INDIANAPOLIS – New Palestine gave defending state champion Ben Davis all it could handle, but the Giants were able to go on a big fourth-quarter run and then hang on to defeat the Dragons 70-59 in the Regional 6 championship game Saturday at Southport Fieldhouse.
Ben Davis went on an 11-1 run in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter to take a 12-point lead, 55-43.
New Palestine battled back and when junior Julius Gizzi scored on a conventional three-point play with 3:08 left in the game, the Dragons had cut it back down to four, 60-56.
The Dragons were forced to foul late in the game and the Giants were able to pull away in the final minute.
“Everybody played their heart out,” Gizzi said. “[Ben Davis] is an amazing team and we were down two going into the fourth quarter. Our hopes were definitely high. We were playing well and playing together, things just didn’t work out.”
The game had eight lead changes and four ties, all but one of the ties happened in the first half.
Gizzi hit a pair of free throws to tie the game, 42-42 with 1:11 remaining in the third quarter. The Giants, on a bucket from Ramone Enis, took a 44-42 advantage into the fourth period.
Enis added the first bucket 20 seconds into the fourth quarter. Mark White scored to give BD a 48-42 lead, the biggest advantage for either team since the 2-minute mark of the second quarter. The Giants run continued on a steal and dunk from ultra-athletic guard Mark Zackery.
Gizzi hit a free throw, but the Giants stormed back with a conventional three-point play from sub Justin Parks and a Zackary drive and layup against the Dragons’ pressure defense. It gave the Giants a 55-43 lead with six minutes left in the game.
The Dragons were able to knock the 12-point lead down to four.
A Moses Haynes bucket stopped the Ben Davis run and cut the margin to 10, 55-45. He added a 3-pointer later to cut it to 56-48. When Gizzi scored after a blocked shot from Austin McMahan, the Dragons were down just 56-50 with 4:14 remaining.
Following two Ben Davis free throws, Haynes hit another triple. Two more Giant successful charity stripe tosses were followed by Gizzi’s three-point play.
“Once they were able to get a lead they were able to stretch us out a little bit and we had to scramble,” New Palestine head coach Trent Whitaker said. “Once you have to scramble against athletes like that it’s tough.”
Gizzi had a game-high 31 points, including 14 of 17 at the free-throw line. He finished the season with a school record 810 points. He went over the 1,000-point milestone in last Saturday’s sectional championship game and will have 1,049 heading into his senior year. He is currently No. 7 on the program’s all-time scoring list. His older brother, Maximus Gizzi, is the all-time leader with 1,612.
Haynes hit 5 of 7 from 3-point range and finished with 17 points. He set single-season school records this year in assists (182) and steals (51).
“We knew they were going to be tough and we knew we were going to have to handle the ball well,” Haynes said. “I think we did for the most part. We had a couple of bad moments, but I thought we weathered the storms well. In the fourth quarter, we could have easily lost by 20. We were down 12 and we got it down to a four-point game. I was proud with the way we fought.”
Zackery, a junior Division I football recruit, led the Giants with 20 points. White scored 16 and Enis had 11.
In the first half, the Dragons, after a 3-pointer from Ben Davis sub Justin Harrington, trailed 26-19 with 3:12 left.
After a possession with three offensive rebounds, Gizzi hit a 3-pointer to cut it to 26-22 with 2:21 to go. Ben Davis bumped it back up to six on a bucket from Harrington, but the Dragons followed with the next seven points.
Gizzi hit a fade-away jumper. Haynes hit a 3-pointer, his third of the half on as many attempts, and after a rebound, Gizzi went the distance to give the Dragons a 29-28 lead with 35 seconds left until halftime.
With nine seconds left until the break, Harrington, who scored eight first-half points, hit his second triple of the quarter. Zackery stole the inbound pass and scored, to give BD a 33-29 lead, but was issued a technical foul for hanging on the rim.
Gizzi hit the two technical free throws to close out the half, cutting the Giants lead to 33-31. Gizzi had 16 first-half points. He had eight of the team’s 11 third-quarter points.
McMahan, given the task of guarding Ben Davis D-I recruit K.J. Windham (Northwestern), held the Giants’ star to just five points, and just one first-half shot attempt. Windham ended with only five points.
“He made him a non-factor,” Haynes said of his teammate’s defense on Windham. “I was proud of the way he defended. He was in the locker room and I could tell he was nervous. He came out and did his job.”
McMahan also had eight rebounds.
The Dragons finished the year 22-6, the second highest win total in school history. The sectional title last week was their second straight and fourth in the last six years. The 2022-23 recorded the program’s most wins, finishing 23-3. Six players graduated off of last year’s club.
This year’s team will graduate just one senior, starter Brady Armstrong, a key contributor during the Dragons’ three-game run to a sectional championship.
“They believe in their abilities and believe in each other,” Whitaker said of his group. “We do what we do. We compete. We battle and we win a lot of basketball games doing that.
“It’s one of the better years we’ve had. We’ve put together and incredible two-, three-year stretch. Our kids just expect to win. They didn’t panic. They don’t get rattled. They just continue to put their head down and work.”
“It was definitely amazing what we did after graduating six seniors,” Gizzi added. “I don’t think anybody would have thought we’d comeback and kind of repeat the same pattern. We’re only losing Brady, so we’re hoping to repeat this process next year and win the regional.”
Ben Davis is 21-5 and will play Center Grove in the first semifinal game of the Class 4A South Semi-State at New Castle Fieldhouse Saturday. Jeffersonville and Lawrence North meet in Game 2, with the winners facing off in a battle to reach the state championship game later Saturday night.
