RUSSIAVILLE —
Western’s boys basketball team has grown accustomed to graduating important classes, then promoting role players to more important positions the next season and continuing without breaking stride.
The Panthers have to do that on the floor again this season, and face the extra challenge of doing the same thing on the sideline. Long-time assistant Bart Miller takes over as coach this season after Andy Weaver took the job at Plainfield.
“Transition’s going pretty smooth actually, we’re not changing a whole lot of things up,” Miller said. “We’re tweaking a thing here and there. [The players] have been receptive to those changes, but for the most part we’re keeping everything coach Weaver has done. He’s had great success here, we’re not going to do anything to deter from that.”
Three players with significant time under their belts return from last season’s 19-6 squad that won Mid-Indiana Conference and Class 3A Twin Lakes Sectional titles — 6-0 junior guard Evan Warden, 6-7 senior center Ronnie Smith and 6-3 senior forward/center Austin Townsend.
Warden averaged 11.5 points and 2.8 rebounds. Smith averaged 6.5 points and 4.3 rebounds. And Townsend averaged 3.4 points and 3.6 rebounds.
“Really, we’ve got three guys returning with significant varsity minutes,” Miller said. “Everybody else on the roster saw a spot minute here or there. We’ve got guys stepping up that were role players last year.”
Warden, who can play as a point guard or off the ball as a shooting guard, is the lone returning starter.
“It’s very nice to have Evan there, he knows how to handle the ball, he knows how to direct traffic out there, get guys in the right spots for us to be successful. He started every game last year as a sophomore and was in a lot of games as a freshman. Even though he’s a junior, he plays a lot of times like he’s a senior as far as leadership goes.”
Also on the roster are 6-0 sophomore guard Des Balentine, 5-11 senior guard Tyler Adams, 6-2 sophomore guard/small forward Austin Weaver, 5-10 senior guard Brad Hemmeger, 6-1 junior forward Mo Townsend, 6-1 senior forward Mitchell Shahan, and 6-3 senior forward/center Kyle Mendenhall.
Four players who may split time between varsity and JV are 5-10 junior guard Devon Eaker, 6-0 junior guard Chris Carter, 6-0 junior forward Zac Simpson, and 6-2 junior forward Nic Bewley.
“With the newcomers, it’s very similar to teams in the past,” Miller said. “We’ll be able to get up and down the floor. Rebounding is always a concern. We’ve got some size there, but if we happen to run into some foul trouble, we drop off in height quite a bit. Some of our newcomers are able to step in and knock down some shots, so I’m really excited about this upcoming year.
“I think we’ll be good at transition basketball, both offensively and defensively. I think we’ll be able to attack both inside and outside. We can go inside to our bigs with Ronnie and Austin Townsend and Mendenhall, and we can go outside to Evan, who can knock down the three.”
Miller also listed Balentine, Weaver, Mo Townsend and Adams as adept 3-point shooters, giving the Panthers plenty outside.
The Panthers have won back-to-back sectional titles, and won the MIC title last season with a 7-0 record so it’s important to the players and coaches that they get themselves in the mix for hardware again.
“We’re hoping to carry on the success of the program the last few years,” Miller said. “That’s obviously a goal to win the sectional. Obviously the conference is strong but we hope to be right up there with anybody else and get another conference championship as well. We’re really looking just to improve each and every week we’re out on the floor.”
Miller’s roots at Western run deep. He was a starter on the Panthers’ 1990 Kokomo Sectional championship team, and his father, Larry, was a long-time AD at the school.
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KEY PLAYER: Western post Ronnie Smith, shown in a game against Taylor in the 2011 Coca-Cola Old School Sectional, is one of three key players back for the Panthers. He averaged 6.5 points and 4.3 rebounds per game last season. KT file photo
Discussion
WHS looks to continue winning ways
Long-time assistant Miller is Panthers’ new skipper
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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. -
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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