Boys basketball: Big second half lifts Cougars past Knights

Dec. 21—Five straight points from Jaylynn McMurray to end the first half seemed to turn the tide in the ball game Wednesday for South Decatur. The Cougars trailed South Dearborn 28-15 before those McMurray points. South used that momentum to outscore the Knights 33-19 in the second half en route to a 53-47 victory.

The win improves South to 5-2 on the season. The Knights drop to 4-3.

The Knights jumped out to a 5-2 lead with Hudson Shackelford scored all five points. Tayedin Taylor had South's two points. After Colby Rathburn drove to the bucket for two for South, the Knights countered with nine straight points. A Brodie Teke 3-pointer put the Knights in front 14-4.

A left baseline jumper by South's Jacob Scruggs ended the run by the Knights. The Knights extended the lead to 19-8 late in the quarter on a bucket by Conor Huff. Two Scruggs free throws closed the first quarter with the Cougars trailing 19-10.

South Dearborn's Peyton Hill scored off the Shackelford assist to start the scoring in the second quarter. South got on the board with a 3-pointer by McMurray. A bucket by Shackelford and five straight from Scout Gray extended the lead to 28-13.

South cut into the deficit with two Taylen Absher free throws. McMurray's lay-up and 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer cut the deficit to 28-20 at the half.

South opened the third quarter on a 7-0 run. Scruggs scored off the block and Drake Scaggs scored on a fast break. Three straight from Absher had the deficit down to 28-27.

The Knights went on their own run, a 7-3 spurt to lead 37-30. Zander Schwab's 3-pointer capped the run. South answered with a Jamison Keller 3-pointer and bucket by Scruggs at the horn to cut the Knights' lead to 37-35 heading to the fourth quarter.

Early in the fourth quarter, South Dearborn built the lead to its largest at three points and the Cougars cut the deficit to one on two Absher free throws. A 3-pointer from McMurray knotted the game at 43-43.

South took the lead at 45-43 on two Scruggs free throws and again at 47-45 on two Scaggs free throws. Two Absher free throws pushed the Cougars' lead to four points. After a bucket by South Dearborn's Gray made it 49-47, South closed out the game at the charity stripe with Absher and Scruggs converting from the charity stripe.

North Decatur

OSGOOD — Jac-Cen-Del hosted North Decatur Thursday at the Eagles' Nest. After trailing by two points after the first quarter, North methodically took control of the game and posted a 56-48 victory.

The Chargers improve to 5-2 on the season. The Eagles drop to 3-5.

JCD led 11-9 after the first quarter. Cooper Parmer scored five points, including a 3-pointer to lead North in the first eight minutes. Dwenger hit a pair of 3-pointers for JCD in the opening quarter. White also had a bomb for JCD.

The Chargers outscored the Eagles 18-15 in the second period to lead 27-26 at the half. Two more 3-pointers from Parmer and six points from Kaden Muckerheide led the way for North in the frame.

North extended the lead to 38-32 after three quarters. Muckerheide scored five in the quarter for North. Parmer, Chase Youngman and Marshall Snell all had a bucket for the Chargers.

Brady Mauer hit a pair of 3-pointers in the fourth quarter for the Chargers and Muckerheide helped seal the win by knocking down 8-of-10 from the charity stripe.

Muckerheide led North with 24 points. Parmer finished with 13 points. Mauer had a trio of 3-pointers for nine points. Mason Morris, Youngman, Owen Eldridge, Snell and Logan O'Dell all had two points.

White scored 19 points and Dwenger had 13 for JCD.

Batesville

VERSAILLES — The even quarters were big for visiting Batesville at South Ripley. The Bulldogs outscored the Raiders 12-6 in the second quarter and 21-10 in the fourth quarter en route to the 62-42 victory.

The Bulldogs shot 56.8 percent from the field, including 43.8 percent from 3-point range. South Ripley made just 1-of-17 from beyond the arc.

The game was even at 14-14 after the first eight minutes. Batesville took a 26-20 lead to the locker room at the break. The Bulldogs extended the lead to 39-32 after three quarters and put the game away in the fourth quarter with the 21-10 run.

Sam Johnson led the Bulldogs in scoring with 18 points and made it a double-double with 11 rebounds and one assist. Cade Kaiser scored 13 points to go with six rebunds and three assists. Jack Grunkemeyer tallied nine points and six rebounds.

Trenten Luers (four assists) and Gus Prickel (team-high six assists) both scored seven points. Brayden Maple chipped in with six points, two rebounds and two assists. James Hughes added two points and one rebound.

South Ripley was led by Cole Henry with 21 points and 11 rebounds. Ethan Johnson scored 11 points. Blaine Ward had four points. Drew Volz and Trevor Castner both scored three points.

Rushville

RUSHVILLE — Class 4A No. 10 Greenfield-Central remained undefeated on the season with a 58-23 win at Rushville Wednesday. The Cougars improve to 8-0. The Lions are 0-7.

The Cougars opened the game on a 17-4 run in the first quarter. Rushville's points came on buckets by Nick Jarman and Adrian Apodaca. Boston Willard scored seven points for the Cougars and Braylon Mullins drained a pair of 3-pointers in the opening quarter.

Greenfield extended the lead to 39-9 at the half. Mullins added 10 points in the second quarter for the Cougars. Willard also had three buckets for six points. Rushville had a 3-pointer from Zachery Owen and a bucket by Keegan Bowles.

After three quarters, Greenfield led 55-16. For the Lions in the quarter, Clayton Chase hit a 3-pointer. Bowles and Jarman both added a bucket. Dallas Freeman led the Cougars in the third quarter with six points. Brady Johnson scored all five of his points in the third.

A 3-pointer by Cole Mullins was all for Greenfield in the final quarter. Bowles added four points to his total and Chase Woolf added a 3-pointer for the Lions.

The Lions were led in scoring by Bowles with eight points. Jarman was next with four points. Woolf, Zachery and Chase all scored three points. Apodaca added two points.

Bowles also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds to go with two assists and one steal. Jarman pulled down four rebounds and Apodaca had three rebounds. Woolf led the Lions with two steals.

Rushville's junior varsity led by three points after the first quarter, but the Cougars rallied in the second quarter (19-3 run) en route to posting the 37-27 victory.

Rushville cut the deficit to six points with five minutes to go in the game, but the Cougars held on four the win. Leading scorers for the Lions were Malaki Knight and Zy Adams, both with seven points. Also scoring for the Lions were Isaac Schelle two, Will Ervin two, Gavin Owen four and Liam Gurley five.

Contact Aaron Kirchoff at aaron.kirchoff@greensburgdailynews.com