By Pedro Velazco
TIPTON — After graduating four starters, including Indiana All-Star Derek Elston, it would be easy to assume the Tipton boys basketball team would struggle to adjust.
Not so fast.
Class 2A No. 2 Tipton raced past Tri-Central 85-71 Wednesday night, regularly pushing the lead to 20 points or more in beating its Tipton County rival in the opening game for both squads.
Five Tipton players scored eight points or more, and the Blue Devils had the luxury of getting a lot of time for their bench players.
“Those who have been away from the game a little bit might think they’d be down after that senior class graduated, but they are obviously reloaded,” new Tri-Central coach Kyle Zahn said. “They’ve got more than a few guys who can flat out stroke it. They can shoot the ball very well and they have more than one way to score with [7-footer Ethan] Jacobs in the post. They’re a team that’s going to win some games and compete when the tournament comes around.”
Tipton started with a shot, racing out to a 14-5 lead as five different players put points on the board. The Devils closed the first quarter on a 14-2 run, with Connor Rich hitting four treys for Tipton’s last four buckets of the frame. Tipton led 33-13 at the quarter break and was never threatened again. After that, the Devil lead never dropped below 14 points.
“We’ve got a lot of full-time basketball players that have really been looking forward to the start of the season,” said new Tipton coach Brad Dickey. “You can already tell, our challenge is going to be maintaining and growing our teamwork.”
So how was Tipton’s teamwork on Wednesday?
“Excellent,” Dickey said. “Excellent for a first game.”
Tipton was loaded with options. Point guard Greg Dickey got the ball rolling with a driving hoop to start the game. He finished with 24 points, nearly all on drives to the hoop. Shooting guard Alex Hutson scored 18, sniper Rich finished with 14, Jacobs had 13 operating between the post and high post, and guard Jake Dye came off the bench to score eight.
“We try to create an advantage for our team and with a 7-footer — our offense starts there — and a quick point guard, that’s going to be matchup trouble for teams in the future,” Brad Dickey said.
Tipton went on a 10-0 run in the second quarter to push the lead out to 49-20 before TC cut the lead to 49-28 at halftime.
Led by Rich’s outburst of four, Tipton bagged seven treys in the first half. For the game, Tipton connected on 31 of 57 shots from the field including 10 of 19 from 3-land.
The Tipton coach said the good shooting came from good play.
“I was watching our preparation, the initial ballhandler and then the jump shooter getting ready,” he said. “We talk about it a lot and sometimes kids are good at it and [Wednesday] I think they were really good at it and there’s the result. We made some nice shots. We want to become more consistent like that.”
Tri-Central’s Brock Tew was arguably hotter than the Devils. He scored a game-high 28 points on 10-of-14 shooting, including 6 of 7 from 3-land. He missed only one shot in scoring 19 points before halftime, doing what he could to keep TC afloat.
In the second half, TC had more balance and repeatedly cut into the lead, only for the Devils to return to their starters and re-gain control. Robby Howell added 19 for TC and Jake Robertson scored 10.
Despite the loss, Zahn was encouraged by Tri-Central’s play.
“I told them in years past, it’s kind of the trend of this team to give up a little bit when they get down,” he said, “and we definitely didn’t see that [Wednesday]. We kept battling, kept going throughout the game. That’s a good thing for us. It means we are on the right road and will continue to get better.”
