HOOPS ROUNDUP: Cass tops LCC on night 2003 state champs honored

Feb. 27—Lewis Cass' boys basketball team defeated Lafayette Central Catholic 44-34 Friday on a night when the Kings honored the 2003 state championship team in Walton.

It was the Kings' first-ever win over the Knights in nine tries.

Cass (15-7) utilized a strong start in jumping out to a 26-11 halftime lead and never let Central Catholic (12-11) get any closer than seven points in the second half.

Cass coach Kyle Johnson talked with WLHM after the game about the special night for the Kings. The 2003 team was one of the best teams in Cass County history. They went 26-0 and only had three games all season played within single digits and one game in the tournament, their 57-48 win over Forest Park in the state championship game.

"Man, what a great night. I got to get in there when everybody was gathering for the meal and I got to speak to them briefly and lead a blessing. I'm just so thankful they got the opportunity," Johnson said. "It was a good time coming. The small part I had with the 2003 state champion was being part of a staff that took a pretty nasty L. I know every single one of those guys by name just from those years back."

The Kings beat the Knights on a night where they had four players battling the flu, including two starters, Johnson said.

Luke Chambers had 14 points and five rebounds in the win. Tyson Good had 13 points, five boards, three assists and three steals. Haden McClain had nine points and six boards. LJ Hillis had eight points, four boards and three steals. Keaton Lewellen added six boards and three blocked shots.

Johnson noted to the radio that the Cass seniors got to walk away with a win on their final game on their homecourt.

"I'm super proud of the kids as far as the basketball game. We take care of LCC. We had played them eight times and not beat them once. To get that W was nice," he said. "I'm glad you guys talked to the state champions because it wasn't the prettiest game in the world. But I'd rather have an ugly W than a pretty loss.

"It's my fourth year with this group and to be able to go through all four years with them, I do love these kids. I'm excited to see what we can do next week."

Cass plays Pioneer (5-18) at 7:45 p.m. Tuesday at the Class 2A Rochester Sectional.

The senior-led Kings have a team that thinks they can make a run in the tournament this year, but they'll have to get past their county rivals in the first round.

"You walk into a sectional and everybody's got the same record, you're 0-0. You can't get too caught up in the records of other people because crazy things happen in a sectional," Johnson said. "You can't get ahead of yourself, you've got to think one game at a time. I've tried to do that the last several weeks playing Tuesdays and Fridays, and the last two weeks we've been able to get through a Tuesday and a Friday. We'd love to play Saturday, but we can't play Saturday if we don't take care of Tuesday.

"Pioneer has gotten better since we played them last time. I think these guys are ready. I think we have prepared everything we can. We played a very tough schedule. We finished it right."

Cass enters the sectional on a four-game winning streak. Wabash (16-6) and Cass (15-7) have the best records in the sectional field. They could meet in the final.

The sectional begins Tuesday with two games: Winamac (8-15) vs. North Miami (1-21) at 6 p.m. followed by Lewis Cass vs. Pioneer.

Wabash and Rochester (11-9) drew the byes with Wabash facing the Winamac-NM winner and Rochester getting the Cass-Pioneer winner.

Cass beat Pioneer 56-42 on Jan. 13 at Pioneer. The Kings did not face any of the other sectional teams during the regular season.

BENTON CENTRAL 61, LOGAN 48

Benton Central (16-7) pulled away late in a win over visiting Logansport (8-15).

The Bison outscored the Berries 27-9 from the 3-point line, as they shot 9-of-26 from deep (34.6%) to the Berries' 3-of-11 (27.3%). The Berries outrebounded the Bison 30-19 but lost the turnover battle 19-10.

Hunter Sisson made four 3-pointers and scored 15 points to lead Benton Central. Joe Widmer made three 3s and had 14 points. Aaron Lambeck was also in double figures with 12. Ryan Foster added eight points and seven assists. Cayden Hardebeck added two 3s for six points.

Jacob Taylor led the Berries with 17 points, seven boards and three steals. Izak Mock had nine points and four boards. Isaac Russell scored eight points. Grayson Long made his return from a knee injury and had five points and eight boards in 17 minutes. Cooper Smith added four points and four boards. Chrisanthony Del Valle added three points and five boards. Jeremiah Miller chipped in two points.

Benton Central led 10-5 after one, 20-16 at halftime and 32-28 after three before outscoring Logan 29-20 in the fourth.

Logansport coach Matt Lange talked with WSAL's Joe Stetz and Dave Packard afterwards about a game that got away late.

"Today we played three-and-a-half good quarters, we were two down with the ball and we just self-destructed, had a couple turnovers, just stuff we shouldn't have done, they were unforced. Then we let them hit a couple 3s in a row. We were screaming on the bench, don't let them go long and we let them go long. I thought we played extremely well for about three quarters and two minutes, and we had some issues after that," Lange said.

The Berries got a boost with the surprise return of Long, who had previously been 3-0 in the games he played in with wins over McCutcheon, Cass and Twin Lakes. He had a setback in his return from a knee injury suffered during football but was able to return for the regular-season finale.

"He's one of those kids where he's a competitor through and through. It kills him to be sitting on the sidelines while his teammates are out there," Lange said.

Logan plays Marion (14-8) at 7:45 p.m. Tuesday at the Class 4A Kokomo Sectional. The Giants, led by a talented sophomore class with one of the best sophomores in Indiana, defeated the Berries 83-53 on Jan. 27 at Bill Green Arena. It was a game the Berries shot 1-of-17 from 3.

"We've got a tough task on Tuesday with Marion," Lange told the radio. "Planning on Marion, we've got some stuff to work on. They did a good job of getting downhill and getting to the basket on us in the first game. They've got some really good players that that's their A game. We're going to have to drill, drill, drill on making sure that doesn't happen and when it does we cover it up and try to have them kick to shooters. It's almost going to be opposite on what we worked on for tonight is we let them drive downhill, we didn't cover them downhill so we could get to shooters."

The all-North Central Conference tourney at Kokomo's Memorial Gym begins Tuesday with two games: Harrison (17-6) vs. Lafayette Jeff (13-10) at 6 p.m. followed by Logansport (8-15) vs. Marion (14-8).

In Friday's semifinals, No. 5-ranked Kokomo (19-4) faces the Harrison-Jeff winner in the 6 p.m. game followed by McCutcheon (6-17) vs. the Logan-Marion winner.

Kokomo beat all five sectional opponents en route to winning the NCC with a spotless 9-0 record.

TRI-COUNTY 61, PIONEER 47

Pioneer's two-game win streak came to a halt at Tri-County.

The Cavaliers outscored the Panthers 20-8 in the second quarter to take a 34-20 lead at halftime and played the Panthers evenly in the second half for the 14-point win.

Nate Corbin had 13 points and 17 rebounds to lead the Cavs (10-12). Eric Zarse also had 13 points.

Drew McKaig had 17 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Panthers (5-18). Caleb Sweet scored 11 points. Brayden Erickson added eight.

Pioneer will make its return to the Class 2A state tournament for the first time since the first two years of multi-class basketball when the Panthers face Lewis Cass at 7:45 p.m. Tuesday at the Rochester Sectional.

RENSSELAER 68, WINAMAC 40

Winamac (8-15) ran into a buzzsaw at Class 3A Rensselaer (18-5).

Colby Chapman had 20 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Bombers. Corbin Mathew scored 17 points, Tristen Wuethrich had 11 points and six assists and Nole Marschand added 10 points.

Jayse Bentle scored 16 points to lead the Warriors. Will Malchow had eight points. Michael Loehmer and Chase Keller added five points each. John Malchow added two points, five boards and six assists. Winamac shot just 1-of-16 from 3.

Winamac plays North Miami (1-21) at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Class 2A Rochester Sectional.