Greenfield-Central’s Braylon Mullins throws down a left-handed windmill dunk against Tri-Central.
Mike Brown | For The Daily Reporter
MORRISTOWN — A 10 a.m. tipoff and first game in eight days helped lead to a slow start for the undefeated state-ranked Greenfield-Central boys basketball team.
Once the sleep got out of their eyes the shots started to fall.
Against Class 1A Tri-Central, the Cougars — ranked No. 10 in the Class 4A Associated Press poll and No. 12 in the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association rankings — led by just one point after the first quarter, 13-12.
They outscored the Trojans 29-11 in the second quarter on the way to a convincing 73-43 victory Thursday at Morristown High School in the Hoosier Shooting Academy Holiday Classic.
Greenfield-Central improved to 9-0 with the win, and play Bishop Chatard (3-1) at 5 p.m. today. Tri-Central dropped to 6-3.
The Cougars helped force, unofficially, 16 first-half turnovers, 10 coming in the second period.
With the score 15-14, the Cougars went on a 11-2 run to get a double-digit lead.
“That’s the challenge when you play in a holiday tournament like this and you play the first game at 10 a.m.,” Greenfield-Central head coach Luke Meredith said. “I know we started 0-for-8 from 3 … We kind of hang our hat on sticking shots and we weren’t early and we let it effect how hard we played. But, I’m pleased with our guys, we came in and did what we were supposed to do. (We) came in here, played hard, and found a way to win.
“Give Tri-Central credit, they have pretty good guards, a 6-5 big. They’re 6-2 and wanted to win, too. (We’re) trying to get our guys to understand you have to bring it all the time.”
A Jacob Hinton bucket at the 1:08 mark of the second quarter gave G-C, at the time, the biggest lead of the first half, 34-18. Tri-Central scored the next five points to cut it to 34-23 with only 37 seconds remaining, but the Cougars finished strong with eight points in the final 30 seconds to take a 42-23 halftime lead.
Dallas Freeman hit a 3-pointer, Braylon Mullins got a dunk after a turnover and another Trojan miscue led to a Boston Willard trey right before the halftime buzzer.
“We had (Tri-Central) down for 13 turnovers and us for two and we thought that was the stat of the game for the first half,” Meredith said. “You put up eight points in the last 30 seconds, kind of put a bow on it.”
Freeman’s third trey of the game gave G-C its first 20-point lead. He scored with six minutes remaining in the third period for a 47-26 advantage. Mullins followed shortly with a trey and then, after a steal, had a windmill dunk to put an exclamation point on a 54-30 third-quarter score.
Mullins, the 6-5 junior with multiple NCAA Division I offers, finished with a game-high 23 points. He and the other Cougar starters set out the entire fourth quarter.
Mullins finished 9 of 17 from the field with multiple dunks to go with the one 3-pointer. Senior Braden Robertson had 15 points. Freeman had nine.
Ten Cougars played and all got in the scoring column. After missing their first eight attempts, the Cougars finished with eight 3-pointers from six different players.
Stetson Newcom and Jay Jankoviak led Tri-Central with 1o points apiece.
Greenfield-Central 73, Tri-Central 43
Tri-Central;12;11;9;11;—;43
Greenfield-Central;13;29;18;13;—;73
Tri-Central (6-3): Layton Henderson 2 0-2 4, Drake Ramseyer 0 0-0 0, Trenton Patz 1 2-2 4, Stetson Newcom 5 0-0 10, Landon Grant 3 0-0 9, Logan Younce 2 1-1 5, Jay Jankoviak 5 0-1 10, Aren Hoback 0 0-0 0, Izaiah Fowler 0 1-2 1, Tanner England 0 0-0 0, Logan Sargent 0 0-0 0. Totals: 18 4-7 42.
Greenfield-Central (9-0): Dallas Freeman 3 0-0 9, Jacob Hinton 2 2-4 6, Braden Robertson 7 1-2 15, Boston Willard 2 0-0 5, Braylon Mullins 9 4-5 23, Cooper Robertson 1 0-0 2, Brady Johnson 1 0-0 3, Tucker Brown 1 0-0 3, Blake Evans 2 0-0 4, Clay Mullins 1 0-0 3. Totals: 29 7-11 73.
3-point goals: Tri-Central 3 (Grant 3), Greenfield-Central 8 (Freeman 3, Willard, B. Mullins, Johnson, Brown, C. Mullins)
