he got some steals, he got some loose balls, and he really caused havoc in the backcourt there with our pressure." Elliott added 10 points while grabbing a game-high 15 rebounds while Toopes had nine points, four re- bounds and three steals. For the game, Pike Cen- tral made 19 of 49 field goal attempts – a 38.8 percent av- erage – and hit 13 of 17 tries from the free throw line while turning the ball over nine times. "That's kind of a sign of a good team, to be able to win a game like that, when things aren't going your way all the time," Roach said. "You've got to credit our guys. Vincennes Rivet, they're a great team, very good competition. So you've just got to give our guys a lot of credit there." Thomas paced Vincennes Rivet with 15 points while Lane and Nieuhaus – who had a team-high five re- bounds – tossed in 14 points each. For the game, the Patriots made 20 of 39 field goal at- tempts – a 51.3 percent av- erage – and hit 10 of 14 tries from the free throw line while turning the ball over 10 times. "They're a really solid team, I don't care what their record says," Roach said of Vincennes Rivet. "They've got a shot to really compete in their sectional and make something happen in that Blue Chip Conference." • In junior varsity action, freshman Macaine Clay- comb scored a game-high 16 points to lead Vincennes Rivet to a 49 -35 victory over Pike Central. Sophomore Tyler Tormohlen paced the Chargers with 12 points while junior Jared McCord added five points. Sopho- mores Kaleb Claridge and Cameron Helson and fresh- men Breyton Booker and Ky- son Western tossed in four points each for Pike Central. TREY Continued from page 1 MAC'S HEATING & AIR CONDITIONING 812-789-3065 104 E Center St, Winslow macshtgac@hotmail.com T H I S F E A T U R E I S S P O N S O R E D B Y : Alyx Abbott is a senior at Pike Cen- tral. She is a four-year member of the varsi- ty basketball team, and also participates in softball. She has been recognized for most assists, most steals and most free throws. She also has received softball awards for highest batting average and best infielder. Her favorite classes are Peer Facilitating, Bio-Med and Medical Terminology. She enjoys hunting, fishing and riding 4-wheelers. Alyx is the daughter of Angie and Eugene Abbott, of Petersburg. Noah Croak is a senior at Pike Cen- tral. He has been on the basketball team for four years, and received the Mental Attitude award. He has been on the Honor Roll and has advanced to state competition in Business Professionals of America. Noah's favorite classes are Economics, Government and Weight Training. His other activities include Peer Tutoring, Key Club, Student Govern- ment, Student Section Club, BPA, and coaching at Cub League Basketball. He is the son of Jody and Bruce Croak, of Petersburg. Pike Central High School ju- nior Colton White (12) puts up a shot as Vincennes Rivet se- nior Lance Lane (14) goes for the block during varsity game action on Friday, Dec. 18. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School junior Gabe Elliott gets his shot blocked by Vincennes Rivet senior Jackson Niehaus during var- sity game action on Friday, Dec. 18. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School sophomore Tyler Tormohlen (24) dribbles toward the basket during junior varsity game action against visiting Vincennes Rivet on Fri- day, Dec. 18. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School ju- nior Jared McCord (20) goes up for a lay-in as Vincennes Rivet junior Jacob Anderson (10) looks on during junior varsity game action on Friday, Dec. 18. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School senior Tyler Toopes (11) goes up for a dunk during game action against visiting Boonville on Monday, Dec. 21. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School sophomore Bryant Nalley (40) takes a shot over Boonville senior Lane Kirkland (10) as Pio- neer junior Lane Mill- er (50) looks on dur- ing game action on Monday, Dec. 21. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School junior Colton White (12) drives past Boonville senior Ryan Nance (33) before dishing the ball off to senior teammate Tyler Toopes (lower right) during game action on Mon- day, Dec. 21. Ed Cahill photo Toopes nets 32 as Chargers stay unbeaten with 77-60 win over Boonville