New Castle —
In basketball it’s not how much you lead, but when. With a girls-boys North Central Conference doubleheader at New Castle Friday night, Kokomo earned a sweep despite leading for only 2.7 seconds in a combined 64 minutes of regulation.
The girls earned a hard-fought 38-37 victory in the opener, taking their only lead in regulation on an Alanis Jones free throw with 2.7 seconds left. The boys needed overtime and didn’t even hold a lead in regulation before coming away with a 47-44 victory.
“Wow,” said a tongue-tied Kokomo boys coach Brian McCauley. “We came in here [Friday] and beat a very physical and fundamentally sound basketball team. They are an extremely well-coached basketball team, but we got the rebounds and stops when we absolutely needed them.”
Though the Class 4A No. 6-ranked Kokomo boys never led in regulation, the Kats were tied five times and kept up with a New Castle team that was extremely patient with every possession. The Trojans led by as much as six late in the third quarter, but Kat senior LaBradford Sebree tied the game on a putback of a missed shot with 1:58 left.
New Castle then missed a shot on its next possession, and Kokomo held for the final short of regulation. Erik Bowen was fouled as he attempted to drive to the basket with 35.3 seconds left. Bowen missed both free throws and New Castle had a chance to win at the end of regulation.
Tayler Persons prevented New Castle’s game-winning shot attempt with a block of a Steven Bennett jumper as time expired, sending the game to overtime.
“They played their game. They are good three-point shooting team and a very good free throw shooting team,” said McCauley. “Korey Ryan gets to the free throw line at least eight times per game and [Friday] he was 8 of 10 from the line.”
Once in the extra session, Kokomo won the tip and finally took the lead thanks to Persons. The junior guard drove the basket and scored with 3:04 left and got the bonus of a foul call on the play. He added the free throw, Kokomo’s first made free throw after going 0 for 4 in regulation, to put Kokomo in front 45-42.
Finally trailing, New Castle was still content to be patient and work the ball around Kokomo’s 2-3 zone. Ryan attacked the zone with 2:33 left and was rewarded with a trip to the line. After a pair of made free throws Kokomo’s lead was cut to 45-44.
The Wildkats attempted to work the clock, but Hakim Burnett took a wide open 15-foot jumper that just missed. New Castle corralled the rebound and held for their own last shot. Once again, Ryan attacked the basket but missed with six seconds left. Persons grabbed the rebound and hit two more free throws with 5.4 seconds left before New Castle’s final desperation heave missed at the buzzer.
“It’s tough in a game like this where you feel more athletic but you’re forced to pass the ball around the perimeter and be patient,” said McCauley. “Once you’re down you have to be even more patient and we were down from the beginning.”
New Castle started the game by hitting 11 of its first 15 shots to open a 25-22 lead at halftime. The 73.3 shooting percentage cooled considerably in the second half, as the Trojans were only 4 of 18 in the second half and overtime. New Castle did enjoy a significant advantage at the foul line, however, with 11 makes on 14 attempts to Kokomo’s 3-of-7 shooting.
Kokomo was led by Persons, who finished with 19 points and three assists. Sebree added 14 points and seven rebounds, six of them coming on the offensive glass. Three times Sebree followed a missed shot for a key second-chance basket.
Girls game
Jones drew a foul on a drive with 2.7 seconds left and the score tied 37-37. Jones calmly sank the first free throw and missed the second, letting the clock run down and preventing a desperation shot as the Kokomo girl’s team earned a hard-fought 38-37 win.
Kokomo led only those final 2.7 seconds and trailed by as many as 14 in the third quarter before finishing the game on a 21-6 run. Briana Fowler had 11 points and Jasmine Love added 10 points, but it was Jones’ fifth point that made all the difference.
“I thought we had our best people in the right spots and we got the play we wanted to run there at the end,” said Kokomo coach Jason Snyder. “They didn’t come out on Briana at the end so she went and attacked the basket before hitting a big free throw.”
Kokomo was able to move ahead thanks to a second half in which it held the Trojans to 10 points. New Castle managed only four points to Kokomo’s six in a tense fourth quarter.
Sports
Wildkats sweep Trojans
Kokomo boys win in OT; Lady Kats charge back from 14 down.
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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. -
Kats' Sebree to play for JC power Cochise
LaBradford Sebree is accustomed to winning.
Sebree was a three-year starter for Kokomo’s boys basketball team. He helped the Wildkats compile a 65-11 record (the seventh-best mark in Indiana over that stretch) with a Class 4A state runner-up finish in 2011.
The 6-foot-2 swingman hopes to keep on winning at the next level. He will play at Cochise College, a Division I junior college in Douglas, Ariz. Douglas is located in the southeast corner of the state. - More Sports Headlines
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Eastern boys track claims first sectional title since 1998
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