Early lead not enough as Decatur Central rallies to top Martinsville in Mid-State action

INDIANAPOLIS — There are some things one can't take for granted. For Decatur Central, it's rising star KC Berry.

The third-year starter was every bit of electric during Friday's Mid-State showdown with Martinsville. Whether it was tossing alley-oops, slamming dunks, draining shots from distance or making contested buckets, Berry could not be slowed. In fact, he did more than that. He took over.

His nine fourth-quarter points helped the Hawks seal a 66-54 victory over the Artesians in a game that saw Martinsville trail by only two, 38-36, heading into the final eight minutes.

"We expect a lot out of him," Decatur Central coach Bryan Surber said. "We need him to do those things and so far, he's done them....3-0 in the (Mid-State) conference and beating Martinsvillle is huge for us."

As for Martinsville, who led 30-26 at half, the loss wasn't an easy one to swallow.

"I thought we played really well in the first half, shared the ball, defended well, boxed out," Artesians' coach Kip Staggs said. "The start of the third quarter, we didn't get off to a very good start and that continued to carry on to the fourth quarter. If we duplicate what we did in the first half, this outcome is different."

Turnovers, fouls pile up

To say the battle between the Artesians and Hawks was a clean game would be a stretch. Neither coach was satisfied with the number of turnovers their team had, nor the number of fouls given.

In total, there were nearly as many total free-throw attempts (43) as there were turnovers (48). Decatur Central won the battle, forcing Martinsville to 27 mistakes, but also had 21 of its own.

"You can't turn the basketball over 27 times and expect to win and that's what happened tonight," Staggs said. "We shot the ball fairly well, but we turned it over too many times. You're just not going to win when you have 27 turnovers and 8 assists. It's gotta be the other way around."

The Artesians, on the other hand, won the free-throw battle, at least in efficiency, making 13 of 17 attempts, while the Hawks made 14 of 26.

"In the first half, Martinsville played a lot harder than we did," Surber said. "They got what they wanted... That had a lot to do with why there were so many fouls called. We were being lazy, out of position and that causes fouls. It was just sloppy basketball. Martinsville's good at doing what they do, we struggled taking it away early, but made some adjustments at halftime and did a little better job."

Catching fire

Berry wasn't the only one to light a spark in the meeting. Martinsville freshman Grady Gardner went toe-to-toe with the junior in the opening half, even outscoring him.

It started off with two threes in the first quarter, which devolved into another seven points in the second, totaling 13. Meanwhile Berry had 11. The fuse ran short, though, as the Hawks' found an answer to Gardner's success, limiting him to just three points, which came in the fourth quarter.

That said, the second half was all Brody Staggs for Martinsville. The senior impressed as he made shots left and right while battling through heavy traffic. Staggs delivered 13 of his 17 points in the game's final half, matching Berry's nine in the fourth.

Decatur Central's Anthony Ball proved to be a force, scoring 11 points, blocking a flurry of shots and grabbing plenty of boards. Raekwon Cunningham also had 11 for the Hawks. Steven Rogers was second in point production with 13.

What it means

For Decatur Central, the win means staying unbeaten in the Mid-State, tying only Plainfield at the top of the standings and improving its record to 6-3. Last season the Hawks walked away with a share of the conference title. This year the goal is to claim it outright. They certainly are off to a good start.

As for Martinsville, they drop to 4-7 and 1-2 in Mid-State action. The loss marks the third straight, so it'll be looking forward to its week-long break before competing with a tough Bloomington North (6-3) squad.

"I think we're really close, I think we have a lot of good pieces, but we cannot take a play off," Staggs said. "We'll get ready for next week with Bloomington North. It's a sectional opponent. It'll give us a snapshot of where we're at there."

Looking ahead

Martinsville will travel to Bloomington to play the Cougars on Jan. 14. The Hawks will pick up play Tuesday against Brebeuf Jesuit (6-3) to kick off the Marion County Tournament. Should they win, they'll play the winner of Lawrence North and Lutheran.

Contact reporter Devin Voss at dvoss@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @DevinVoss23.

This article originally appeared on The Reporter Times: Early lead not enough as Decatur Central rallies to top Martinsville