RUSSIAVILLE —
Following a first quarter of five ties and three lead changes Friday night at Richard R. Rea Gymnasium, Eastern and Western were locked into a Mid-Indiana Conference boys basketball battle as the Panthers clung to a 13-10 lead.
That storyline held true for most of the next 24 minutes as well, with momentum swinging like a pendulum as cheers shifted from one section of bleachers to another before Western emerged victorious, 50-48, improving to 2-0 in conference play and 2-2 overall.
“Job accomplished,” Western coach Bart Miller said. “The goal at the start of the night was to be 2-0 in the MIC and .500 overall at the end of the game. We’re happy to get the win, but it sure wasn’t the prettiest or easiest.”
For the Comets (0-3, 0-1) it was the toughest loss to swallow thus far in the early season.
“Yes, it hurts the most,” Eastern coach Kyle Bedwell said. “It’s a cross-county rival, and our kids played hard. I feel like we keep saying that, but we keep bringing it to another level. Give Western credit. They took care of business at the end, which is when you need to take care of business.”
Eastern missed three chances to tie over the final 40 seconds, missing two shots on one possession and failing to convert a Western turnover its next trip down the floor.
Following Western’s miscue under its own basket at :25, the Comets called timeout, but couldn’t capitalize on the possession as K.J. Myers missed from outside and Western rebounded.
“They kind of knocked us out of what we were running,” Bedwell said. “We had another timeout and that was my fault for not calling it to set something else up.”
At the other end, Des Balentine missed the front end of a one-and-bonus with :09 showing but got his own rebound and the Panthers ran out the clock.
“We just gutted it out in the end, really,” Miller said. “We were careless with the ball, didn’t make good decisions a lot of the time, but give Eastern a ton of credit. When we had a chance to put a little bit of a knock-out punch on them, they came out throwing the punches.”
Behind a 10-2 second-quarter run, the Panthers pushed to their biggest lead of the night, a nine-point, 27-18 cushion with 1:57 on the clock.
The Comets closed the half with a 7-2 run courtesy of two Braden Gibson 3-pointers sandwiched around a Grant Cole free-throw to make it a 29-25 game at the half.
The Comets stormed out of the gate in the second half when Cole stole Western’s opening possession at midcourt and dunked at the other end, igniting an 11-2 Eastern run to make it 36-31 in favor of the visitors at 4:09.
Western answered with a 12-2 burst over the rest of the period, with Balentine scoring six straight to cap off the run and give the Panthers a 43-38 lead heading into the final frame.
Balentine scored 14 points for the Panthers, sharing top scoring honors with Austin Weaver, who came off the bench to knock down 4 of 5 treys. Ronnie Smith added 12 points. Austin Townsend snatched down a game-high 12 rebounds, including 10 in the first half, while Smith pulled down nine boards.
“Des showed up to play,” Miller said. “[Austin] Weaver knocked down some big shots for us. Austin [Townsend] and Ronnie [Smith] played great underneath. If they’re not getting those rebounds, we’re giving Eastern all the more shots and this very well could have turned into a loss.”
For the Comets, Cole led the way with 13 points, while Gibson added 12 and Myers chipped in 11.
“I give the kids a lot of credit for how hard they played,” Bedwell said. “I wasn’t sure how we would look because we were coming off the worst week of practice we’ve ever had, so I was glad to see the turnaround.”
Sports
Western edges Eastern for 2-0 conference start
Panthers emerge from back-and-forth contest with 2-point win.
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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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Eastern, Kokomo favored in boys track sectional
Some of the names and faces have changed, but the plot remains much the same.
The Kokomo boys track and field sectional, much like last year, will likely be a two-horse race between the host and three-time defending champion Wildkats and Eastern, a team looking to break through and win its first sectional title since 1998. -
Cole to jump at Miami University
Eastern athlete Grant Cole has only been a long jumper for two seasons, but being turned on to the event late in his career has landed him a scholarship to Miami University.
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Comets roar to sectional title
As the old adage goes, it’s harder stay on top than it is to reach the top.
Eastern’s girls track and field team entered the 2012 postseason hoping to put in a strong enough effort to claim the program’s first sectional title.
Having done so, the Comets entered Tuesday’s postseason opener — the Madison-Grant Sectional — with a much larger bull’s-eye on their backs than in previous years.
Eastern proved up to the challenge, scoring a landslide victory to repeat as sectional champions with 125 points. -
Dexter leaving Eastern
Eastern girls basketball coach Jeremy Dexter has stepped down from the Comet program after accepting the AD job at Churubusco last week. Churubusco is in Whitley County about 15 minutes west of Fort Wayne.
Dexter led the Comets to a Class 2A state runner-up finish this past season. -
Hunter edges Shrout in Thunder Car thriller
Two drivers who are no strangers to Victory Lane returned there Sunday night at the Kokomo Speedway. Meanwhile, a third driver scored just the second feature win of his career at the local oval to highlight the racing action.
Chris Hunter, the winningest Thunder Car driver in the history of the local oval, ground out a gritty win over defending track champion Jason Shrout to highlight the chilly night. -
Girls track sectional is tonight
Eastern’s girls track and field team is ready to chase some more championship hardware.
Two weeks ago, the Comets won their fourth straight Howard County meet. Last week, they won their fourth straight Mid-Indiana Conference meet. Now, the postseason is here, with the Madison-Grant Sectional tonight.
“We’re looking forward to taking the next step,” Eastern coach Michael Goodspeed said. -
Athlete of the week
Oyler led the way as Class 2A No. 5-ranked Eastern beat Cass (4-3) and Hamilton Heights (5-4 in 12 innings) to move to 6-0 in the Mid-Indiana Conference with one league game remaining.
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Page family bonds over martial arts
A mother and father to six children, Jason and Denise Page began to run into your typical challenges associated with such a large family back in 2008, once the oldest children reached an age where they started to have desires to be involved in sports and other extracurricular activities.
As the commitments started to pile up, it didn’t seem like there were enough hours in the day to accomplish all the pitstops and still have time left over to fellowship as a family.
Karate to the rescue. - More Sports Headlines
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