Last season, an inexperienced North Central team went 23-1 before falling to Lawrence North in the sectional final. The No. 2 Panthers return perhaps the best backcourt in the state and have gotten off to a quick 2-0 start this year.
North Central hosted No. 8 Pike on Nov. 25, beating the Red Devils 94-79 and holding highly recruited junior point guard Marquis Teague to just 14 points. On Saturday, the Panthers continued their strong showing against Lawrence Central, beating the Bears 87-58 and getting 15 points from star sophomore point guard D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera, who returned after missing a month from surgery on his right knee.
Smith-Rivera entered the game with his team down eight midway through the first quarter, then helped North Central to a 13-10 lead that they never relinquished. When Lawrence Central cut the lead to six with just over two minutes left in the half, Smith-Rivera drilled a three, stole the ball and made two free throws to propel the Panthers to an 11-point halftime lead.
Senior Terone Johnson, a Purdue recruit, led the Panther with 19 points, while Aaron Bluitt (14 points) and Dedric Griffin (13 points) had big contributions off the bench.
Cathedral survives at Broad Ripple
4A No. 5 Cathedral topped Warren Central by eight in its season opener, but was saved by the buzzer against Broad Ripple on Saturday.
The Irish led by seven with three-and-a-half minutes left in the game, but Cathedral could not put the Rockets away. A pair of free throws by Broad Ripple junior Armond Patterson cut Cathedral’s lead to 40-39 with 47 seconds remaining, then took a one-point lead when Patterson hit an uncontested lay-up off an assist by Aaron Payne with 17 seconds left.
Cathedral’s Franqlin Gatson scored his only two points of the game when he hit a 10-foot jumper with six seconds left. Payne took the ball up the court for Broad Ripple and was fouled with two seconds left. Teammate Steven Jamison rebounded the missed free throw and threw it back up. The ball grazed off the rim and went right to Payne, who scored on a tip-in. After review, it was ruled that Payne’s put-back came after the buzzer, and the Rockets fell to 1-1.
Armond Patterson had 18 points to lead Broad Ripple, while Kofi Hughes and Brandon Smith each score 10 for Cathedral (2-0).
Noblesville senior leads Millers past Carmel for second straight year
Carmel is 18-7 in its past 25 games, stretching back to last season, with two of those losses coming against Noblesville. The Greyhounds’ most recent loss to the Millers came on Friday, a 68-67 overtime thriller. Like last year, Noblesville overcame a big fourth-quarter deficit to win, sparked by a big fourth quarter from Andrew Lively.
Noblesville entered the quarter down 12. Lively, who had drilled three 3-pointers last year in a comeback victory over Carmel, hit three 3-pointers and scored 12 points in the fourth as the Millers outscored Carmel 23-11. Scott Laskowski, who led the Greyhounds with 24 points on 11-of-13 shooting, hit a three with one second left to force overtime.
In overtime, Noblesville missed the first free throw of a 1-and-1 with nine seconds left. Carmel’s A. J. Hammons rebounded the miss, but his outlet pass was stolen. Daniel Purvlicis sank the front end of a 1-and-1 to win the game. Leland Brown led the Millers (3-0) with 16 points, while Ben Gardner put in 13 points, Robert Kitzinger had 12, and Hammons contributed six points, seven rebounds, and nine blocks for Carmel.
Week’s other top performers
3A No. 3 Danville (2-0) crushed Avon 80-54 behind Travis Carroll’s 22 point-13 rebound performance and Tyler Hall’s 22 points. The Warriors shot 80 percent in the second half.
Jack Isenbarger scored 20 points, seven in the fourth quarter, and Chris Welker has 11 points and 10 rebounds as 4A No. 6 Zionsville (3-0) beat Martinsville 66-55. Demetrius Lawson scored 18 points as the Eagles (4-0) topped Western Boone 75-47.
Armond Bridgeforth scored 18 points, including the game-winning tip-in, as Kokomo (2-0) knocked-off Fishers (3-1) 64-62.
Terre Haute South (1-1) knocked down 17-of-31 from behind the arc in a 80-58 win over Mooresville (0-1).
Jordan Rapp scored 31 points, 18 in the fourth quarter, as Guerin Catholic topped Hamilton Heights 69-58.
Girls basketball wrap-up
4A No. 1 Ben Davis improved to 5-0 after trouncing Lawrence North (4-1) 90-44. Bria Goss recorded her second straight 20-plus point game with a game-high 24 and sophomore center Shawnece Teague posted 18.
4A. No. 10 Carmel (6-2) knocked-off No. 9 Fishers (5-2) 59-57. Annie Rubendunst has 14 points for the Greyhounds, while Shanika Maddox tallied 21 points and 18 rebounds in the loss for Fishers.
Syndi Phelan propelled New Palestine to its second win in a row by scoring half her team’s points in a 44-38 win over conference for Delta.
3A No. 3 Rushville improved to 6-0 behind a 30-points effort from Alexa Bess as the Lions beat Greenfield-Central 68-58.
4A No. 7 Plainfield (5-2) squeaked by Whiteland 34-32 on Friday. Sarah Janssen had a game-high 14 points, including the game-winning lay-up.
Andrea Behling scored 13 points and eight rebounds as Columbus North (4-1) pulled out a 44-40 at Pike (4-2).
