NEW PALESTINE — Maximus Gizzi saw his opening on Friday night, and he wasn’t about to let it slip away.
Applying the defensive pressure near the top of the key, a quick deflected steal off a Shelbyville defender and there was nothing standing between Gizzi and a highlight reel moment.
In full sprint, the 6-foot-1 senior point guard dribbled down the floor and elevated before throwing down a fourth-quarter two-handed dunk.
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The New Palestine Dragons crowd loved it. No one sporting red was complaining. Not for a second. Gizzi was cleared for takeoff and New Palestine went up 62-39 with 7 minutes, 39 seconds remaining.
“I’ve waiting for a while. I always get blow smack because I’ve never really tried. I want to win the game first, obviously, so that was just good timing,” Gizzi said. “It was a good time to attempt one.”
The Dragons had the time of their lives against Hoosier Heritage Conference foe Shelbyville, turning a 26-11 lead into a dominating 89-49 victory for their fifth straight win while clinching a share of the league title.
New Palestine (10-10, 5-1 HHC) hasn’t lost since Jan. 24 at home against Roncalli, and they left no doubt of its intentions against the visiting Golden Bears (8-11, 3-3 HHC).
“Right before we we came out of the locker room to start the game, coach told us we were going to attack them,” New Palestine senior Dawson Eastes said. “We wanted to try to step on their throats from the beginning, and I think achieved that pretty well. We were playing tough defense, hitting our shots, so we started out pretty hot.”
The Dragons ran out to an 8-2 lead and then orchestrated a 16-4 run to lead 26-11 before an 11-2 run cushioned the margin by 24 points.
New Palestine had four players finish in double digits led by Gizzi with a game-high 20 points, four assists and two steals.
Eastes added 17 points and 10 rebounds as the Dragons seized a share of their first HHC championship since 2013.
“This is huge for us. This was always on the list of goals at the beginning of the year and this is my fourth year,” Gizzi said. “We got close last year, but we couldn’t get it done. To get this with this team, and how we started the year slow and bounced back, it feels really good.”
Despite making a regional championship game appearance last year and winning the program’s eighth sectional overall — and first since 2012 — the HHC eluded the Dragons.
After a rough start to the 2019-20 season, the first of their three-pronged ambition (HHC, sectional, regional) seemed far-fetched yet again.
Not so much for Gizzi and Eastes, the two returning varsity starters from last year’s 18-9 team.
“We were 2-8 to start the year, and we kind of had a little player meeting and got everybody together. We told each other we can right this ship, and that we would be fine,” Gizzi said. “I think we just kind of all bought in. We got the young to buy into what the older guys were telling them and the coaches were saying because we knew it worked from last year.
“Once we bought into that, and put the team first before anything else, that’s what’s led us to this winning streak.”
The team’s only HHC loss this year was against New Castle, 73-67, on Dec. 20, during its four-game losing streak after beating league rival Greenfield-Central 56-40 in the season opener.
All the Dragons needed was time to build chemistry with a brand new lineup and roster.
“It just shows the character of our team to start 2-8 to bounce back and to get back to .500 and win the conference. No one would have thought,” Eastes said. “It just shows the battle and the grit in our guys, and how we’ve finally gelled together as the season has gone along.”
Eric Roudebush, who primarily was a reserve last season as a junior, scored 19 points against Shelbyville with two of the team’s six 3-pointers.
Matt Brown, a junior, who like Roudebush, came over late in the preseason after the school’s football team won back-to-back Class 5A state championships, required patience and practice. On Friday, he had 11 points in the win.
The Dragons didn’t shoot lower than 50 percent in any quarter against Shelbyville and peaked from the start with an 11 of 17 shooting frame for 26 points.
An Eastes two-handed dunk with 3:24 left in the game put the Dragons ahead by 34 points before the reserves pushed the lead to a final 40 points.
Blaine Nunnally chipped in seven points and six assists, and Steele Brasfield had five points and four assists off the bench.
“I don’t think what people realize is we had two kids come back from last year’s team. Maximus and Dawson were the ones that played a lot of minutes. Roudebush got some spot minutes, but after that there’s no one kid on our team that played varsity basketball,” Whitaker said. “Right now, everything is clicking. It’s going to be a fun last few weeks here.”
Gizzi and Eastes made sure it was and one for the books.
“He always has to one-up me a little bit,” Gizzi joked on Eastes’ dunk. “That was an all-around win. The coaches put together a great scouting report, and we knew what we were going to do and we executed. It was fun tonight.”
