RUSSIAVILLE — Western used hot 3-point shooting in the first half to stretch Carroll’s zone defense, then attacked inside more in the second half in posting a 61-50 victory in boys basketball action Saturday night at Richard R. Rea Gymnasium.
“We assumed [the Cougars] were going to go zone on us — didn’t know if it was going to be a 2-3 or a 3-2. We were prepared and I felt our guys executed well for the most part,” Western coach Bart Miller said. “I would have liked to have been able to attack more inside out, but we’ll take whatever we can get. It’s nice when you are knocking down those 3s.”
The Panthers (8-4) drilled six 3-pointers in the opening half en route to a 30-22 halftime edge. Wing Austin Weaver had the hot hand, hitting two triples in the opening quarter and two more in the second quarter.
“We had a mishap in the first half. The scouting report was Weaver could shoot the 3 really well and we lost him a few times,” Carroll coach Matt Weaver said. “Part of the problem was letting guys penetrate and then kick and then they swung it around really fast and we’re chasing. A couple times, we just lost awareness of where he was versus maybe another guy we didn’t have to cover out there so hard.”
The Panthers kept the Cougars at bay in the second half. Post players Ronnie Smith and Austin Townsend combined for 15 points and attacking guard Des Balentine scored seven points on the strength of three pull-up jumpers in the lane area.
Smith finished with a game-high 16 points. Weaver had 15 points on five 3-pointers, Townsend had 11 points, Balentine had 10 and Warden had nine on three 3-pointers.
Eric Miller led the Cougars (6-5) with 12 points and Ryan Spesard and Jarin Bush had 11 apiece. Bush offered a nice spark with nine points in the third quarter.
Carroll played without point guard Brady Wiles, who suffered a severe ankle sprain in the Cougars’ loss to Twin Lakes on Friday. The Cougars finished with 17 turnovers while Western had just nine.
“Turnovers ended up being a huge factor for us. We had about double the turnovers that Western did and if you look at the shooting percentages, [turnovers were] a big difference,” Weaver said.
Carroll shot 20 of 38 (52.6 percent) from the field. Western shot 23 of 50 (46 percent).
“We have to learn how to match a team’s physicality and pressure overall,” Weaver said. “We have to have better spacing, cutting and screening to get guys open and in position.”
The taller Cougars had just a 26-23 advantage on the boards, a big plus for the Panthers after they were out-rebounded 50-20 in a loss to West Lafayette last week. Against the Cougars, Townsend had eight rebounds and Smith had seven.
“During the week, we did a lot of rebounding drills because West Lafayette kind of embarrassed us,” Smith said. “Me and Austin Townsend kind of pride ourselves on our rebounding, try to average the most out of the entire [Mid-Indiana Conference], and West Lafayette really took it to us. So in practice, we worked really hard on rebounding. We came out [Saturday] and executed the way we needed to.”
Western held a moment of silence before the game for longtime statistician and supporter Fred Myers, who passed away Monday.
“It was pretty good to come out and win this one for him,” Smith said, noting Myers’ widow, Emily, was there to support the team as always. “We all went to the viewing as a team. We all wrote on our shoes, ‘Rest in peace Freddie.’ We did this one for him, for sure.”
• Earlier Saturday, Western’s JV team won the Howard County Tournament, beating Eastern 38-22 in the final at Northwestern. Davon McClung led the Panthers with 12 points and James Myers added nine. Western’s JV followed with a 44-27 victory over Carroll. McClung and Gabe Harp had 11 apiece in that game.
Sports
Western pushes past Carroll
Panthers boast strong inside-outside performance
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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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