IHSAA basketball: Avon beats No. 1 Danville for first Hendricks County title in a decade
DANVILLE – It seemed clear early on Saturday — very early, in fact — Avon would change the script it followed to reach Saturday's Hendricks County tournament championship game.
The Orioles won their first-round and semifinal contests this week in heart-stopping fashion with buzzer-beating wins over Brownsburg and Plainfield, respectively.
In the title game against host Danville, however, Avon scored the first 10 points of the contest and never trailed in a 68-42 triumph over the previously-unbeaten Warriors.
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“We came out ready from the start,” Avon coach Drew Schauss said. “We’ve got a good core of leaders and they made sure we were ready to go.”
The victory also made sure the Orioles would claim their first Hendricks county title since the 2012-13 season and break a four-game losing streak in the tournament’s championship game. It’s also the 10th win of the season, matching the total from last season.
Add to that the victories over Brownsburg and Plainfield avenged losses from earlier this season and it’s a safe bet the Orioles (10-3) are going to be in the mix for Hoosier Crossroads Conference and sectional honors.
“Both Brownsburg and Plainfield zoned us and we didn’t handle it well,” Schauss said of the earlier losses. “Coming back to beat them shows we have bought into the fact we had to get better against (zone defenses). This team has come with effort and has worked hard every day.”
Saturday, Jedidiah Minnett made whatever Danville threw at his team look easy as the sophomore hit for a game-high 24 points — including five 3-pointers. Two of those 3-pointers came during the game-opening, 10-0 spurt.
Avon also got a nice contribution from 6-4 junior Deandre Lott-Hancock, who added 16 points. Minnett and Lott-Hancock spearheaded the offense that finished 26-of-52 from the floor and committed only 10 turnovers.
The Avon defense, meanwhile, wasn’t to be outdone as Danville shot only 16-of-49 (33%). The defense held Danville 6-7 front-liner Evan Lawrence to just six points and seven rebounds — both easily under his season averages. Lawrence hit for 13 points and grabbed 15 rebounds in Danville’s semifinal win over Tri-West.
All this against a Warriors squad that came in ranked No. 1 in the Class 3A state poll and were the only unbeaten team in the state in 3A.
“You have to give Avon a lot of credit,” Danville coach Brian Barber said. “They were tenacious on defense and that set the tone. They came out and hit their shots and we were never in contention in this game.
“This is a great game for us to learn from,” Barber continued. “There were a lot of things we weren’t sharp with tonight for whatever reason and we have things to clean up.”
Jace Scrafton led the Warriors with 10 points and also had seven rebounds.
HENDRICKS COUNTY TOURNAMENT FINAL
AVON (68): Jedidiah Minnett 9 1-1 24; Rashod Bethley 4 0-0 9; Isaac Kramer 2 1-1 6; Deandre Lott-Hancock 5 6-7 16; Kendrick Dunmore 2 0-0 4; Rohan Pearson 3 0-0 6; Trevor Styles 1 1-2 3. TOTALS: 26 9-11 68.
DANVILLE (42): Cameron McMahon 1 0-0 2; Jace Scrafton 4 2-3 10; Elijah Tricker 2 2-2 6; Zachary Waits 1 2-2 5; Lukas McMahon 4 1-2 9; Owen Collier 2 0-0 4; Evan Lawrence 2 2-4 6; TOTALS: 16 9-13 42.
Avon 20 14 19 15 – 68
Danville 6 9 16 11 – 42
Three-point baskets: von 7 (Minnett 5, Kramer, Bethley), Danville 1 (Waits); Total fouls: Avon 12, Danville 15; Records: Avon 10-3; Danville 11-1.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana high school basketball: Avon wins Hendricks County tournament
