On North Central’s gritty Marion County win and more

On By Littum

game

With 11.9 seconds left in the third quarter of Saturday night’s Marion County tournament championship game, Papi Rivera lay face first on the Southport Fieldhouse court, grimacing in pain.

North Central led by two points at the moment, though it quickly faded into a seven-point deficit as Rivera tried to get ready to get back into the game. He did, returned for a few seconds, then left again with his left hamstring in too much pain to continue.

“I had it in my right leg over the summer, now it’s my left leg,” Rivera said. “I had to try to come back and give it what I had. I couldn’t at least try.”

North Central was seemingly dead in the water without Rivera, who poured in 28 points in Friday night’s semifinal win over Pike and had 15 against Ben Davis when he went down. But perhaps his attempt to return triggered something. Right after he went back for good and took a seat next to his brother, North Central assistant coach Mateo Rivera, Chrishon Woodward drilled a 3-pointer and North Central coach Kevin Gant called a timeout.

North Central trailed by four points with 4:57 left after a 15-0 Ben Davis run finally ended. The Panthers came out strong on defense and amazingly held the Giants without a point the rest of the game en route to a 48-44 win.

“I wasn’t able to give them much, but I just stayed on the bench and cheered on my team,” Rivera said. “I hope my cheering helped them win. I think it did.”

It was a dramatic win for North Central (9-5), which had the easiest path via the blind draw of the four semifinalists to reach Southport, shutting out 2-7 Park Tudor with 24 points and a young 4-8 Decatur Central team with 14 points in the first two rounds. But there was nothing easy about ruling Pike out, with the Red Devils currently decimated by injuries (more on that below), and certainly not against a Ben Davis side that had won 11 straight games.

It was gritty. It was hard. And one of the biggest sparks was a five-second call made by 6-5 junior Woodward.

“When Papi got injured, the game really turned around,” Woodward said. “We all had to step up to pick up the whole team. That one call in five seconds really helped make a difference in the game. When Papi got hurt, it just turned around for me that I had to to step up to help my team win. Everyone stepped up for him.”

As for Rivera? Gant said he hoped the injury would only keep him out “a few days or maybe a week.” But it is impossible to know at this time. The Panthers, coming off a second Marion County title in four years under Gant, have a tough week coming up with a rematch against Ben Davis on Wednesday and a game against Lawrence North on Friday — both Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference games.

“I’m going to retrain every day and do my best to come back,” Rivera said. “I’m not really sure when I’ll be back. But I’m going to do everything in my power to get back out there with my guys.”

Big wins of the week

Is it just me or does it seem like Monday’s Hendricks County tournament championship game was played about two months ago? There was a lot of basketball this week and some excellent performances. Here’s what stood out from the week:

∎ Avon (13-1) wrapped up its Hendricks County Tournament championship with a decisive 65-44 victory over Plainfield on Monday, then continued its strong play with a 76-46 win over Mt. Vernon Friday night. DeAndre Lott-Hancock led four players in double figures with 20 points and 10 rebounds. I would expect Avon to make its first appearance in the USA TODAY Network Indiana top 10 this week. A bigger test looms Friday at 4A No. 1 Fisher’s.

∎ Class 3A third-ranked Guerin Catholic (13-2) sent a message with a 70-67 win over 3A second-ranked Cathedral on Saturday night. The Golden Eagles led by as many as 13 points in the fourth quarter and held on as Ryne Paris led the way with 19 points, Jake Grissom added 18 and Bryson Cardinal finished with 15 points and 14 rebounds. Cathedral (9-4), led by 15 points from Lebron Gough, shot just 6-for-25 from the 3-point line and 9-for-19 from the free throw line. Guerin will host Brebeuf Jesuit (5-5) in a Circle City Conference game on Friday.

∎ Class 4A fourth-ranked Westfield (9-1) has won seven straight after a 62-36 win over Hamilton Southeastern. The Shamrocks put four players in double figures, led by junior Drew Haffner with 14 points and senior Durante Morton with 13 points and six rebounds. Westfield’s only loss was by three points to Zionsville in the third game of the season.

∎ How about defending 3A state champion Brownstown Central in the post-Jack Benter era? No. 8 Braves improved to 11-0 with wins over 3A No. 4 Silver Creek, 67-49, and Rock Creek Academy, 83-43. Brownstown Central led by 27 points at halftime of the Silver Creek game as Chace Coomer led the way with 23 points and Colby Hall added 19.

∎ Josiah Ball had 25 points, eight rebounds and three assists in Maconaquah’s 82-79 win over Kokomo on Saturday night. The 3A Braves (8-2) led by as many as 15 points and got a big game from Fuddy Kile, who finished with 17 points and 13 rebounds. Kokomo (10-4) shot 9-for-44 from the 3-point line.

Pike that deals damage

Pike saw its run in the Marion County tournament end in the semifinals with a 76-63 loss to North Central on Friday night at Southport Fieldhouse.

The Red Devils (6-6) were without their top two scorers in junior Damon Howard (17.1 ppg, 3.7 assists) and sophomore Jahari Miller (16.6 ppg, 5.0 rebounds) due to injuries, along with junior guard TJ Davis (4.9 ppg, 3.3 assists).

“Some of them tried to practice and then it’s different that happens again,” Pike coach Jeff Teague said of the injuries. “It probably doesn’t look like I’m going to get them back anytime soon to be honest. (Howard) is probably going to be out most of the season.”

But even without those key players, Pike was in the game until the final four minutes against North Central. Junior Brennan Dokes, averaging 3.6 points, led the Pike with 13 points and sophomore Collin Washington, averaging 3.4 points in five games, scored 12.

“It’s good for the group and the young guys to get this experience,” Teague said. “There were a lot of other students out there so it’s good for them to get that experience in this atmosphere and play here. This gym is amazing and the atmosphere is always good. It was a good opportunity for them.”

Pike started the season 4-0, then lost at Lawrence Central in a game in which Teague was ejected. It was the start of a five-game losing streak.

“When we’re fully healthy, I think we’re one of the best teams in the state,” Teague said. “We’ve had a lot of ups and downs, people have gotten hurt and things have happened off the field. Starting with me. I was suspended for two games (under IHSAA rules after the ejection) and I think it affected the team. But having these opportunities I think will make our team better and I think the future will be good as well.”

Jamar Thomas appears for Lawrence North

Jamar Thomas, a 6-5 junior, has emerged in a bigger role for Lawrence North this season, averaging 8.9 points, 4.4 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 1.9 assists on the weekend.

Thomas is not necessarily a no. 1 scoring opportunity for the Wildcats on most nights, but led Lawrence North with 11 points in a 41-39 victory over Warren Central in the quarterfinal round of the Marion County Tournament on Wednesday night.

“Jamar is a matchup problem for most teams,” Lawrence North coach Chris Giffin said. “He can score inside so well, but he can also handle the ball really well. (Wednesday night) he took two 3s that were open (he missed), so we’ve got to keep building his confidence on inside-out threes. This is probably the biggest weakness in his game. But he can drive it well, he has good open court vision, he can score on the post and he can guard a little bit of everywhere. He is multi-positional, versatile. Body-wise, skill-wise, he’s a Division I caliber player. He obviously needs to improve his hitting and he has a year and a half to do that.”

Thomas has earned the respect of his teammates, including senior and Butler commit Azavier Robinson.

“He gives us a lot at 6-5 and his ability to handle the ball,” Robinson said. “He gives us that versatility and on the defensive end he plays really hard.”

McDonald’s All American nominees

Greenfield-Central’s Braylon Mullins, Cathedral’s Brady Koehler and Lawrence North’s Azavier Robinson are among the Indiana natives on the McDonald’s All American nomination list released last week. The 24 players selected for the team to play in the April 1 game at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn will be announced later this month.

The Indiana players nominated:

Darius Adams, La Lumière

Melvin Bell Jr., La Lumiere

Grayson Bennett, La Lumiere

Deric Cannady, The Cathedral

Derek Collins Jr., Gary West Side

Alex Couto, Carmel

Lebron Gough, the cathedral

Jalen Haralson, La Lumiere

Aidan Hughes, The Cathedral

Jace Jenkins, Princeton

Justin Kirby, Fishers

Brady Koehler, Cathedral

Chuck Love III, La Lumiere

Maguire Mitchell, Zionsville

Braylon Mullins, Greenfield-Central

Danny Murray, La Lumière

Kellen Pickett, Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian

Azavier Robinson, Lawrence North

Jack Smiley, La Lumière

Drew Snively, Zionsville

Anton Strelnikov, La Lumière

Dereon Truesdale, Fort Wayne Bishop Luers

Drelyn Truesdale, Fort Wayne Bishop Luers

Lamose Waites, The Cathedral

This and that…

∎ Marion honored its 1975 state championship team Saturday night at Bill Green Arena as the Giants lost 63-54 to Homestead. The family of former Marion coach Bill Green was on hand as the family donated Green’s five state championship rings from Marion (1975, ’76, ’85, ’86 and ’87) to the Marion Athletic Hall of Fame.

∎ How about that picture of Joey Ortman on Friday night? His banked 3-pointer from the right wing, well beyond the line, gave the Woodmen a 52-50 victory over Whiteland. The Woodmen lost in the championship to Center Grove, 63-36, Saturday night in Edinburgh.

∎ The 14-team City tournament starts on Tuesday with six matches in the first round. Cathedral, no. 1 seed and Crispus Attucks, no. 2 seed, has a bye to the quarter-final round on Thursday. Tuesday’s first round games:

No. 9 Bishop Chatard (2-9) at No. 8 Scecina (3-9)

No. 13 Providence Cristo Rey (11-5) at no. 4 Covenant Christian (9-3)

no. 12 Tindley (4-9) at no. 5 Purdue Poly Englewood (10-6)

no. 10 Tech (2-8) at no. 7 Heritage Christian (5-7)

no. 14 Herron (2-12) at no. 3 Cardinal Ritter (9-3)

no. 11 Washington (6-7) at no. 6 Christel House (9-4)

Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.