Harrison basketball uses big run to end Lafayette Jeff's season

KOKOMO − Harrison stumbled into the final week of the season and stumbled out of the gate in Tuesday's Class 4A, Sectional 7 opener.

And none of that matters.

What does it the Raiders have a basketball game Friday night.

Harrison used a 22-2 first-half run to offset a slow start and defeated Lafayette Jeff 54-39 at Memorial Gymnasium Tuesday night.

"We just have to stay composed and stay together and we can make stuff happen," Harrison senior guard Christopher Lucas said. "We knew we could do that when they got up early.

"Some of them are going to be ugly, but as long as we have one more point than they do at the end, that's good for us."

Lafayette Jeff led 8-2 early before Harrison shook off the nerves.

Once the Raiders did, coupled with a flurry of Broncho turnovers, they secured a third straight victory that has followed a late-season four-game losing streak.

"The losing mishaps we had made us better and also made us closer as a team," Harrison senior Ben Henderson said. "I see it as a positive even though we don't like to lose. But I am glad we learned from it and got better as a team."

It was the same offensive woes that plagued Lafayette Jeff, a team coach Mark Barnhizer feels overachieved considering it had no varsity experience entering the season.

The Bronchos shot 37 percent and turned the ball over 15 times.

"When you're 16 of 43 and you turn it over the number of times we turned it over, you just aren't going to have any success," Barnhizer said. "The games we've won this year, and we've won more than I thought we would, were games where we made some shots. You can't have droughts like we did. Eventually the dam breaks and it broke."

Ah'Keem Wilson and Devion Penny scored 12 points each for the Bronchos (13-11).

Harrison's 22-2 run after trailing 8-2, capped with Cal Gick's 3-pointer from the corner was spearheaded by Ben Henderson.

Despite Jeff limiting Henderson's shots - he was 4 of 7 from the field - Barnhizer felt the Raider senior was the difference maker.

"He's a good player and he controlled the game because he understands the game better than the other kids on the floor," Barnhzier said. "We've been down that road with some of the guys we had in the past understood the game better than other players on the floor.

"He understood the game better. I don't know how many points he scored and I don't care because he controlled the game no matter how many points he scored. That's leadership."

Henderson finished with 17 points and four assists and Christopher Lucas added 11 points. Six other Raiders found the scoring column and five different players scored during the run that put the Bronchos in a double-digit hole by halftime.

"Our guys were confident that once we settled into the game, we could make the game hard for them. We kind of re-found ourselves defensively the last couple of weeks," Harrison coach Mark Rinehart said. "There's no doubt our guys respected everything about Jeff. Those first two games were rock fights. We were lucky to win those two close games."

Now Harrison faces a monumental challenge on Friday against sectional host and fifth-ranked Kokomo.

But the Raiders are still in the tournament, which beats the alternative.

"None of it matters now other than just staying alive," Rinehart said. "We know how big the challenge is going to be on Friday, but we have big goals and they are in the way of a goal. I am sure they feel the exact same way. We've got to go find a way to win the game."

Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at sking@jconline.com and follow him on Twitter and Instagram @samueltking.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Harrison basketball uses big run to end Lafayette Jeff's season