New Palestine sophomore Julius Gizzi, shown here from an earlier game, had a career-high 19 points in helping lead the Dragons to their 10th straight win.
The Daily Reporter File Photo
By Andrew Smith
For The Daily Reporter
MUNCIE – The New Palestine boys basketball team hasn’t struggled to score much this season, but it did for the opening minutes of Friday’s game at Delta.
The Dragons had four turnovers and no points in the first half of the opening quarter as they dealt with Delta’s 2-3 zone.
But a small change —moving Blaine Nunnally into the high post, opened up the offense for the Dragons. He dished out to Julius Gizzi for a 3-pointer to get the Dragons going and they were off and running from there, eventually pulling away to a 62-48 road victory.
NP is now 10-0 on the season and alone atop the Hoosier Heritage Conference with a 3-0 league mark. Delta moves to 8-4 and 1-2.
The Dragons expected to face a zone from Delta, but the adjustment they made came from something they’d done earlier in the season against another zone team — Eastern Hancock.
“We figured that out in the third quarter against Eastern Hancock,” Dragons coach Trent Whitaker said. “(Assistant coach Jordan) Myers said, ‘hey, Blaine, middle of the zone.’ He’s able to get the ball in the post, get a few nice kick-outs and dump-downs to our big guys and he really got rolling.”
From there, he kicked the ball out to Gizzi, who knocked down three 3-pointers and scored 13 first-half points, including back-to-back triples to key an 8-0 run that put NP up 15-9, a lead the Dragons would never surrender. After that, Nunnally drew the defense to him and fed Ben Slagley underneath. Slagley had six first-half points, leading the Dragons to a 23-20 halftime lead.
While NP never gave up the lead — in fact, Delta never had the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead from the midpoint of the second quarter on — the two teams were in a tussle. Each scored on its last five first-half possessions and their first four second-half possessions, as the Dragons’ lead oscillated between two and six for much of the second and third quarters before NP pushed it to seven headed to the fourth. Nunnally hit an early triple, Eian Roudebush scored five quick points and Slagley six to push the lead to 41-34 going into the final frame.
Gizzi finished the game with 19 points, a career-high. He hit his fourth 3-pointer of the game on the first possession of the fourth quarter to give NP a double-digit lead.
“Julius can score,” Whitaker said. We’ve got eight kids we’re playing and it was his night (Friday). It’ll be someone else’s tomorrow. He did exactly what we needed him to do. He got us started. He hit a couple of big shots in the second quarter, and even late, he got the ball in the post and got to the foul line. For a sophomore to step in and have the confidence he does is good. That’s what he does. He’s a scorer.”
After a steal by Slagley led to an Ian Stephens dunk, the lead was quickly 46-34 seconds into the fourth. Gizzi and Stephens each hit free throws, eventually forcing Delta out of its zone. Nunnally scored six points in the final frame and Stephens seven — including three dunks — as the Dragons kept the lead above nine the rest of the way.
Slagley, another sophomore, also scored 14 points, bouncing back from a slow start to score six first-half points and add six more in the third, also playing solid interior defense and tallying his third straight double-double with a big night on the glass.
“He’s down there, keeping basketballs alive, getting tips. Even if he doesn’t get the rebound, he gets a hand on it,” Whitaker said of Slagley. “He’s battling down there. He started out a little slow. We took him out, talked to him a little bit and he came out ready to play.”
Stephens and Blaine Nunnally each finished with 11 points after combining for two — a pair of Nunnally free throws — in the first half.
Bryant Nunnally played strong defense on Delta’s leading scorer Jayden Furney, helping lock him down — he scored two fourth-quarter points and finished with 15 — and in turn, locking down the Eagles.
“Furney got going to start the second half,” Whitaker said. “He hit a 3, got fouled. I challenged Bryant a bit. He’s a kid who takes a lot of pride in his defense. We had a little conversation and said ‘this is exactly what you want. You want a good offensive player to defend. You’ve got your one job. Let’s do it.’ He stepped up toward the end and did it.”
In addition to Furney’s 15, D’Amare Hood scored 13 for Delta. Jackson Wors scored nine — four below his average — thanks to strong defense from Slagley and Stephens.
The Dragons’ victory snaps a string of six consecutive wins by the home team in the series and was their first at Delta since 2014.
The Dragons are back in action at 3:30 p.m. today against Southport.
New Palestine 62, Delta 48
New Palestine;7;16;18;21;—;62
Delta;5;15;14;14;—;48
New Palestine (10-0, 3-0): Julius Gizzi 7 1-2 19, Ben Slagley 6 2-2 14, Ian Stephens 5 1-2 11, Blaine Nunnally 2 6-8 11, Eian Roudebush 2 0-0 5, Bryant Nunnallly 1 0-0 2, Moses Haynes 0 0-0 0, Kendall Hill 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 10-14 62.
Delta (8-4, 0-2): Jayden Furney 6 1-3 15, D’Amare Hood 5 1-2 13, Jackson Wors 4 1-2 9, Kaiden Bond 1 3-4 5, Blake Jones 2 0-0 4, Jonny Manor 1 0-0 2, Caleb Jones 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 6-10 48.
3-point goals: New Palestine 6 (Gizzi 4, Roudebush, Bl.Nunnally), Delta 4 (Furney 2, Hood 2)
