NEW PALESTINE — Even on the short end of the score in Friday’s regular-season finale, New Palestine coach Trent Whitaker liked what he saw from his club in a 63-58 loss to Greenwood.
A tough stretch of games in the latter part of the season has given the sixth-year coach a chance to see what his team is made of.
Against the Woodmen, who finished off a regular-season sweep of Hancock County’s Class 4A schools on Friday, the coach praised his team’s maturity and resilience, something he hopes will continue to grow when the Dragons look for their third straight sectional title next week.
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Click here to purchase photos from this gallery“We got punched in the mouth early and realized we were going to be in a battle,” Whitaker said of his team that trailed by as much as 18 in the first half, and 14 in the fourth quarter, before rallying to tie the game in the final minutes.
“We talked two weeks ago about maturity and composure and it showed tonight. We could have complained about bad calls, a turnover here or there, but our kids didn’t. They kept their head up and kept battling and that’s what you have to do.”
New Palestine sophomore guard Blaine Nunnally scored 10 of his game-high 24 points in the final quarter, as the Dragons opened the final frame with 11 straight points.
Two Nunnally free throws with 2 minutes, 16 seconds remaining tied the contest, 53-53.
Greenwood sophomore Carter Campbell answered with a 3-pointer at the 1:40 mark to give the lead back to the Woodmen, 56-53.
It wasn’t Campbell’s first big shot of the night. He hit two third-quarter 3s that slowed the host’s feverish comeback.
“That’s Greenwood basketball, disciplined well-coached,” Whitaker said. “They take great shots and they are going to make you pay if you leave them open. In the third quarter, we kept pushing that rock uphill quite a bit and every time we got to the top, they would bust a 3. You have to give credit to Greenwood and our kids’ resiliency.”
The Woodmen hit three big treys in the quarter, including another momentum stopper from freshman Jake Mosemann, but the Dragons kept fighting back.
The Dragons cut it to one on a Nunnally drive at the 1:37 mark, but Greenwood was able to close it out by hitting 7 of 8 free throws in the final 51 seconds.
Along with wanting to take their team’s growth in maturity and resilience into next week’s tournament, the Dragons will also want to get off to a better start.
Greenwood, which also beat Greenfield-Central and Mt. Vernon on their home courts, hit 7 of 8 field goal tries in the first quarter and connected on 12 of 16 (75 percent) field-goal attempts in the first half. It also out rebounded the Dragons 10-3 in the first two quarters.
“We definitely need to start fast. If we start fast like we did in the second half at the start of the game, we’ll be dangerous in the sectional,” Nunnally said.
To get back in the game, the Dragons began getting the Woodmen in foul trouble. In the third quarter, New Palestine had 10 of its 18 points come from the free-throw line. Greenwood fouls had put the Dragons in the bonus less than six minutes into the second half and in the double-bonus within the first 70 seconds of the fourth quarter.
“We have to attack the glass and paint,” Whitaker said. “Sometimes we settle too much (for perimeter shots) and we cannot do that. The kids did a nice job getting to the paint. We discussed at halftime, don’t settle.”
Junior Steele Brasfield was the only other Dragon in double figures with 10. Senior C.J. Oliver had nine. Campbell led Greenwood with 15. Brock Kincaid added 14.
“I think the positive of all this would be we kept fighting,” Oliver said. “We didn’t give up when we were down (18), 13 at half. We kept fighting, stuck together and played our ball.”
New Palestine finishes the regular season with a 14-8 mark. Greenwood is 16-5.
“When it comes to a long season you just want to keep getting better throughout the year, and I think we got better tonight,” Whitaker said. “The first half Greenwood did a great job defensively on us and took away a couple things. Overall, our kids battled and we got better, got locked in and we’re going to be fine.”
