Something Taylor coach Andy Lewman noted about Western’s boys basketball team early on this season was how well the Panthers share the ball.
Sharing amongst themselves is one thing, but there’s something the Panthers don’t want to share: The Mid-Indiana Conference title.
Western secured at least a share of the MIC crown Friday night with a 59-42 victory at Taylor. The Class 3A No. 10-ranked Panthers moved to 13-3 overall and 6-0 in the conference, with just one league game left. Western plays at Cass on Feb. 17.
“We have the MIC championship against Lewis Cass,” said Western forward Matt Orr, who had 14 points and a game-high 12 rebounds Friday night. “We want that by ourselves. We don’t want to share with anyone.”
Orr had a monster third quarter, scoring eight points and snagging seven rebounds, including four offensive caroms, as Western took control. The Panthers led by just two points at halftime, 25-23, but had Taylor at arm’s length by the end of the third quarter, leading 38-31. Taylor never got any closer as Panther point guard Quin Fields scored eight in the fourth en route to a game-high 15 points.
“I think Orr and Fields were the two damage guys,” Lewman said. “Fields does a nice job of getting in position to score the basketball and Orr, he’s streaky. Twelve rebounds, that’s a solid effort by any high school kid to get 12 rebounds.”
The Panthers had put the chance of an outright MIC title at risk when they had an indifferent start against an energized Taylor squad. Riding good offensive execution, the Titans surged to a 15-8 lead in the first quarter when Nathan Gotshall scored a layup after finding himself wide open inside. That triggered Western’s second timeout of the quarter with 1:00 left in the frame, and also singled the point when Western got serious.
The Panthers closed the quarter with a triple from Evan Warden, sparking an 11-0 run that gave Western a lead it would never relinquish. John Capps scored an open hoop inside, then dunked home an alley-oop pass from Warden to tie the game at 15-all. Western then got a reverse layup from Ronnie Smith and a fast break hoop from Fields to end the run.
“Give Taylor a lot of credit, they came out really ready to play, got us back on our heels a little bit,” Western coach Andy Weaver said. “Obviously we were a little flat, they came out all fired up, and to go on that 11-0 run was huge.
“Warden hit a 3-pointer on the last possession of the first quarter, and then we start out the second quarter, Capps scores inside and we run a play to get a dunk,” Weaver added. “We needed something to get a little mojo, to get a little momentum, and I thought that was a big momentum swing for us. Give Taylor credit, battled back and forth, two-point game at halftime. They definitely came ready to play.”
Western held Taylor to just one basket for the first six minutes-plus of the second quarter but led by just a deuce at halftime. Taylor got a dozen points in the first half from outside sniper Challen Hodson, who canned four treys. The third quarter saw Western’s defense clamp down tighter, again forcing a lengthy Taylor drought, and taking Hodson away completely. He was 4 of 7 in the first half, and 0-6 in the second half.
“We had to stop their shooters,” Orr said. “[Hodson] was on fire the first half. We shut him down the second half. I don’t even know if he scored the second half.”
Orr had a big hand in that. He drew the defensive assignment to stop Hodson after halftime.
Western also got a dozen points from Warden and eight points from Capps.
Taylor struggled on offense, hitting just 16 of 52 shots.
“Defensively, they locked down on us,” Lewman said. “We had to take some tough shots. They’re long and athletic and it makes a difference in what shots we do and don’t get.”
Lewman praised his squad’s effort — something that also caught the eye of both Weaver and Orr. The Titans are shorthanded with Cameron Clark and Drew Hansen out injured and Taylor dressed just eight players on Friday.
Hodson led Taylor with his dozen points. Gotshall added 11 points and 10 rebounds despite battling foul trouble. Point guard Justin Wheeler had seven points and 10 assists.
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