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INDIANAPOLIS – New Palestine dusted off an old team motto during Saturday’s Class 3A Semistate semifinal at Southport Fieldhouse.
Down 7-0 to start and later trailing 36-35 in the third quarter, a sequence of events defined the third-ranked Dragons’ definitive second-half stand against fourth-ranked Brownstown Central (24-3).
With New Palestine (26-3) seeking its first lead since charging back to go up 13-9 by the end of the first quarter and 21-14 in the second quarter, a flurry of four missed shots and four offensive rebounds gave Dragons’ freshman Will Davison an open look from behind the arc.
Davison didn’t miss.
Davison’s 3-pointer put New Palestine ahead 38-36, and the freshman buried another clutch 3 in the fourth to give the Dragons’ breathing room, 44-40, en route to a 47-43 victory.
IHSAA semistate live updates, schedule: Indiana high school boys basketball scores
“That’s what we do. We’ve said, ‘Gritty, not pretty,’ for years now, and this group, they are gritty. They’ve won a lot of ball games, so we don’t use that saying a whole lot, but that right there showed these kids aren’t ready to be done,” New Palestine coach Trent Whitaker said. “I could have called timeout about three times, and I thought about it. But every time, someone would knock down a 3.”
More than familiar with historic Southport Fieldhouse, the Dragons won their first postseason game on the court since they beat Avon in the 4A regional semifinals in 2019.
Through the past three years, New Palestine had been 0-2 at the venue, falling in the opening round of regional each time.
Now, they’re one win away from the program’s first semistate title and IHSAA state finals berth.
A first-time regional champion last weekend at Greenfield-Central with a 63-49 victory against No. 5 Guerin Catholic, New Palestine extended its winning streak to six games and will face No. 8 Crispus Attucks (22-6) in the semistate championship tonight at 8.
The Dragons regrouped in the first quarter against Brownstown Central, the defending 2A state champions, with a 13-2 run to rally ahead 13-9.
An 11-2 Brownstown Central run before halftime put the Braves in front 25-23 by the break. Senior Colby Hall scored a team-high 17 points with six rebounds. Senior Chace Coomer added 12 points.
After Davison’s second of three 3-pointers in the game during the third, the Dragons never relinquished the advantage.
“We took a good punch early. We knew it was going to be a heavyweight fight, and we talked about coming out and being the aggressor, and we were on our heels going down 7-0,” Whitaker said. “Our kids have a lot of grit to them. We didn’t panic. We have five seniors that play a lot of minutes. Our senior leadership showed through there.”
Senior Julius Gizzi finished with a game-high 18 points for the Dragons, followed by senior Ben Slagley with 11 and eight rebounds. Davison had nine points, and senior Moses Haynes added nine points and seven rebounds.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IHSAA boys basketball semistate: New Palestine beats Brownstown Central
Continue reading...
Down 7-0 to start and later trailing 36-35 in the third quarter, a sequence of events defined the third-ranked Dragons’ definitive second-half stand against fourth-ranked Brownstown Central (24-3).
With New Palestine (26-3) seeking its first lead since charging back to go up 13-9 by the end of the first quarter and 21-14 in the second quarter, a flurry of four missed shots and four offensive rebounds gave Dragons’ freshman Will Davison an open look from behind the arc.
Davison didn’t miss.
Davison’s 3-pointer put New Palestine ahead 38-36, and the freshman buried another clutch 3 in the fourth to give the Dragons’ breathing room, 44-40, en route to a 47-43 victory.
IHSAA semistate live updates, schedule: Indiana high school boys basketball scores
“That’s what we do. We’ve said, ‘Gritty, not pretty,’ for years now, and this group, they are gritty. They’ve won a lot of ball games, so we don’t use that saying a whole lot, but that right there showed these kids aren’t ready to be done,” New Palestine coach Trent Whitaker said. “I could have called timeout about three times, and I thought about it. But every time, someone would knock down a 3.”
More than familiar with historic Southport Fieldhouse, the Dragons won their first postseason game on the court since they beat Avon in the 4A regional semifinals in 2019.
Through the past three years, New Palestine had been 0-2 at the venue, falling in the opening round of regional each time.
Now, they’re one win away from the program’s first semistate title and IHSAA state finals berth.
A first-time regional champion last weekend at Greenfield-Central with a 63-49 victory against No. 5 Guerin Catholic, New Palestine extended its winning streak to six games and will face No. 8 Crispus Attucks (22-6) in the semistate championship tonight at 8.
The Dragons regrouped in the first quarter against Brownstown Central, the defending 2A state champions, with a 13-2 run to rally ahead 13-9.
An 11-2 Brownstown Central run before halftime put the Braves in front 25-23 by the break. Senior Colby Hall scored a team-high 17 points with six rebounds. Senior Chace Coomer added 12 points.
After Davison’s second of three 3-pointers in the game during the third, the Dragons never relinquished the advantage.
“We took a good punch early. We knew it was going to be a heavyweight fight, and we talked about coming out and being the aggressor, and we were on our heels going down 7-0,” Whitaker said. “Our kids have a lot of grit to them. We didn’t panic. We have five seniors that play a lot of minutes. Our senior leadership showed through there.”
Senior Julius Gizzi finished with a game-high 18 points for the Dragons, followed by senior Ben Slagley with 11 and eight rebounds. Davison had nine points, and senior Moses Haynes added nine points and seven rebounds.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IHSAA boys basketball semistate: New Palestine beats Brownstown Central
Continue reading...
