By Andrew Smith
For The Daily Reporter
NEW PALESTINE — The first half belonged to Julius Gizzi and Anthony Towns.
The second half simply belonged to the New Palestine boys basketball team in a 71-52 victory over Perry Meridian.
Gizzi scored 21 points of his game-high 27 in the first half — 19 in an extended run that put his New Palestine team up 31-15. Towns answered with 17 first-half points, most coming in a second-quarter spurt that twice drew his Falcons within nine. He finished with 23.
But as they each became the focal point of the defensive gameplan in the second half, the Dragons’ depth shone as they pulled away to the victory.
PM was spreading the floor in the opening half and the 6-foot-6 wing Towns was able to get to the rim on the drive. In the second half, the Falcons’ patient offense tried to find driving lanes, but Towns was met in the lane by two Dragons each time he drove. He scored just six second-half points — half of which came on a long 3-pointer.
“We went through a lull there at the end of the first and into the second quarter,” Dragons coach Trent Whitaker said. “We stopped defending and let them get to the rim. At halftime, we talked about that and we kept the basketball in front of us and were in better help-side position.”
Meanwhile, Ben Slagley caught fire in the third quarter, hitting a driving three-point play and following it up with a 3-pointer out of the corner. He finished with 11 points, his first double-figure game since Jan. 5.
Gizzi added six third-quarter points to help the Dragons extend their lead to 15, then Moses Haynes and Evan Darrah hit three consecutive triples — Darrah’s second a four-point play — to push the lead as high as 25 in the fourth. Haynes finished with eight points and Darrah seven.
All 12 Dragons played and 10 scored in the victory.
“I was overall pretty pleased with the second half,” Whitaker said. “We got a lot of guys in tonight.”
With Slagley battling foul trouble early, Alex Guhl came in off the bench and gave the Dragons strong defense on Towns, while also scoring six first-half points to tie his season high.
“He bodied (Towns) up pretty good a couple of times,” Whitaker said of Guhl. “Alex is a bit stronger than him. He’s a very strong player. He anticipates pretty well. He knew Towns is left-handed, he’s going to go left. He shaded him that way, met him after the second dribble and forced him to come back.”
In the opening half, it was the Gizzi and Towns show. Towns was solid early as PM jumped out to a 9-6 lead. But then Gizzi started to take over, hitting a basket, drawing a foul, then scoring again and adding another off a backcourt steal to score eight straight points and put the Dragons on top 14-9.
After two free throws by Towns, Gizzi added a three-point play and a volleyball-line 3-pointer to give NP a 24-13 lead after one. He opened the second with another triple and two free throws, giving him 19 points in the 25-6 run that put NP up 31-15.
Towns led the Falcons’ response as PM cut the deficit to nine on two occasions. A basket by Austin McMahan off a feed from Gizzi answered one, and Guhl spinning a layup off the rim and in at the first-half buzzer put NP up 37-26 at the break.
The Dragons finish their Perry Township weekend Saturday with a matinee at Southport. The varsity game is set to tip at 2:30 p.m.
“Southport brings a little bit different talent-wise — they’re a little bit better, a little bit bigger, a little bit stronger,” Whitaker said. “They’ve got a big sophomore lefty who’s pretty good. We’re going to have to neutralize him a bit, get our hands up on shooters and rebound. That’s one thing we discussed tonight — we gave up too many offensive rebounds.”
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New Palestine 71, Perry Meridian 52
Perry Meridian;13;13;12;14;—;52
New Palestine;24;13;16;18;—;71
Perry Meridian (4-15): Anthony Towns 8 6-7 23, Bryce Mathis 6 3-4 15, B.J. Sibanda 2 0-0 5, Braydon Hohlt 1 0-0 3, JoJo Brewer 1 0-0 2, Ryan Terrell 1 0-0 2, Nique Ingram 1 0-0 2, Colton Phillips 0 0-0 0, Colton Barker 0 0-0 0, Brady Cox 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 9-11 52.
New Palestine (13-4): Julius Gizzi 10 5-7 27, Ben Slagley 4 1-1 11, Moses Haynes 3 0-0 8, Evan Darrah 2 1-1 7, Alex Guhl 3 0-0 6 Rigg Mahurin 2 0-0 4, Brady Armstrong 1 0-0 2, Austin McMahan 1 0-0 2, Landon Seib 1 0-0 2, Evan Study 0 2-2 2, Keagan Harrison 0 0-0 0, Axtyn Hamblen 0 0-0 0. Totals 27 9-11 71.
3-point goals: Perry Meridian 3 (Sibanda, Towns, Hohlt), New Palestine 8 (Gizzi 2, Haynes 2, Slagley 2, Darrah 2)
