MICHIGANTOWN —
Tri-Central and Carroll will meet tonight in the championship game of the 53rd annual Clinton Central Holiday Tournament.
Carroll broke open a close game in the second half for a 61-37 victory over Clinton Prairie in Friday’s opening semifinal and Tri-Central demolished the host Bulldogs 79-32 in the second game.
Someone will score their first victory of the season when the 0-8 Bulldogs face 0-7 Clinton Prairie in the consolation game at 6:30 p.m. today. The championship game will follow that game.
In the second semifinal, the Trojans led 20-9 at the first stop, then stretched that lead each quarter. Tri-Central improved to 3-4 on the season and seemed to improve as the game went along.
“Coaches always look for what their teams do wrong, but, for the most part, we played pretty well,” Tri-Central coach Kyle Zahn said. “[Thursday] was the only practice we’ve had since the holiday break and you could see us shake off the rust as we got into the second half. We didn’t always rebound as well as we’d like and we made too many turnovers early in the game, but any time you hold an opponent to just 32 points you’re doing something right.”
Clinton Central had only 14 turnovers for the game, but shot poorly all night, hitting only 14 of 65 field-goal attempts (26 percent), while the Trojans found the nets on 24 of 53 for a respectable 45-percent accuracy. The Bulldogs barely found the basket at all in the second half, scoring just nine points after halftime on ice-cold 4-of-30 shooting (13 percent).
“We’re getting better at taking care of the ball,” Clinton Central coach Scott Leighty said. “But we gave up too many easy baskets in the transition game. Tri-Central released a guy every play and we just didn’t get back, giving easy fast-break lay-ups. In the second half we kind of fell apart and got out of our offense. We did a lot of 1-on-1 play and you don’t score much like that.
“Tri-Central is a strong, quick team that plays hard. I think they wore us down.”
Kolby Thomas and Seth Blunck shared game-high scoring honors with 16 apiece for Tri-Central. That duo also dominated the boards. Thomas led both teams with 12 rebounds and Blunck pulled down eight. The Trojans outrebounded the Bulldogs 46-27.
Also for TC, Dillon Smith added nine points and six rebounds, Dalton Davis had nine points and Garrett Dick scored eight to go with five boards.
Jake Burton led the Bulldogs with seven points and six rebounds, while Cole Simmons and Reece Mennen each scored six.
In the opener, Eric Miller led 4-3 Carroll with 18 points. Brady Wiles and Jarin Bush also scored in double figures with 12 and 10, respectively.
Kale Morris led Clinton Prairie with 16 points.
Sports
Tri-Central, Carroll roll into title game of tourney
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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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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. - More Sports Headlines
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