NEW PALESTINE — The obstacles never stopped.
From the months prior to opening night on Dec. 13, the New Palestine Dragons faced uncertainty immediately with the loss of four key players and an assistant coach from 2018-19.
Yet, they pushed through despite the doubters.
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Anchored by the motto, ‘Prove It,’ after last year’s historic regional championship game run before falling to eventual Class 4A state runner-up Ben Davis 53-47, the Dragons never lost sight of their goals.
At 18-9 last season, the Dragons sat at 3-9 by mid January, but instead of letting the year slip away, they rolled up their sleeves to go 9-3 the rest of the regular season. The momentum carried into the postseason with their ninth sectional title in program history and second back-to-back in 10 years.
“We never lost sight of our goals. Like coach said earlier in the year when we were 2-8, we still have a chance to win conference, even though our season wasn’t going great,” New Palestine senior Dawson Eastes said. “We always kept that in the back of our minds and tried to see the end of the tunnel even as it was kind of closing in on us.”
The Dragons had three primary goals, and the first was the Hoosier Heritage Conference championship. While losing two stretches of four straight games during their rough start, including a 73-67 setback at HHC foe New Castle on Dec. 20, league games became a priority the rest of the way.
Of the Dragons’ 12 losses this season, only two were to HHC teams. The remaining 10 were to non-conference opponents and proved opportunities to develop a roster with a freshman starter in Blaine Nunnally at guard and sophomore forward Steele Brasfield coming off the bench later in the year after starting early on.
“We knew in those (HHC) games you had to come to play otherwise you’re not going to win. I think those games were good opportunities to build for the sectional and show the younger guys you have to come out ready to play, especially, in conference games because everybody wants the best piece of the other team,” Dragons senior point guard Maximus Gizzi said.
New Palestine had three players back this year with the most varsity experience in Eric Roudebust and Eastes (13.5 ppg, 8.7 rpg) and Gizzi, who have played together since grade school in club leagues and with Indiana Elite.
They lost Matthew True, a sharpshooting guard and Dylan Romine, while also surprisingly losing seniors Maxen Hook and Kyle King, two 5A football state championship standouts that opted to graduate early in preparation for NCAA Div-I careers.
“It was good to see those kids persevere and get through bad times. People may not have known Maxen Hook and Kyle (King) left us, but we also lost other kids. Kids that played three or four years,” New Palestine head coach Trent Whitaker said. “We had three or four spots that we had to fill, and we really weren’t sure who we were going to fill them with.”
Enter Matthew Brown, who has provided 4.1 points per game and 4.3 rebounds. Nunnally is averaging 4.9 ppg and 3.6 assists to compliment Gizzi, while Roudebush has upped his averages to 9.1 ppg and 3.5 rpg.
Brasfield, has come into his own as the team’s top reserve player, providing 6.7 ppg and 2.7 rpg, including a field goal percentage at 45 and a 3-point percentage at 43.
“We weren’t sure if Steele was ready for this level or even Blaine (Nunnally), but Steele and Blaine have come a long way, so they stepped right in and did a great job from the beginning,” Whitaker said. “As a freshman, Blaine would tell you he’s not shocked because he’s that confident of a kid. But just going from eighth-grade to varsity basketball is a huge jump, and he’s done a great job.”
No more so than in the sectional title game last Saturday against Muncie Central. Brasfield hit the go-ahead 3-pointer in dramatic fashion to seal New Palestine’s 54-53 victory at Muncie Central Fieldhouse. Nunnally stepped up as Gizzi (23.4 ppg, 3.4 apg), the school’s all-time career leading scorer, found himself in early foul trouble.
It was a matter of patience and fortitude.
“We’d come in here after losses, and I’d get tired of saying it. We’d lose to a non-conference team, and I’d tell them, ‘no harm done.’ We had to learn from it and move on,” Whitaker said. “We kind of kept reminding them in the gym, they don’t hang banners for teams that are 18-2 and didn’t win conference or sectional championship. Thirty years from now, we can come back and be recognized for a sectional championship, two years in a row.”
Last year, the Dragons won the program’s first-ever regional game by defeating Avon 64-59 at Southport Fieldhouse. On Saturday, they have a chance to do it again at 10 a.m. against a more formidable threat in No. 3 Lawrence North (25-2).
With Iowa recruit, Tony Perkins, a senior guard, and Shamar Avance and D.J. Hughes, the Wildcats coached by the legendary Jack Keefer won’t be an easy hurdle.
But, the Dragons are used to it.
From filling lineup holes to overcoming early growing pains to luckily getting Mike Gizzi, Maximus’ father and one of the founders of the community’s youth basketball program, on the sideline as an assistant coach. Nothing is impossible.
“We talked about taking the next step. Last year, we expected to win sectional. This year, with how it started, with our expectations, we still thought we could win, but let’s just get there,” Whitaker said.
“With Lawrence North’s athleticism, they’ve seen that in the summers with AAU. It’s a tough task. I won’t say otherwise. We just have to go in and play our game. We’re not going to switch much up. We’ve played 26 games one style, we’re not going to go four-corners and hold the basketball now.”
