New Palestine’s Blaine Nunnally takes a shot against Richmond during the IHSAA Boys Basketball Class 4A Sectional 9, Friday, March 4, 2022.
Tom Russo | Daily Reporter
GREENFIELD — New Palestine went from the team committing the turnovers to the team causing them.
The difference turned a halftime tie into an 18-point victory and berth into tonight’s Class 4A Sectional 9 championship game at Greenfield-Central’s Dellen Automotive Gymnasium.
The Dragons, who lost Richmond 60-55 in their season-opener on Nov. 24, avenged the loss to the Red Devils with a 76-58 victory in a tournament semi-final game, Friday.
New Palestine (19-6), winners of the sectional tournament in 2019 and 2020, are in the title game for the fourth time in the last five years. For the third time in that span, they will play Mt. Vernon (21-2) for the championship. Both teams have won once in their recent head-to-head title battles. The Dragons won in 2019. The Marauders won in 2018.
In a regular season matchup at Mt. Vernon on Feb. 18, the Marauders won 60-56.
Mt. Vernon, ranked No. 7 in Class 4A, got to the title game with an 82-76 win over No. 10 Anderson in Friday’s second semifinal contest. Tonight’s championship at G-C begins at 7:30 p.m.
Against the Red Devils, the Dragons first-half miscues helped turn an eight-point lead into a halftime time.
An 11-1 first-quarter run gave New Pal an 11-3 advantage. They led 11-8 after the first stop.
When Richmond (10-15) finished off the half with four straight free throws, the game went into the break knotted at 25.
“I think we turned it over 11 times in the first half. The turnovers are things we don’t do,” New Palestine head coach Trent Whitaker said. “We had kids trying to make the perfect pass and thread the needle. We were trying to be perfect. We didn’t have to be perfect. We had to play well, our game, and our kids came out the second half and did that.”
Richmond turned the ball over three times in the first 84 seconds of the third quarter. It committed seven turnovers in the period.
Freshman Ben Slagley got a steal on the first possession. He found Ian Stephens for an easy bucket and the Dragons never trailed again.
The next Red Devil error ended with a Steele Brasfield 3-pointer. Dragon junior guard Blaine Nunnally scored on the next NP possession.
Less than two minutes into the second half the halftime tie had turned into a seven-point Dragon lead.
“We just kind of relaxed,” Stephens said of his team playing better after the break.
They had a little boost from the head coach.
“The first half, they put the pressure on us and that’s not what we wanted to do. It was the exact opposite,” Stephens added. “We took their pressure better and we kind of put it to them in the second half. Coach really got on us at halftime for the turnovers.
“He said this was not close to the best we could do and we responded to the call. Our guys love playing for coach Whitaker and the (coaching staff). We take what they say seriously. When he says something like that we take it to heart.”
After scoring 25 first-half points, the Dragons equaled that total in the third. They took a 50-38 lead into the final quarter.
Stephens and Brasfield combined for 15 of the 25.
The Dragons got a little extra momentum heading into the period when Damon Hockett got a friendly bounce on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer.
It was more of the same in the fourth.
The Dragons scored 26 points. Brasfield finished with 19 points, including three second-half dunks. He was two points behind game-leading scorer Stephens, who had 21.
The win was the Dragons fourth straight and 12th out of the last 14. They are a much different team than the one that lost to the Red Devils in the season opener in Richmond.
“We have started playing together a lot more (since the first game),” Brasfield said. “We began trusting each other with every play. It doesn’t matter who scores the most. We’re all just trying to win together. That was the biggest thing going from about halfway through the season. We’re playing our best basketball now.”
Hockett, who tied a career-high, and Blaine Nunnally each scored nine points. Slagley finished with seven.
Richmond was led by freshman Mason Carpenter with 15. Ryder Cate had 12.
New Palestine 76, Richmond 58
Richmond;8;17;13;20;—;58
New Palestine;11;14;25;26;—;76
Richmond (10-15): Ryder Cate 4 3-3 12, Stephan Douglas 2 1-1 5, Trenton James 1 0-0 2, Chase Newton 3 0-0 9, Mason Carpenter 3 8-9 15, Gunner Kovach 1 0-0 3, Deante Smith 2 0-0 5, Cedric Horton-Hogg 1 2-5 5, Phoenix Michaels 0 0-0 0, Jacob Stephens 0 0-0 0, Jamar Scott 1 0-0 2, Preston Hunter 0 0-0 0. Totals: 18 14-18 58.
New Palestine (19-6): Ian Stephens 7 6-7 21, Steele Brasfield 8 1-1 19, Ben Slagley 1 5-6 7, Bryant Nunnally 1 0-0 3, Blaine Nunnally 4 0-0 9, Damon Hockett 4 0-0 9, Eian Roudebush 0 2-2 2, Logan Strong 2 0-0 4, Kendall Hill 0 0-0 0, Jaret Whitaker 0 0-0 0, Matthew Barada 0 0-0 0, Julius Gizzi 1 0-0 2. Totals: 28 14-16 76.
3-point goals: Richmond 8 (Newton 3, Cate, Carpenter, Kovach, Smith, Horton-Hogg); New Palestine 6 (Brasfield 2, Stephens, Br. Nunnally, Bl. Nunnally, Hockett)
