From 1950 to 1994, Kokomo and Maconaquah met in the championship round of the old single-class boys basketball sectional 10 times, with the Wildkats coming out on top in each of those meetings.
For the second year in a row, the Kats gave their fans a flashback to yesteryear, making sure the dominance of their Miami County counterparts continued in the Coca-Cola Old School Sectional tournament.
The Class 4A No. 8-ranked Wildkats imposed their will on the Braves in the opening round of the Old School tournament Tuesday night, blowing the doors off their opponents in an 81-37 thrashing in Memorial Gym.
Kokomo, which also whipped Mac in the opening round last year, will meet Taylor in Friday’s semifinal round.
The Wildkats’ harassing full-court pressure made life miserable for the Braves throughout. Kokomo finished the night with 23 steals as Maconaquah turned the ball over 31 times.
The Kats took a 16-point lead into the fourth quarter, then outscored the Braves 35-7 over the final eight minutes to nail down the victory.
“I really like our defensive effort,” Kokomo coach Brian McCauley said. “Maconaquah is a very good offensive team, in my opinion. They drive the ball well and rebound very well. ... They do a good job of scoring, and I thought our awareness of where there shooters were and our ability to take away the paint were excellent.”
Kokomo (7-0) overcame a sluggish start offensively to take a 12-11 lead into the second stanza. The Kats committed six turnovers in the opening quarter, allowing Maconaquah to hang around.
The Kats took control in the second quarter with the help of its relentless pressure. Maconaquah committed 13 turnovers in the second stanza, with eight of those coming on Kokomo steals.
The disarray offensively limited Maconaquah to six points on 3-for-4 shooting as Kokomo stretched its lead out to 29-17 by intermission.
The Braves (3-3) weathered the storm momentarily in the third quarter, but could not close the gap to any closer than 10 points as all seven of their turnovers came via Kokomo steals.
Kokomo senior LaBradford Sebree poured in 13 points in the third quarter, helping the Kats take a 46-30 lead into the final stanza.
The Kats put away any thought of a Maconaquah comeback with a 22-5 surge through the first five minutes of the fourth quarter. Erik Bowen led the charge in the final period for Kokomo with 13 of his game-high 19 points.
“[Kokomo] came out there in the fourth quarter and went on a little run, and I don’t want to say we gave up, but you could just see the look on our guys’ eyes,” Maconaquah coach Andy Steele said. “We panicked and started making questionable passes, and tried to do too much individually. In the end, that killed us.”
Freshman reserve guard Jeron Gray picked up the slack defensively in the fourth quarter with the bulk of Kokomo’s starters watching from the bench, nabbing three of the Kats’ six steals in the frame.
“[Our guards] were so active in our press,” McCauley said. “We were able to create some offense from our defense. Their athleticism and anticipation really created for us.”
Sebree added 17 points and four steals in the victory, while Gray, Tayler Persons, Hakim Burnett and Dylan Orbaugh each added eight points. Kylee Beheler pulled down a game-high nine rebounds. Kokomo outrebounded Maconaquah 31-17 for the contest.
Micah Pier finished with 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting to lead Maconaquah before fouling out with 4:07 to play in the game. Adam Harts added 11 points and Tyler Bradley chipped in eight, while K.J. Walton pulled down a team-high five boards.
Sports
Wildkats’ relentless defense smothers Braves
No. 8 Kokomo forces 31 turnovers.
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Eastern dominates Taylor in softball
GREENTOWN — The third time turned out not to be the charm for the Taylor softball squad as Eastern improved to 3-0 on the season over its backyard rival Wednesday night, ousting the Titans from the Class 2A Eastern Sectional 15-0 in five innings.
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Barnes sets Taylor's career hits record
Taylor baseball standout Logan Barnes made his final game at George Phares Field one to remember.
Barnes pitched four solid innings to lead Taylor past Monroe Central 9-3 Tuesday. In addition, he went 2 for 3 at the plate, pushing his career hits total to a school-record 142. -
Kats drop heartbreaker
When the postseason arrives, emotions surge like a roller-coaster. One minute, it’s a long uphill, then a wild series of events offer a barrage of frights and thrills. And then, for one team, the ride ends and there aren’t any more tickets for another go around.
After two days of chills and thrills, Kokomo’s softball team ran out of tickets Tuesday night in the Class 4A Harrison Sectional. The Kats dropped a 4-3 decision to Harrison in eight innings, giving up a run in the top of the extra frame, and having a runner tagged out at home in the bottom of the frame.
“It was a great game,” Harrison coach Dick Mitchell said. “It’s always nerve-wracking to coach in one of them, but both teams played their hearts out. Nobody deserved to lose that game, but unfortunately somebody does.” -
Comets turn heads at track regional
Heading into Tuesday’s IHSAA girls track and field regional at Fort Wayne Northrop High School’s Spuller Stadium, event workers alike weren’t sure of Eastern High School’s location.
After the dust settled, they may feel compelled to get a map out and find out where Greentown is located.
Led by seniors Sarah Wagner, Brittany Neeley and Bethany Neeley, the Comets qualified for the state finals in six separate events to finish fourth as a team with 55.5 points, behind host and champion Northrop (78), Bellmont (68) and Carroll (Allen) 66. -
GASKINS: Hibbert’s block was thing of beauty
For the better part of the NBA season, ESPN devoted all kinds of time on SportsCenter episodes to replays of two dunks. Anyone who watches any ESPN at all surely knows the two to which I’m referring: 6-foot-11 DeAndre Jordan of the Los Angeles Clippers posterizing 6-3 Brandon Knight of the Detroit Pistons, and 6-8 LeBron James of the Miami Heat hammering home a dunk over 6-2 Jason Terry of the Boston Celtics.
Day after day, ESPN commentators lavished endless praise, which quickly grew tiresome. The dunks were strong, but Jordan and James were much taller and heavier than Knight and Terry and the dunkers also caught perfect alley-oop passes with the defenders in poor positions to defend. Still, ESPN commentators loved these plays.
I kept wondering if a great defensive play would receive the same kind of love. -
Coons, Walker, Glassburn reach Victory Lane
When the dust settled Sunday evening at the Kokomo Speedway, a pair of drivers who have visited Victory Lane in the past at the local oval found themselves there once again while a talented up-and-comer hit the hallowed ground for the first time.
Jerry Coons Jr. had his way in the sprint car feature and Craig Walker seemed to get faster as the laps wound down to win the Street Stock main event, however Kokomo High School sophomore Kory Glassburn had to scratch and fight before scoring the first feature win of his career in the Thunder Car A-main. -
Field is set for Indianapolis 500
After being bumped from the starting field while sitting on the qualifying line on pole day, Josef Newgarden turned the fastest time on bump day, assuring himself a spot in the Indianapolis 500.
The field of 33 cars will have one final opportunity to practice on Friday before next Sunday’s 97th running of the 500.
One year ago the Sarah Fisher Racing Team withdrew Newgarden’s entry on the first day of qualifying and had to qualify on bump day. This year the team decided not to make another qualifying run and got bumped. -
Athlete of the week
Cole led the small-school Comets to the Kokomo Sectional title, their first title since 1998.
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Kats regain tennis throne
At 10:51 a.m. Saturday morning, the bulk of Kokomo’s girls tennis team sprinted from the viewing hill to the east entrance of the tennis courts to mob No. 1 singles player Morgan Mohr as she came off the court following her 1-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory over Eastern’s Courtney Clark.
The No. 3 singles match was still raging, but the team match was already won. The Wildkats had reconquered the throne from two-time defending champion Eastern and were once again champions of the Kokomo Sectional. -
Eastern boys track claims first sectional title since 1998
The boys track and field coach at Eastern High School from 1987 until last season, Paul Nicholson’s parting message to his team was simple: “Don’t deny the gift.”
That motto left such a lasting impression on the Comets’ returning athletes that they had it screen printed on their 2013 season T-shirts.
With Nicholson in attendance to celebrate with them, new coach Austin Roark and the Comets outlasted host Kokomo to win their first sectional title since 1998 Thursday night, topping the Wildkats by 3.5 points, 124.5-121.
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