INDIANAPOLIS — Greenfield-Central’s Braylon Mullins and Indiana high school basketball fans found out Saturday where the Cougar junior-to-be ranks among the top underclass basketball players in the state.
The answer is, pretty high.
Mullins wrapped up his sophomore season at Greenfield-Central in March as the second-leading scorer on the program’s winningest team in school history. The Cougars won 21 games in the 2022-23 campaign. Mullins, a 6-foot-4 1/2 guard, averaged 16.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, made 54 3s and shot 47 percent (54 or 116) from long distance. He was a 58 percent shooter on all field-goal attempts and added 77 percent from the free-throw line. He also contributed 2.6 steals and 2.3 assists.
All are numbers worthy of the invitation to Saturday’s Futures Games at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
The all-star game was the inaugural event that features a North vs. South format between the top underclass basketball players in the state.
The top girls basketball underclassmen opened a four-game marathon at the home of the Indiana Pacers and Indiana Fever.
The two Futures Games preceded the annual girls and boys Indiana-Kentucky All-Star contests. The series between the rival states began in 1939.
Mullins was the leading scorer in the South’s 100-96 win.
He was one of six double-figure scorers, tallying 16 points on 6-for-10 shooting from the field. He was 2-for-3 on 3s and 2-for-2 at the free-throw line. Mullins pulled down seven rebounds, tied for second most for the South, and had a pair of assists and a steal.
Among the top talents in the state, Mullins played on the team with Jack Benter, a Purdue recruit from Brownstown Central, K.J. Windham and Mark Zackery of state champion Ben Davis, Azavier Robinson from Lawrence North and Dezmon Briscoe — who he also plays with on a summer AAU team — of Crispus Attucks.
The North featured one of the nation’s top-ranked preps in Kokomo’s 6-foot-10 Flory Bidunga, along with Wapahani’s Isaac Andrews, University’s Sabien Cain and Westfield’s Trey Buchanan.
Bidunga led all scorers and rebounders with 21 and 13, respectively.
“It was a fun experience,” Mullins said. “It shows that I can play against the better players and prove that even though I may not be the tallest player on the floor I can still be very productive and show I can do a lot for a program.
“Having those kind of players playing with you was definitely a fun experience.”
Strong perimeter shooting is something those that have watched Mullins are familiar seeing. He had at least one 3-pointer in 20 of 23 games during the high school season. He hit 7 of 9 tries in a win over Hoosier Heritage Conference rival Pendleton Heights and had nine games with at least three 3-pointers.
He hit two in Saturday’s all-star game, but neither were the play he’ll remember most.
He finished off a pass from Zackery with his Futures Game highlight.
“In the first half, Mark threw a behind-the-back pass to me and I dunked it,” Mullins said. “It’s definitely a fun experience dunking at Gainbridge.”
Mullins, like most high school players across the state, is in a busy time of the offseason. There are summer league games and team camps. Mullins has also been invited to the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association Top 100 workout Saturday at Brownsburg High School.
He’ll be there with a lot of the same faces he played with and against in the Futures Game along with some of his Hancock County rivals. Scheduled to join Mullins at the workout are Mt. Vernon rising-sophomores Luke Ertel and Julien Smith and New Palestine rising-junior Ben Slagley. Greenfield-Central head coach Luke Meredith is one of the coaches for the workout.
On Thursday, at Ben Davis, the girls Top 100 workout will include Mt. Vernon’s rising-senior Ellery Minch, and rising-junior Kanyonrae Kenny and Greenfield-Central’s rising-junior Chaney Brown, who will also be playing in the 15th Annual Indiana All-Star Classic Saturday at Anderson University.
