Greenfield-Central’s Braylon Mullins looks to drive against Eastern Hancock Saturday. For his performance against the Royals, 44 points and reaching 1,000 points for his career, and in Friday’s win over New Castle, the IBCA named the junior guard District 2 Player of the Week.
Mike Brown | For The Daily Reporter
Staff report
For his performances in victories over New Castle and Eastern Hancock, Greenfield-Central junior boys basketball player Braylon Mullins was named one of the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association/Franciscan Health Players of the Week for games played Jan. 8-13.
The IBCA selects a boys and girls weekly winner from each of its three districts.
Mullins has been named the District 2 Player of the Week for the second time this season. He was previously selected for games played between Dec. 4-9, a stretch where the Cougars won three road games against Decatur Central, New Palestine and Southport. New Palestine junior Julius Gizzi also earned the award earlier this season (Dec. 25-30) for his performance in four games played in the Lawrenceburg Ray Furney Holiday Classic, which included wins over Jennings County, Bethesda Christian and Pike Central.
This past weekend, in a 70-50 Hoosier Heritage Conference victory over New Castle and 64-31 triumph over Hancock County rival Eastern Hancock, Mullins put together a pair of memorable performances.
Against the Trojans, Mullins had 26 points, eight rebounds, four assists and five steals.
On Saturday, the 6-5 junior guard scored a career-high 44 points and reached the 1,000-point mark for his career. He hit 16 of 26 shots, including 8 of 15 from 3-point range. In addition, he grabbed seven rebounds, dished out two assists and had two steals.
McCutcheon freshman Lillie Graves was the girls winner for District 2. She had a pair of 30-point scoring games. She had 34 in a 56-49 win over Carroll (Flora) on Tuesday and 30 in a 70-23 victory Saturday over Muncie Central.
In District 1, Culver Community senior Jack Rodgers, in his team’s only game of the week, had 39 points in a 78-56 win over Community Baptist. He had a double-double with the addition of 12 rebounds and also had seven assists.
On the girls side of District 1, Argos senior Samantha Redinger was the selection.
Redinger, another two-time recipient, is the state’s leading scorer at 32.0 points per game. She had 55 points in a 79-54 win over Oregon-Davis. The 5-7 wing was 18 of 34 from the field, including 1o of 20 from 3-point range. She had nine rebounds and six steals.
In District 3, Springs Valley junior Deion Edwards broke a school record previously held by Hall of Famer Larry Bird.
In a 101-98 overtime win Saturday over Austin, he was 19 of 31 from the field, 2 of 5 from 3-point range and added 16 of 18 at the charity stripe for 56 points, breaking the old mark of 55 held by Bird.
Edwards had 14 rebounds, including 11 on the offensive glass, in the victory.
On Friday, the team won another overtime game, 60-58 against West Washington. Edwards, a 6-4 forward, had 13 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
The District 3 girls winner was South Knox junior Ella Bobe.
In a week where her Class 2A second-ranked team went 3-0, Bobe, a 5-8 guard, had strong performances in wins over Wood Memorial (77-47), North Daviess (77-17) and Vincennes Lincoln (75-37).
She averaged 24.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 2.3 steals in the wins and shot 69 percent (31 of 45) from the field.
This is the 16th season for the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association Player of the Week program, and the fourth season it is being presented by Franciscan Health, a corporate sponsor of the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association.
Player of the Week winners are chosen each week from each of the IHSAA’s three districts. Girls winners will be chosen through the Monday following the IHSAA Girls State Finals. Boys winners will be chosen through the Monday following the IHSAA Boys State Finals.
