When Kokomo’s boys basketball team found itself down 9-0 to North Central Conference rival Muncie Central midway through the first quarter Friday night, the Wildkats didn’t flinch or worry, they just kept plugging along.
Gradually, the Wildkats’ strengths turned the game their way. The Kats (4-0, 1-0 NCC) got tighter and more bothersome defensively, and found ways to score en route to a 49-35 victory.
“I thought that showed some toughness, too,” Kokomo coach Brian McCauley said. “Being down 9-0, kind of clawing back in it, only being down five at the quarter, and then taking the lead at half — that was huge. And then once you extend [our lead] to about eight [in the second half], they start to feel the pressure.”
Kokomo’s 2-3 zone bothered a Muncie Central team that is short on offensive weaponry and on the small side inside. But it didn’t stop with the 2-3 zone as the Kats got back in the game with opportunistic halfcourt traps in the first half, and then feasted in the passing lanes in the second half, leading to a 23-4 advantage in points off turnovers.
“It’s just energizing when you can create turnovers that lead to layups, and that kind of snowballs positively for us and negatively for the opponent,” McCauley said. The Kats forced Central into 20 turnovers.
Kokomo took a 22-19 lead into the half on a coast-to-coast dash by Tayler Persons where he turned a defensive rebound at one end into a layup at the buzzer. Central got a couple 3-pointers in the first few possessions of the third quarter to tie the game at 26-all at 6:50, but Central didn’t score again for the rest of the frame and the Kats took a 35-26 lead into the final quarter break.
Persons was at the heart of the effort. He had a team-high 16 points to go with seven rebounds. More importantly, he was active everywhere, fighting for rebounds and loose balls, pushing the ball to spark transition, or getting on the end of fast breaks.
“We’re outmanned here a little bit,” Central coach Matt Fine said, “especially if we allow [Persons] to get the ball in the open floor and get him in the middle of a press situation. He’s awfully tough to stop there. He’s as good as we’ll see probably as far as attacking the basket.”
Told that Persons had 16 points, Fine said “I thought he had 30. That was the way it seemed.”
Far from a solo effort, two of Persons’ four buckets came from spectacular efforts from his teammates. In the third quarter, he and Mykal Cox combined to force Central into a turnover, Cox leaped to secure the ball, then, all in one movement, spun in midair and threw an outlet pass to Persons who was off to the races for a fast break hoop. Then in the fourth quarter, Hakim Burnett did the same thing from the same part of the floor, again leading to a fast-break hoop for Persons.
“I thought we did a good job of choosing our traps in our press and rotating that caused them some problems,” McCauley said. “I thought at appropriate times Hakim and Mykal and LaBradford [Sebree] did a good job getting deflections in our zone there. That was really the story of the game, our ability to create points off their turnovers.”
Burnett finished with 10 points, four assists and four steals in what McCauley called his best game. Sebree added nine points and three steals. And Cox had four assists including three great feeds to create hoops for Wildkat forward Erik Bowen. Inside, Bowen had eight points and eight rebounds, and Kylee Beheler had four points as the Kat inside players were too much for Central.
The Bearcats (1-2, 0-1) were led by starting guards Jabriel Allen (19 points) and Kaleb Mallory (10). Craig Owens pulled down eight rebounds.
Sports
Kats pull away for win in NCC opener
Kokomo’s D shines in victory over Muncie Central
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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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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. - More Sports Headlines
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