With six of 12 members selected and two coaches sharing top mentor honors, Hancock County leads the 2023 Hoosier Heritage Conference Boys Basketball Team.
The all-league team was released by conference athletic directors Monday evening.
It is fitting that New Palestine, Greenfield-Central and Mt. Vernon would garner the most recognition. The three county schools earned the top three spots in the league standings.
New Palestine won the conference with a 7-0 mark, followed by 6-1 Greenfield-Central and 5-2 Mt. Vernon. Overall, both the Dragons and Cougars set school records for single-season wins.
The Dragons are 23-2 heading into Saturday’s Southport Regional final against Brownsburg. The Cougars finished their season 21-2.
Six of the eight teams had winning records and two are still playing. Delta, at 17-9, is still alive in the Class 3A tournament. Mt. Vernon was 16-9 overall. Yorktown was fourth in the conference at 4-3 and 14-9 overall. New Castle finished 14-12 overall.
New Palestine head coach Trent Whitaker and Greenfield-Central head coach Luke Meredith were named HHC Co-Coaches of the Year.
Each county school had two members selected to the squad.
The champion Dragons were represented by senior guard Blaine Nunnally and senior forward Ian Stephens. Greenfield-Central Cougars named to the team were senior guard Dylan Moles and sophomore guard Braylon Mullins. Mt. Vernon had two of its freshmen phenoms on the squad, Luke Ertel and Julien Smith.
Moles, Nunnally, Mullins and Stephens were all among the Top 10 scorers in the league. Moles led at 20 points per game. Nunnally ranked No. 3 at 17.5. Mullins finished his sophomore season with a 16.9 average and Stephens is averaging 15.2 points. Just outside the Top 10, Smith and Ertel were 11th and 13th, respectively, at 13.2 and 12.7 per contest.
With 54 3-pointers, Mullins ranked No. 3 in the conference. Moles was sixth with 46, one more make than Smith.
For the second straight year, the 6-foot-6 Stephens led the conference in rebounding. He is averaging 7.0 per game. Frosh guard Ertel was fourth at 6.3 per contest. Mullins was sixth at 5.2.
Nunnally, Moles and Ertel finished 1-2-3 in assists. Nunnally is averaging 5.2 per game. Moles finished at 5.1 and Ertel dished out 4.4 per contest.
All six county All-HHC players were among the Top 12 in steals. Mullins led the conference with 2.6 per game. Moles was third at 2.0. Stephens ranks eighth at 1.3. Smith, Nunnally and Ertel all averaged 1.2 and finished 10th through 12th.
Stephens tied with Pendleton Heights’ Josiah Gustin for most double-doubles with five. Ertel had two.
Delta also had two players on the team, Jackson Wors and D’Amare Hood. Others named to the team included New Castle’s Gavin Welch, Pendleton Heights’ Gustin, Shelbyville’s Oliver Sandman and Yorktown’s AJ Dunn.
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All-Hoosier Heritage Conference Boys Basketball Team
Name;Grade;School
Jackson Wors;11;Delta
D’Amare Hood;11;Delta
Dylan Moles;12;Greenfield-Central
Braylon Mullins;10;Greenfield-Central
Luke Ertel;9;Mt. Vernon
Julien Smith;9;Mt. Vernon
Gavin Welch;12;New Castle
Ian Stephens;12;New Palestine
Blaine Nunnally;12;New Palestine
Josiah Gustin;11;Pendleton Heights
Oliver Sandman;12;Shelbyville
AJ Dunn;12;Yorktown
2022-23 HHC Co-Coaches of the Year
Trent Whitaker, New Palestine
Luke Meredith, Greenfield-Central
