Taylor’s boys basketball team played with a sense of purpose in the fourth quarter of its game against Mississinewa on Saturday night at Center Court — but a 17-point deficit after three quarters proved too deep a hole from which to climb out.
Mississinewa held on to beat Taylor 62-57, dropping the Titans to 2-9.
The Titans outscored the Indians 31-19 in the fourth quarter to make things interesting. Latrell Mitchell scored 12 points on 6-of-6 shooting in the quarter and Logan Barnes hit a pair of 3-pointers and scored nine points.
“I told the team that if we would play with that kind of energy for four quarters, it would be amazing what we could accomplish,” Taylor coach Andy Lewman said. “I think we were 13 of 18 from the floor in the fourth quarter. We made some good things happen and Latrell was on fire.”
The Titans’ downfall was the second quarter.
The first quarter featured five lead changes and two ties, including 9-all at the end. Ole Miss then opened the second quarter with an 11-0 run en route to a 33-17 halftime advantage.
In the second quarter, the Titans made just 3 of 9 shots from the field and committed eight turnovers. The Titans played without point guard Justin Wheeler, who was injured in Friday night’s game against Hamilton Heights.
“We were making silly mistakes in the second quarter,” Lewman lamented. “The turnover bug has been getting us and it hit us again [Saturday] and it put us in a heck of a hole, down 16 at the half.”
Ole Miss (4-6) maintained a comfortable lead throughout the third quarter and was up 43-26 at the end of the quarter.
The Titans came to life in the final quarter. They used an 11-3 run to draw within nine, 46-37, at 5:21.
The Indians still seemed in control up 52-41 at 3:00 — but Mitchell scored on a putback, then took a charge, and Cole Schroeder hit a 3-pointer to bring Taylor within six, 52-46, at 2:27.
Down 59-52 as the clock ticked under a minute, the Titans had three shots to draw closer, but were unable to connect. The Indians followed with a pair of free throws at :33.6 for a 61-52 lead, effectively sealing the win.
“To battle back within a couple of possessions is great, but I’d like to play from the lead at some point this season,” Lewman said. “I feel like we’re always playing from behind and I want to play with the lead at some point and see whether or not we can push it to the next level.”
Mitchell took his game to a higher level Saturday night. The 6-foot junior forward came off the bench to score a game-high 18 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the field. He buried several baseline jumpers.
“He played with a sense of purpose,” Lewman said. “I felt like he played very well the whole night.”
Barnes finished with 13 points and Challen Hodson had 14 points for the Titans. Nick Hoover had a game-high 10 rebounds.
Seth McPheron led the Indians with 15 points. Zeke Lockwood had 12 points and seven rebounds.
Sports
Titans’ rally falls short
Titans make a run in the 4th before falling to Ole Miss.
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Northwestern takes down West Lafayette
Northwestern played a very solid game on both offense and defense in defeating West Lafayette 8-5 in the opening round of the IHSAA Class 3A Peru Baseball Sectional Thursday night.
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10 area athletes advance to boys track state finals
Austin Roark’s first season as the head boys track and field coach at Eastern High School just keeps getting better and better.
A week after guiding the Comets to their first sectional title since 1998, Roark will join six of his athletes at next weekend’s IHSAA state finals after advancing out of Thursday’s Kokomo Regional at Walter Cross Field. -
Eastern dominates Taylor in softball
GREENTOWN — The third time turned out not to be the charm for the Taylor softball squad as Eastern improved to 3-0 on the season over its backyard rival Wednesday night, ousting the Titans from the Class 2A Eastern Sectional 15-0 in five innings.
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Barnes sets Taylor's career hits record
Taylor baseball standout Logan Barnes made his final game at George Phares Field one to remember.
Barnes pitched four solid innings to lead Taylor past Monroe Central 9-3 Tuesday. In addition, he went 2 for 3 at the plate, pushing his career hits total to a school-record 142. -
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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