NOBLESVILLE — It wasn’t the typical way New Palestine has won its games this season, and it wasn’t the expected name playing hero.
But Tuesday night’s win over Class 3A No. 5 Guerin Catholic proved, for good, that the Dragons, ranked No. 18 in the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association poll (all classifications) are much more than a one-man show.
Off of a Julius Gizzi miss in the closing seconds, Ben Slagley grabbed the offensive rebound and put it back as time expired to give New Palestine (15-4) a 63-61 win over the host Eagles (15-7).
The Eagles’ Robert Sorensen missed a pair of go-ahead free throws with 30 seconds remaining to set up the Dragons win.
“We had a set called if Sorensen made both free throws or missed one. Once he missed both it was a matter of taking all the time off the clock, and we were able to do that. We wanted to make sure we got the last shot,” New Palestine head coach Trent Whitaker said. “We were able to get Julius going off of a ball screen, but give credit to Guerin Catholic, they did a great job making his life difficult all night. He battled and got a shot up on the rim and Johnny-on-the-spot was there, Ben, to take care of things.”
Slagley’s game-winning basket was his third bucket of the fourth quarter. He scored six of the team’s seven points in the quarter while the Dragons leading scorer, Gizzi, was held scoreless.
Gizzi, who came into the night as the state’s second-leading scorer, averaging 30.6 points per game, was held to a season-low 17 points.
Junior classmates Moses Haynes and Slagley were there to help take pressure off of Gizzi all night long.
Haynes knocked down five 3-pointers, scored 17 points and dished out, unofficially, nine assists. Slagley scored 16 points.
“That’s the thing with these kids. They know they can score. Sometimes they don’t have to, but it’s nice for them to do that. It’s nice for Julius to see that because when a kid is averaging 30 points a game he might feel like he needs to do it all. That’s a tough spot for a junior to be in, and he has to deal with that every night,” Whitaker said. “Moses shot the ball extremely well and Ben did a really nice job cleaning up the glass.”
In the opening quarter, Haynes did it all for the Dragons.
He scored five points, assisted on four other Dragons baskets and had a steal. His fourth assist of the quarter — a dime to Austin McMahan — put the Dragons ahead 17-14, and after four Gizzi points, a Haynes steal and layup at the buzzer capped off a fast-paced first eight minutes.
With the Dragons pushing the tempo, there were seven lead changes in the opening quarter. On the night there were 21 total lead changes.
“That’s how we want to play. That’s not their pace or style, and we were able to take advantage of that down the stretch,” Whitaker said. “We probably gave up too many points in that first half, but when you play at a fast pace you’re going to give up points.”
A 10-1 Guerin Catholic run to open the second, sparked by a pair of Robert Sorensen 3s put the Eagles back ahead 26-24. The teams traded baskets to enter the break tied at 33.
Three Haynes 3-pointers in the third quarter fueled a 23-point quarter for the Dragons and allowed them to take their biggest lead of the game.
In a 46-45 game, New Palestine ended the quarter on a 10-2 run. Two more Haynes assists and a Gizzi 3-point play pushed the Dragons lead to 56-47 entering the fourth quarter.
The reigning 3A state runner-ups wouldn’t go away.
Three straight Guerin Catholic 3-pointers by Sorensen, Jake Grissom and Bryson Cardinal put the Eagles ahead 59-58 with 3:30 remaining.
An Austin McMahan free throw tied things back up, and after a Cardinal layup, Slagley tied things again with just under a minute to play before his eventual game-winning basket.
The Dragons next game is Friday at 7:30 p.m. at home against Hoosier Heritage Conference foe Shelbyville.
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New Palestine 63, Guerin Catholic 61
New Palestine;23;10;23;7;—;63
Guerin Catholic;16;17;14;14;—;61
New Palestine (15-4): Julius Gizzi 5 6-7 17, Ben Slagley 8 0-1 16, Moses Haynes 6 0-0 17, Brady Armstrong 1 0-0 2, Keagan Harrison 1 0-0 2, Austin McMahan 3 1-2 7, Evan Darrah 0 0-0 0, Alex Guhl 1 0-0 2. Totals: 25 7-10 63.
Guerin Catholic (15-7): Robert Sorensen 5 0-2 15, Bryson Cardinal 5 1-4 13, Andy Caron 5 0-0 10, Malcolm Houze 0 0-0 0, Ben Grissom 0 0-0 0, J. Grissom 2 0-0 5, Ryne Paris 1 0-0 2, Jack Cherry 5 4-4 16 Totals: 23 5-10 61.
3-point goals: New Palestine 6 (Haynes 5, Gizzi); Guerin Catholic 10 (Sorensen 5, Cardinal 2, Cherry 2, J. Grissom).
