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'Well prepared' Wolves open with big win over West Vigo

andy amey, the tribune-star, terre haute, ind.
·5 min read

Nov. 22—The clichés and the musical references — "hungry like the ..." for example — will come soon enough for the Parke Heritage Wolves.

But the still-young team — just one senior regular, who didn't start, and one other 12th-grader — got a different kind of compliment from their coach Wednesday night after a season-opening 70-41 high school basketball over West Vigo in the Rock-a-Dome.

"I thought this team was as well prepared to play Game 1 as any team I've ever coached," said Rich Schelsky, now in his eighth season.

Parke Heritage was a Class 2A regional champion a year ago and lost just one senior starter from that team, so it was expected to be good.

But if one game tells a tale, the Wolves might be better than that.

"We're definitely better than when we started last year," coach Schelsky said after the game. "Whether we're better than we were at the end of the season, I don't know."

"I thought [the Wolves] would be ready to go," said coach Joe Boehler of the Vikings. "It looks like they started right where they left off."

It was a close game for a quarter and would have been even closer if the Wolves hadn't stolen the ball five times — three by Ethan Tidwell. The West Vigo turnovers allowed the home team to break away from a 7-6 lead to front 16-9 at the end of the period. And West Vigo got the first basket of the second quarter.

Then the roof caved in for the visitors. Parke Heritage got the next nine points to go up 25-11, held West Vigo to just two more second-quarter field goals and didn't let the Vikings put scores back-to-back for the entire second half.

"Our defensive effort was tremendous, and it had to be," coach Schelsky said later.

If Parke Heritage had a weakness last season, which showed up in its semistate loss to Linton, it was lack of size. The Wolves aren't much taller this season (three of them listed an inch or so taller than a year ago) but its obvious they've visited the weightroom a few times in the offseason.

"We're a lot stronger physically," their coach said, "and that makes a big difference defensively."

There's also one new regular: 6-foot-3 (that's tall by Parke Heritage standards) freshman Carter Crum, who made his varsity debut with 15 points and a game-high 13 rebounds.

"He gives us an extra punch," coach Schelsky said. "He can score around the rim ... and he's gonna improve every game."

The noticeably stronger Parke Heritage stars did their part too. Treigh Schelsky had a game-high 23 points plus nine rebounds, Renn Harper might have been the best player on the floor with 15 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, and B.T. Luce scored 10.

Zeke Tanoos led the Vikings with 16 points, 11 rebounds and three assists, but he had to work hard for every point (Harper had something to do with that too).

"We've got to figure out a lot of things," coach Boehler said. "We've got to run our offense better. We took a lot of contested shots."

WEST VIGO (41) — Tanoos 4-17 6-6 16, Boehler 0-9 0-0 0, Pugh 2-4 0-0 5, Fields 2-5 1-4 5, Smith 3-4 0-0 9, Chambers 2-5 0-0 6, Umphries 0-1 0-0 0, Deighton 0-0 0-0 0, Hann 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 13-45 FG, 7-10 FT, 41 TP.

PARKE HERITAGE (70) — Schelsky 7-16 4-6 23, Harper 6-13 2-2 15, Crum 7-11 0-1 15, Luce 4-12 0-0 10, Tidwell 0-1 0-0 0, Dowd 2-6 0-0 4, Brown 0-1 0-0 0, Goins 1-1 0-0 3, Harpold 0-1 0-0 0, McMullen 0-0 0-0 0, McCalister 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-62 FG, 6-9 FT, 70 TP.

West Vigo 9 6 13 13 — 41

Parke Heritage 16 18 17 19 — 70

3-point shooting — WV 8-26 (Smith 3-4, Chambers 2-3, Tanoos 2-10, Pugh 1-2, Fields 0-2, Boehler 0-5), PH 10-28 (Schelsky 5-8, Luce 2-10, Goins 1-1, Crum 1-2, Harper 1-4, Dowd 0-1, Brown 0-1, Harpold 0-1). Total fouls — WV 12, PH 10. Fouled out — none. Turnovers — WV 13, PH 5. Rebounds — WV 31 (Tanoos 11, Boehler 6, Pugh 4, Fields 3, Smith, Chambers, Umphries, Team 4), PH 42 (Crum 13, Schelsky 9, Harper 7, Dowd 6, Tidwell 4, Luce, Brown, McMullen). Assists — WV 6 (Tanoos 3, Boehler 2, Pugh), PH 13 (Harper 7, Schelsky 2, Luce 2, Dowd, McMullen). Steals — WV 4 (Fields 2, Tanoos, Umphries), PH 10 (Tidwell 4, Crum 2, Schelsky, Harper, Luce, Dowd). Blocks — WV 0, PH 2 (Schelsky, Crum).

JV — Parke Heritage 46 (Leyton McMullen 13), West Vigo 39 (Gavin Deighton 12).

Next — Both teams play Saturday in the Gobbler Games at Terre Haute South. West Vigo (0-1) meets North Vermillion in the 10 a.m. opener and Parke Heritage (1-0) plays Evansville Harrison at 5:30 p.m.