Hoops buffet: Thursday's holiday high school basketball tournament notebook
Lake Central, Park Tudor, Carmel and North Central were winners on Thursday on the first day of the two-day Paul Loggan Memorial Invitational. More from the four games:
Lake Central 61, Pike 45: Ryan Sexson was not necessarily expecting an 8-0 start in his first season as coach at Lake Central.
“Five of our top eight players either played (junior varsity) or backup spot minutes last year,” Sexson said. “So we did not know what we had. We knew we had a good player in Jake Smith and Dorien Beatty is a good player but he was hurt most of last year. We’ve got a lot of guys who are playing meaningful varsity minutes for the first time. On top of that, you are trying to establish a new culture.”
Class 4A No. 9 Lake Central has made it work quickly under Sexson, who coached at Calumet College for 13 seasons. Smith, a 6-6 senior, led the Indians (8-0) with 16 points on Thursday and Beatty added 14 points, including a pair of 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to put away Pike (3-5).
Lake Central, which knocked off Munster 40-37 the week before Christmas, will face Park Tudor at 10 a.m. on Friday in its second game at North Central. The Indians took a 12-point advantage into halftime against Pike and led throughout the second half.
Pike has lost four consecutive games. The Red Devils will face Evansville Harrison at 1:30 p.m. on Friday.
Park Tudor 68, Evansville Reitz 46: Class 2A No. 9 Park Tudor turned a tie game after one quarter into a blowout victory with relentless defensive pressure.
The Panthers (6-1) turned up the heat to lead by 17 points at halftime and by 29 points at the end of three quarters in a surprisingly lopsided game.
“For us everything starts on the defensive end,” Park Tudor coach Tim Adams said. “We want to dictate the pace of how that game is going to be played. We may not force turnovers early but we want to make them uncomfortable.”
The plan worked. Junior guard KJ Mark led a balanced offensive attack with 14 points and 6-5 sophomore Brennan Dokes added 14 points off the bench. Miles Wiley, another sophomore, had 12 points and junior guard Hudson Horvath added nine points.
“I feel like we’re starting to play the way we’re capable of playing,” Adams said. “We have 11 guys who can come in and contribute the way we want to.”
Evan Hayes led Evansville Reitz (3-4) with 14 points. Sophomore Braylen Langley added nine points and six rebounds and freshman Jaylan Mitchell had five points and eight boards.
Park Tudor plays Lake Central at 10 a.m. Friday. Evansville Reitz meets North Central at 3:15 p.m.
Carmel 60, Evansville Harrison 46: Carmel coach Ryan Osborn is playing a rotation he never expected coming into the season.
That’s not an excuse – just the reality. The Greyhounds started the season with six losses in eight games, which is unusual for a program that been a standard in the state for the past decade-plus.
“I’m proud of them,” Osborn said. “Their attitude hasn’t changed and their effort hasn’t changed. They continue to be coachable to continue to compete and learn. It’s been a tough stretch these first nine games against really good teams. It would be easy to put your head down and sulk and pout and they don’t. It’s an extremely fun group to coach. As a coach sometimes you get caught up wanting to win the next one, but with this group you really have to settle in and worry about us and the things we have to do to get better.”
Carmel (3-6) was hurt by an injury to senior Owen Huber coming into the season and lost depth when a couple of players decided not to come out for the team after football season. It was already going to be a relatively young and inexperienced team.
But the emergence of players like sophomore Ben Bremer, who scored 12 points in his first varsity game, will help the Greyhounds in the second half of the season. Junior guard Alex Couto had 15 points and senior guard Ryan Clevenger added 10 points and three assists.
Carmel took a 36-28 lead into halftime and led the entire second half, through the game was closer than the 14-point final score indicated. Malachi McNair, a 6-7 senior, led Evansville Harrison (6-2) with 18 points and five rebounds.
Carmel will face Louisville Trinity at 11:45 a.m. on Friday.
North Central 52, Louisville Trinity 50: In a back-and-forth game, Papi Rivera found Jaxson Bell for the go-ahead 3-pointer from the right wing with 14.5 seconds left to provide the winning margin for the Panthers (5-2).
“My mentality was coming out there and getting the best shot no matter who it was,” Rivera said. … “First half I had it going and they were looking for me. Second half, Jaxson had it going and we were getting it to him.”
Rivera hit his share, too, tying Bell for game-high honors with 18 points. Nijah Jewell was also a playmaker for the Panthers, finishing with 12 points. Trinity was led by 6-6 sophomore Jayden Johnson, who scored 19 points and pulled down six rebounds.
North Central will host Evansville Reitz at 3:15 p.m. on Friday.
In other action on Thursday:
Homestead tournament
Hamilton Southeastern 57, Munster 56, 2 OT: Donovan Hamilton led the Royals with 19 points and seven rebounds and Braeden Totton hit two free throws to provide the game-winning points and had a blocked shots in the final seconds. HSE finished 4-0 for the tournament after defeating Homestead 48-38 in a pool-play game earlier in the day.
Third place
Valparaiso 59, Zionsville 56
Fifth place
Mishawaka Marian 49, Carroll (Fort Wayne) 44
Seventh place
South Bend St. Joseph 68, Homestead 62, OT
Batesville tournament
Roncalli defeated Pendleton Heights 66-56 and then defeated Columbus North 56-46 for the championship behind a big day from Drew Kegerreis, who had 31 points and six rebounds on 7-for-8 shooting from the 3-point line in the win over Pendleton Heights. In the championship, Kegerreis had 34 points and five steals on 8-for-12 shooting from the 3-point arc.
Batesville knocked off Pendleton Heights 69-62 in the third-place game. Roncalli improved to 5-2 with the pair of victories.
Fishers tournament
First round
Chesterton 57, Lawrence Central 54: Chesterton rallied from behind in the final minute to knock off the Bears.
South Bend Riley 60, Jeffersonville 58: Payton Baird’s halfcourt shot at the buzzer lifted South Bend Riley to a thrilling win over Jeffersonville.
Portage 69, Evansville Bosse 66: Michael Wellman’s 3-pointer at the buzzer lifted Portage to the win.
Fishers 94, Bloomington North 48: Class 4A top-ranked Fishers (9-0) rolled as Justin Kirby scored 17 points and Keenan Garner added 15.
Consolation
Lawrence Central 70, Jeffersonville 64
Bloomington North 70, Evansville Bosse 64
Clay City tournament
Tri-West rolled to wins over North Vermillion (70-38) and Owen Valley (63-28) to advance to Friday’s championship at 7 p.m. against host Clay City.
Huntington North tournament
Tech notched a pair of close victories over Merrillville (61-58) and Fort Wayne Snider (62-61 in overtime) to move into Friday’s championship at 4 p.m. against East Chicago Central.
Elexander Harris had 23 points, five rebounds and four assists in the win over Fort Wayne Snider. Devon Craig added 10 points and seven rebounds and RaShad Street had 10 points and five assists. Harris had 15 points, five rebounds and four assists against Merrillville and Craig added 12 points, six rebounds and five blocked shots.
Pool play
Huntington North 61, South Bend Adams 59
Tech 61, Merrillville 58
East Chicago Central 79, South Bend Adams 69
Fort Wayne Snider 61, Merrillville 59
East Chicago Central 62, Huntington North 56
Tech 62, Fort Wayne Snider 61, OT
Lebanon tournament
First round
Mooresville 42, Metropolitan 36
Evansville North 93, University 72
Gary 21st Century 68, Faith Christian 32
Lebanon 57, Perry Meridian 44
Morristown tournament
Greenfield-Central 73, Tri-Central 43
Waldron 67, Herron 28
Bishop Chatard 85, Sheridan 60
Monroe Central 39, Morristown 38
Tri-Central 65, Waldron 35
Greenfield-Central 66, Bishop Chatard 49
Sheridan 55, Monroe Central 48
Morristown 69, Herron 19
Richmond tournament
Heritage Christian defeated Seton Catholic (55-53) and Fort Wayne North Side (61-55) to a semifinal game against Tindley, which defeated Centerville (68-65) and Class 3A defending champion NorthWood (59-56) to advance.
Greensburg and Richmond also advanced to the semifinals.
Regular-season games
Cardinal Ritter 65, Speedway 58
Lawrence North 68, Franklin Central 51: The 4A third-ranked Wildcats (8-0) pulled away as Azavier Robinson led the way with 23 points. Kobi Bowles added 12 points and Brennan Miller added eight.
Plainfield 75, Southport 53: Noah Smith had 19 points, 15 rebounds and four assists in Plainfield’s win.
Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Thursday's holiday high school basketball tournament notebook
