Staff report
INDIANAPOLIS — New Palestine, ranked No. 9 in the Associated Press Class 4A boys basketball poll and No. 10 overall in the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association Poll, ran its unbeaten streak to 13 games with a 58-41 victory at Roncalli Friday.
The Dragons are 13-0, the best start in program history, and travel to Franklin (6-7) tonight.
New Palestine, up 31-26 at halftime, pulled away in the final two periods. The Dragons outscored the Royals 16-7 in the third quarter and held a comfortable 14-point lead into the final eight minutes.
The Dragons hit nine 3-pointers, nearly one-half of their made field goals (20 total), and had five different players hit from beyond the arc.
Blaine Nunnally, Bryant Nunnally, Julius Gizzi, Moses Haynes each had two. Ian Stephens hit the other.
Blaine Nunnally led all scorers with 15 points. Stephens had 11.
“The third quarter, we were able to hold them to seven points and we were able to push the basketball a little bit more than we did in the first half,” New Palestine coach Trent Whitaker said. “(Roncalli) did a nice job playing zone early. We hit some shots, but they did a nice job of getting back and we didn’t get anything easy.”
Seven of New Palestine’s nine 3s came in the first two quarter, accounting for 21 of the team’s 31 points.
“They were sitting in a 2-3 zone and those were open and we had kids that have confidence right now and are knocking them down,” Whitaker added. “Nice thing is, too, the other kids have confidence in (their teammates) and are making the extra pass and we were getting open looks.”
Trevor Lauck led Roncalli (5-8) with 13 points. Drew Kegerreis had 12.
“The kids did a nice job of executing the scouting report,” Whitaker said of the defensive performance. “They had a couple of kids we could help off of. They did that. They were trying to get in the paint with the big fella, Lauck (6-foot-6) in the middle. We were able to help on him and keep the drivers out of the paint.”
New Palestine 58, Roncalli 41
New Palestine;16;15;16;11;—;58
Roncalli;13;13;7;8;—;41
New Palestine (13-0): Moses Haynes 2 1-2 7, Daniel Tippit 0 0-0 0, Ian Stephens 4 2-3 11, Bryant Nunnally 2 0-0 6, Blaine Nunnally 4 5-7 15, Kendall Hill 2 0-0 4, Brady Armstrong 0 0-0 0, Eian Roudebush 0 0-0 0, Julius Gizzi 3 0-0 8, Ben Slagley 3 1-4 7. Totals: 20 9-16 58.
Roncalli (5-8): Drew Keggereis 5 0-0 12, Luke Keggereis 2 2-2 8, Shaun Byrne 0 0-0 0, Nolan Tunny 2 3-4 7, Trevor Lauck 4 5-8 13, Judd Selke 0 1-2 1, Eli Miller 0 0-0 0, Noah Schmaltz 0 0-0 0, Luke Greene 0 0-0 0, Joe Taylor 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13 11-16 41.
3-point goals: New Palestine 9 (Haynes 2, Br. Nunnally 2, Bl. Nunnally 2, Gizzi 2, Stephens); Roncalli 4 (D. Keggereis 2, L. Keggereis 2).
