NEW PALESTINE -- With its strongest offensive output of the season, New Palestine's boys basketball team won its eighth straight game with a 90-61 Hoosier Heritage Conference victory against visiting Yorktown Friday.
The 12th-ranked Dragons improved to 15-2 overall and 4-1 in the conference. Yorktown dropped to 5-11 and 0-5.
By the virtue of good defense leading to easy offense, New Palestine's scored 20 or more points in each quarter on its way to the season-high total. The Dragons had scored in the 80s twice, an 83-59 victory over Castle in a holiday tournament and a season-opening 81-54 win over Eastern Hancock.
Julius Gizzi led all scorers on the night with 31 points.
In the first few minutes of the game, Yorktown was able to keep pace with the Dragon's high-powered offense, leading to coach Trent Whitaker calling a timeout to reset the team's focus. For the rest of the first half, New Palestine's fullcourt press prevented its opponent from getting many shots up and were able to force several turnovers that led directly to layups.
"We came out a little flat to start. We gave up some easy buckets and the intensity wasn't there. That's a varsity team in the state of Indiana. They can all shoot, they can all dribble. We needed to go out and prove we were the better basketball team. The press gave us a sense of urgency. We got a couple of easy buckets and it just kind of snowballed from there," Whitaker said.
The Dragons were effective on the glass as well, especially on the offensive end. The number of extra possessions they produced with their defense and rebounding gave them a commanding 21-point lead, 48-27, heading into the halftime break.
New Palestine's start to the second half was much of the same as their ending to the first, as they continued to snag rebounds and get transition looks. Austin McMahan got the crowd going with a fastbreak slam dunk, and not too long after Moses Haynes hit Keagan Harrison with a no-look pass to build on the momentum they already had, Ben Slagley also got in on the flashy-passing and picked up a couple of quick fourth-quarter assists.
"We are at our best when we share the ball. There are times when we over dribble the ball, but you know Moses Haynes wants to get other kids involved. That's what he thrives off of, seeing other people succeed. We've seen Austin dunk in practice nonstop. It was just one of those, 'When are you going to get your first one?' From there, it just kind of excited the kids," Whitaker said.
The Dragons have now played four games in just seven days to close out a tough January schedule, with another matchup against Indian Creek Saturday night. Despite the volume of games, Whitaker sees it as an opportunity for the team to prepare for the remainder of the season.
"It seems like we're in our NBA schedule right now. This week, we prepared it as a sectional. You play an eight o'clock game on Wednesday, you turn around and have to play on Friday. We took care of things tonight, but that's kind of been our process this week. We took care of two of them, and hopefully in another five weeks, we're actually doing it," Whitaker said.
Yorktown (5-11, 0-5): Zahden Zowd 2 0-0 6, Mason Trammell 5 2-2 14, Kaden Crumes 2 2-2 6, Nate Tyler 0 0-0 0, Austin Kates 0 0-0 0, Ephraim Daugherty 1 2-2 4, Evan Manor 0 2-2 2, Quentyn Richman 0 0-0 0, Zach Davis 0 0-0 0, Ryan Burkholder 5 3-4 13, Connor Rowray 3 0-0 9, Jabin Barnes 3 1-1 7. Totals: 21 12-13 61.
New Palestine (15-2, 4-1): Eli Parrett 1 0-0 2, Moses Haynes 7 0-0 15, Keagan Harrison 2 0-0 4, Julius Gizzi 14 1-2 31, Austin McMahan 4 0-0 8, Evan Darrah 3 0-0 7, Will Davison 3 0-0 8, Liam Atkinson 0 0-0 0, Evan Study 0 0-0 0, Axtyn Hamblen 1 0-0 2, Ben Slagley 5 1-1 11, Sam Hirschy 1 0-0 2. Totals: 41 2-3 90.
3-point Goals: New Palestine 6 (Gizzi 2, Davison 2, Haynes, Darrah); Yorktown 7 (Rowray 3, Zowd 2, Trammell 2)