NEW PALESTINE — The New Palestine boys basketball team saw a late rally fall short Friday in a 76-71 loss to Hoosier Heritage Conference rival Yorktown.
Blaine Nunnally scored a career-high 31 points — including 23 in the second half — for the Dragons, but it wasn’t enough to overcome five Tigers in double figures.
The Tigers used a late first-quarter run to take a 19-13 lead after eight minutes, led by sophomore A.J. Dunn’s eight first-quarter points. The Tigers pushed the edge to 11 points midway through the second quarter and never looked back. Leading 37-28 at halftime, Yorktown pushed its edge to 13 early in the third on a 3-pointer by Kieran Tewari and a three-point play from J.J. Evans.
Led by Blaine Nunnally and Steele Brasfield, the Dragons rallied, cutting the deficit to 48-44 late in the quarter. Nunnally scored 10 points in the frame and Brasfield eight. But Yorktown answered that run with five consecutive points to push its lead back to nine. NP cut the deficit to six on several occasions in the fourth and four in the final minute, but the Tigers were able to hold the Dragons off with 12-17 free throw shooting. Nunnally tallied 13 of NP’s 21 fourth-quarter points.
In addition to Nunnally’s 31 points, Brasfield scored 17. Matthew Brown tallied eight, Kyle Bastian seven, Ian Stephens four and Luke Burgess and Eli Stephens two each.
NP is now 10-6 on the season and 3-2 in HHC play. Yorktown, which has won seven of eight, is now 12-5 (2-3 HHC). Carter Loveless led the Tigers with 19 points. Dunn added 16 and Evans 14.
The Dragons won the JV game 53-35.
The Dragons are back in action Feb. 6 at home against Perry Meridian for a noon JV tipoff.
— Provided by Andrew Smith
Marauders lead early, win big over Spartans
FORTVILLE — The Mt. Vernon Marauders jumped out to an early 10-point lead and continued to roll in the second half, defeating visiting Connersville 51-35 on Friday night.
The win marked the Marauders’ second straight, and a key momentum-building victory through a back-to-back weekend. Mt. Vernon’s two-game slate ends with a trip to Hoosier Heritage Conference foe Delta tonight.
Mt. Vernon (10-3) had one double-digit scorer against Connersville in Razhaun Wells with 14 points. They also had nine players contribute one or more points in the lopsided victory.
Drew Walker finished the game with eight points, followed by seven from Amhad Jarrard and six from Armon Jarrard. Cooper Galli added four points, and Eli Bridenthal had seven points off the bench.
Avery Williams Jr. and Cole Herman each chipped in two points apiece.
The Marauders established a 28-15 lead by halftime and outscored the Spartans 23-20 in the second half to win their sixth in the past seven games.
Connersville dropped to 10-5 on the season. The Spartans were led by Carter Boldwell with 12 points. Cole Martin had nine points and James Williams had six.
Mt. Vernon currently leads the HHC with a 4-0 record. Delta owns a 3-0 league record in second place.
