Denver —
The Maconaquah boys basketball team was able to build a commanding 20-point lead in the first half of Friday’s road contest with county rival North Miami despite senior star center Micah Pier only playing a shade over five minutes due to foul trouble.
Pier made up for the lost minutes with a huge fourth quarter to help snuff out the Warriors’ comeback attempt, scoring 12 of his game-high 18 points in the final eight minutes to help lift Maconaquah to an 80-58 victory, its first under new coach Andy Steele.
“I got into [foul trouble] a little bit early, and it limited our size and ability to work inside,” Pier said. “I look at the fourth quarter, and I came off the bench ready. I didn’t want them to get back in this game.”
The Braves (1-1) hit North Miami with an early haymaker courtesy of junior guard Trevor Hagan.
Hagan grabbed three steals in the first 2:39 of the contest and scored nine quick points in that stretch, including a pair of 3-pointers from either wing.
The Warriors (0-2) committed four turnovers and got off nary a shot in that same stretch as the Maconaquah lead swelled to 13-0 before NM coach Clay Bolser signaled for a timeout.
“The Hagan kid didn’t take any shots against Logansport [in Maconaquah’s season opener],” Bolser said. He’s in his first year at North Miami after a previous stop at Plainfield, where former Western coach Andy Weaver now coaches. “Unfortunately, being new to the area, I took what I saw in the only game I had to scout. We sagged off of [Hagan] to limit Pier’s touches inside, and [Hagan] knocks down some shots and we’re immediately down 9-0. That’s hard to recover from, and when that happened, I think our kids panicked a little bit against the press. The first five minutes probably sealed the deal for us.”
Maconaquah took a 25-9 lead into the second quarter and stretched the advantage to 42-22 by the half with a scrappy defense that grabbed 12 steals and helped North Miami commit 20 turnovers.
“We want an up-and-down game,” Steele said. “Throughout this week, we were trying to figure out how to get [North Miami] to run with us. We opted to get in our press after our first made basket, and honestly I don’t think we pressed as well as we should’ve. We were in the right place at the right time in a lot of spots with key steals and turnovers. We were able to get the victory Friday night, and [a key to it] was getting that early lead like we wanted.”
The Warriors still had some fight left in them. Trailing 55-37 entering the fourth quarter, NM moved within 12 at 62-50 with 5:50 to play with the help of a pair of quick treys from junior Kyle West.
The Braves responded with an 11-0 run to quash any chances of a comeback. Pier collected a loose ball and scored a post deuce to start the run. Junior K.J. Walton nabbed a steal in the open court and slammed home a breakaway dunk, and 20 seconds later, classmate Adam Harts buried a triple from the wing to stretch the lead back out to 71-50 with 4:30 to play.
“It’s just one of those situations where I’m luck to be in it,” Steele said of leading a veteran squad that didn’t lose its cool. “If I tell one person to slow it down, they’re all going to do it. We’re a very vocal group with each other. We get along great, and it’s a just a great group to be working with.”
Maconaquah put five in double figures. Harts finished with 15 points, while Hagan and Tyler Bradley both added 13. Bradley pulled down a team-high eight rebounds, and junior Kyle Dinn added 10 points off the bench.
Junior Alex Borse led North Miami with 14 points, while senior Austin Barker added 10.
Sports
Mac blows out North Miami
Braves get up big early and slam the door late.
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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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