By TRAVIS MILLER
LEBANON — Midway through the first quarter of the Kokomo-Lebanon boys basketball game here Saturday night, Kokomo coach Brian McCauley was mad. He angrily called a timeout as the Wildkats continued to get beat on defense by the Tigers’ fastbreak, pressing attack. After an animated conversation with his players, something uncharacteristic from the young coach, the Kats took things to heart.
“The guys would just not get back and it was pathetic,” said McCauley as he pulled no punches about his team’s early effort. “It was very frustrating and was pathetic about like our Frankfort game. So we called timeout, I chewed some butt, and they really responded from there.”
Respond they did. Kokomo (11-5) turned a seven-point deficit at the end of the first quarter into a nine-point halftime lead. From there, Kokomo cruised to a relatively easy, 75-64 victory. It was the most points the Wildkats have scored in almost two months.
“It’s a total team effort. You have to get contributions from everyone and that’s what we got [Saturday],” said McCauley. “You have a guy like Parker Salinas, who you look down and he was a silent assassin. He has 16 points and eight rebounds and he’s the last guy I mention.”
Kokomo had contributions across the board. D.J. Balentine scored a game-high 19 points, Cheyse Swain had 13 points and three assists off the bench and Armon Bridgeforth added six points and five steals as he hustled well off the bench.
Early on, however, Kokomo was sluggish. The Tigers used their quickness and the home crowd to race to an 18-11 lead after one quarter.
After McCauley’s session of verbal encouragement, Kokomo’ defense clamped down, while the offense got on track. The Wildkats outscored the Tigers 22-6 in the second quarter and five different Kokomo players scored.
“We had a good first and third quarter on both ends of the floor, but their defense forced us outside of our comfort zone and forced us into a lot of turnovers,” said Lebanon coach Tom Johnson. “Everyone that played for them was good. They had 23 points off of their bench and 1.29 points per possession, which is very good.”
Lebanon (9-7) had its final lead of the game when Jack Day scored an inside basket at the 3:59 mark of the second quarter. That gave Lebanon a 24-21 lead, but Kokomo closed the half on a 12-0 run. Braxton Shelton, whom McCauley noted made a huge difference in the second quarter with his hustle, started the run with a rebound putback at the 3:01 mark. Balentine then gave Kokomo the lead with a runner in the lane and the Wildkats cruised from there.
Salinas hit a 3-pointer one minute into the half to make it 15 straight points for the Kats. Lebanon finally responded and managed to close the lead to 47-43 by the end of the third thanks to 12 points from Trey Hendrix after he was shut out in the first half.
Lebanon came no closer. The Wildkats started the final period on a 10-0 run as Swain took the game over with his physicality. Swain scored eight in the final quarter and twice found his teammates for open baskets on breaks. Bridgeforth was also a key as he had consecutive steal-and-score plays during the run.
Kokomo returns home for a critical North Central Conference contest with Logansport Thursday night. Kokomo, Logan, Anderson and New Castle are locked in a four-way tie for the league lead.
