NEW PALESTINE — Hitting all seven of his fourth-quarter free-throw attempts, New Palestine senior Blaine Nunnally did a little more than just secure the Dragons 73-68 victory over visiting Southport Saturday.
His fourth freebie of the quarter was the 1,000th-point of his high school career, becoming only the 10th New Palestine boys basketball player to hit the coveted milestone.
The victory improved the Dragons record to 11-0, tying the best start in school history. It equals the accomplishments of the 1978-79 team — whose point guard was current New Palestine athletic director Al Cooper — and the 1958-59 club.
“It’s kind of neat the fact that Mr. Cooper is in the building. He’s excited for us and wants to see that record go down,” New Palestine head coach Trent Whitaker said.
“The nice thing is, it’s a lot of different kids stepping up every game. We’ve had a couple of kids that have been scoring leaders other than Blaine (Nunnally, 17.6 points per game) and Ian (Stephens, 16.7 ppg). (Julius) Gizzi has led us before and so has (Ben) Slagley. It’s a great team effort.”
Along with getting win No. 11, the Dragons moved up to No. 11 in the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association poll, released Sunday evening. New Palestine debuted in the poll last week at No. 16.
On Saturday, it wasn’t just Nunnally’s free throws that helped get the win. As a team, the Dragons hit 17 of 18 at the stripe. They connected on their last 17 following Stephens missing an attempt to complete a conventional three-point play.
Nunnally had a team-high 22 points, 13 came in the fourth quarter. Overall, he was 11 of 11 at the line. He has 1,004 points for his career.
“I’ve said it before, he’s a winner and he’s a competitor,” Whitaker said of his senior guard. “He’s going to do everything he can to win. The first half, he wasn’t as aggressive as I thought he could have been. He didn’t force anything and let the game come to him. The second half, winning time, he put the team on his back.”
Blaine’s twin brother, Bryant Nunnally, had a career-high 11 points, including three 3-pointers. Gizzi had 17, also connecting on three 3s. He had 11 in the second half. Stephens finished with 15 points.
New Palestine went on a 13-0 run in the second quarter and led 36-23 at halftime. It took a 53-43 lead into the fourth, but Southport’s A.J. Dancler made sure the Dragons would have to work for their 11th straight victory.
Dancler had a game-high 27 points. He hit seven 3-pointers, including three in the fourth quarter. He converted a four-point play on one of his made fourth-period 3s.
“We weren’t quite able to close them out until the very end, but I was I happy with our kids. They don’t flinch,” Whitaker added. “They’re just a bunch of kids that want to win and do what it takes.”
The Dragons will try for No. 12 Thursday in a Hoosier Heritage Conference game against Pendleton Heights. The game will be played at Pendleton Heights Middle School. The varsity game will follow the 6 p.m. JV contest.
