The Kokomo Tribune from Kokomo, Indiana • Page 14

B2 SATURDAY, FEB. 1, 1998 SPORTS KOKOMO TRIBUNE NWs 79-58 win Tigers live up to Class 2A No. 1 billing with road show. By BRYAN GASKINS Tribune sportswriter ROCHESTER, Ind. The Associated Press' state polls are strictly for the fans and, in most cases, are not accurate portrayals of who's really the state's best.

After all, media representatives who participate in the voting often have never seen teams they are ranking. Rochester coach Scott Newcomb, however, does not have a problem with how the Class 2A poll is headed up. After watching No. 1 Northwest- ern destroy his Zebras 79-58 here Friday night, Newcomb didn't dispute the Tigers' lofty poll position. "Northwestern is strong at every position," Newcomb said.

"They play very aggressively, and they do a good job getting the ball inside and scor- Parkinson ing inside even though they lack size. They just play hard all the time, on both ends of the court. It's tough to match." Newcomb was particularly impressed with North western's floor leader, sophomore point guard Austin Parkinson, who finished with 19 points, fl Assists, three steals and the opposing coach's utmost respect. The Rochester coach called Parkinson a "dynamite guard" and was awed by the sophomore's court savvy. "There's no doubt Parkinson makes them go," Newcomb said, "He made a couple passes that our guys had no idea where the ball was or where it was heading.

When you have a point guard of that caliber, and his teammates are used to playing with him, you get a lot of easy baskets off the transition game like they did tonight. "We knew he was good," he added. "But he's the best we've seen by far. He does a lot of great things and he makes everybody around him better. To me, that's the sign of a truly great player." Parkinson played a key role in getting the Tigers (13-1) off to a fast start.

They scored the game's first six points, and after Rochester (6-9) closed to within three, 8-5, they took complete control. The Tigers led 2211 after the first quarter, with Parkinson scoring 12 points and adding a pair of assists in the opening eight minutes. The Tigers stretched their advantage to 45-20 by halftime, as the Zebras came no closer than 10 in the second quarter. Parkinson settled into an "assist mode" in the stanza as he set up four of his teammates' scores. Senior forward Brett Comer scored nine in the quarter.

"I thought Austin was just outstanding in the first half," Northwestern coach Jim Yeakel said. "Chris Blazer had a strong second quarter (five points, three rebounds) and Comer and did a great job. on the offensive end." Northwestern was never challenged in the second half. Rochester came no closer than 21, which the Zebras managed to do seven times including the final margin of deficit. Despite the appearance of an easy final 16 minutes, Yeakel was not pleased with his team's performance over that span.

"You either go one of two ways when you have a big halftime lead," he said. "You either play sloppy or you run your opponent off the court. We played sloppy." Comer and senior guard DeWayne Ewing turned in solid efforts in support of Parkinson. Comer turned in his usual yeoman's work, finishing with 19 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, while Ewing looked strong offensively. He led all scorers with 21 points and added six boards.

Yeakel said part of the reason for his team's second-half sloppiness might have been fatigue. It was the Tigers' third straight road game. It doesn't get any easier either, as they are off tonight before playing three games next week. They open the busy five-day stretch Tuesday at Peru, then host Eastbrook Friday in a pivotal Mid-Indiana Conference game. Comets buckle down as they get to crunch time Eastern nails free throws in final minute.

By STU ENGLE Tribune sportswriter WABASH, Ind. When push came to shove, the Eastern Comets stepped forward to win at Northfield 71-67 here Friday. The Comets gave up 18 offensive rebounds and committed 17 turnovers. When the game was on the line in the last seven minutes, they committed no turnovers and gave up zero offensive rebounds. In the final minute, the Comets showed clutch shooting from the free-throw line by hitting 8 of 10.

"This is a nice win on the road," Eastern coach Gary Christlieb said. 'What was important to us was that we never lost the lead from start to finish." The Comets were challenged, though, from start to finish by Northfield's full-court pressure and the constant crashing of the offensive glass by the Norsemen. Roush After a long 3-pointer by Northfield's Nick Cliston to pull the Norsemen within 6463, Eastern's Kevin Winn sank a free throw to give the Comets a two-point lead. When Greg Nicholson was called for a questionable blocking foul, the Norsemen tied the score at 65. Bryck Roush hit two free throws to give the visitors a two-point advantage.

A huge defensive board by Brandon Stover his 13th rebound sealed off Northfield's last effort to tie the game again. When Christlieb called time out with 3:40 remaining, the Comets had a 59-56 lead. He wanted his'team to be patient and check out on the defensive board. The Comets did both. In fact, the Comets grabbed three offensive rebounds in the next minute.

An offensive rebound basket by Nicholson and consecutive offensive boards by Stover and David Northcutt showed Eastern's aggressiveness. Christlieb was pleased with the play of his entire team. He pointed out Stover's rebounding and scoring, Nicholson's 15 second-half points and 6-7 center Northcutt becoming a point guard against the Norsemen press. "They basically took away our guards, so I had to have Northcutt bring the ball up the floor," Christlieb said. Another factor in.

Eastern's win was its foul shooting 18 of 22 for 82 percent. The Comets had four players in double figures: Stover 18, Nicholson 17, Winn 16 and Roush 13. Eastern's 5-7 point guard Winn took over during a one-minute stretch in the second quarter, scoring six points. Roush was the game's assist leader with seven. At crucial times in the second half, he drove the lane to feed -Nicholson and later Northcutt to keep the Comet lead.

Young Panthers take care of Blue Devils in CIC game ELWOOD, Ind. If Friday night's 60-40 loss to Elwood was disheartening for the Tipton Blue Devils, what does the future hold? El wood's underclassmen produced 43 of those 60 points as the Panthers rose to 8-6 overall and 2-2 in the Central Indiana Conference. Tipton dipped to 6-10 overall and 3-3 in the CIC. The Blue Devils will try to bounce back tonight when they host Class 4A's No. 2 Marion, a 75-61 loser at Indianapolis North Central Friday night.

Elwood got 12 points apiece from freshman guard Greg Durm and sophomore forward Bryan Crossman. Eighteen of those 24 points came from long range as Durm shot 4 of 6 and Grossman 2 of 4 from three-point land. For Tipton, senior guard Jason Clouser was the lone player in double figures, with 11 points. He scored nine in the first half as Tipton hung close at 30-25. The third quarter settled the issue between the long-time rivals, who were playing for the 122nd time, Durm buried consecutive three- pointers, then Nathan Hartman fed Brad Cogill and Joel Mendenhall for baskets and the Panthers were on their with a 40-25 cushion.

The Blue Devils called timeout and responded with baskets by Kyle Cline and Eric Woolf, but that 11- point deficit (40-29) was as close as they were to get. The Panthers, who shot 7 of 11 from the field in the third quarter and 3 of 4 from long range, led 48-32 entering the final period. "Elwood has a lot of artillery," Tipton coach Phil Waddell said. "They have a nice team. Crossman and Durm complement each other, (Phil) Miller is a solid player and Cogill is 6-7 and very active inside.

Durm just improves more and more each time I see him. "They came out in that third quarter, (Durm) hit those three-pointers, they got a nice lead and then they handled the ball well and got some good looks." And took advantage of them. Clinton Central leaves no doubt in HHC win over TC Bulldogs growl early with a 48-22 lead at halftime. By STEVE LECHNER Tribune sportswriter MICHIGANTOWN, Ind. After his team lost the Clinton Central Holiday Tourney to the host Bulldogs on a last-second shot in January, Tri- Ccntral coach Dave Driggs has had this nagging feeling, and said so publicly, that the better team lost the game.

This morning, the coach should have one less thing to worry about. Whether the Bulldogs were motivated by Driggs' words, or whether they simply played their best game of the season, there aren't any doubters among those who witnessed the Bulldogs' 82-55 thrashing in a rematch that was all but over two minutes into the second quarter. Midway through the first quarter, the Bulldogs led 8-7. Craig Spray and Jason Welch scored the next nine Bulldog points for a 17-8 lead. Evan Smith scored for Tri-Central with 2:35 left, and what followed had to be the longest and most agonizing nine minutes of the season for the Trojans and their backers.

All the visitors could manage were seven free throws, and when Jeremy Bryant finally netted a field goal at 1:28 of the second quarter, it was 4519, and even that score may not have reflected the domination that was taking place. "We just didn't come lo play, and they did," said Driggs. "Our defensive intensity wasn't there, we took bad shots, and once we started getting into foul trouble, it just got away." Clinton Central was better on this night in every statistical category, especially in rebounding and turnovers, where some sloppy play late after the game was long decided made those numbers a bit deceiving. At one point early in the third quarter, the Trojans had committed 12 turnovers to three for Clinton Central, and the Bulldogs held a 27-12 Dunn edge on the boards. There was nothing deceiving about the numbers for shooting the basketball, however, and they show Clinton Central hitting 55 percent to 34 percent for the visitors.

At the half, Tri- Central was five for 22 from the field. A telling fact for the Trojans in this one was that Bret Bailey, who scored his career point last weekend in only his junior season, was 3 of 10 from the field. Bailey came into the game averaging nearly 20 points a game. Clinton Central was lead by J.T. Sloggett and Welch, with 22 and 20 points.

Driggs wasn't making any excuses, or taking anything away from the hosts' effort, throwing around words like better, faster, harder, smarter, and quicker while talking about the Bulldogs. "We have to shake this off quickly and put it behind us," Driggs said. Tri-Central takes its 6-9 record to Maconaquah tonight. The Trojans drop to 1-3 the Hoosier Heartland Conference. The Bulldogs pushed their record to 6-9 and 1-3 in HHC play.

Big guys battlin' Taylor's Josh Grant puts up a short jumper over the outstretched arms of Western's Ben Isaac Friday night at Taylor High School. The two players battled throughout the game, but Grant, who scored a career-high 27 points and had 10 rebounds, and his teammates prevailed 69-51. Isaac led Western with 13 points and nine rebounds. (KT photo by Kevin Seifert) North Miami run does the damage By MICAH YOUNG Tribune sportswriter DENVER, Ind. North Miami went on a 23-4 run to close out the first half en route to a 64-47 victory over visiting Lewis Cass Friday.

Lewis Cass dropped to 1-14. "We're making progress," Lewis Cass coach Bryan Alexander said. "But it's hard for the kids to see that. We're not getting the wins." The Kings trailed 12-10 at the end of the first quarter, but took the lead at 14-12 with under a minute played in the second quarter. That, however, was the only time Cass would hold the lead.

Back-to-back North Miami 3-pointers gave the Warriors the lead and sparked a run that would see them take a 35-18 lead into halftime. "When we're playing against a team we have a realistic chance of beating, the key is to maintain our intensity," said Alexander. "When your intensity drops, you don't get the win. "After the loss at Clinton Central, I sensed a mental letdown in the kids. It was the worst overall week of practice we've had." North Miami's Andy Brower almost singlehandedly buried the Kings in the second, scoring 13 of the Warriors' 23 points on 6 of 8 shooting.

Brower finished with a game-high 21 points. Cass battled to get back in the game throughout the third quarter on the efforts of juniors Jesse McQuiston and Jason Goltz. McQuiston hit Cass's first two buckets of the period, and Goltz hit the last four. "It would have been easy for Jason to come out and try to do it all by himself, said Alexander. "But he didn't.

He was finding the open man, and shooting the open shot when he had it." Goltz led the Kings with 12 points, after being shutout in the first half. "Jesse's another kid I just can't say enough about," said Alexander. "He just kept working and working; it's what he's done all year." Six Cass turnovers in the quarter stymied any comeback attempt. Bailey Continued from page B1 games this season. It just so happened to be a three-pointer against Delphi that pushed his career-point total to 1,000.

But true to his style, Bailey, who entered the Delphi game 13 points shy of 1,000, wishes the mark would have been reached on a three-point play. "Of course, if I had hit half the free throws I've missed over my career I probably would have reached 1,000 a long time ago," Bailey joked. Now that he's a member of the club just the fourth Tri-Central player to reach that goal he can relax. "1 really didn't think about reaching 1,000 much this season until Shanie (Smith) broke the girls school record," Bailey said. "Coach then asked me what kind of presentation I wanted when I reached 1,000.

It really hit me then how close I was. "As I got closer to it, I just kept telling myself to not worry about it," he added. "But it was a bigger deal than I thought it would be. I had it on my mind a lot, and I had a lot of family members at the game, so I was relieved when I finally did it. But those final 13 points were the toughest 13 I ever scored." Bailey, a true team player who talks of his team rather than his individual accomplishments, does have one prominent individual goal.

He'd like to break Kory Fernung's school scoring record. Fernung, a 1987 TC graduate who's now the athletic director at Taylor High School, finished with 1,333 points, including 668 during his senior season when he led the state with a 31.9 scoring average. "1 started thinking about that my freshman year," Bailey said. "Coach has a sign with all the point scorers, and Fernung's name is obviously on top. So it's been a goal of mine to break his record." Maconaquah escapes with win over Norsemen WABASH, Ind.

Maconaquah ran its record to 13-3 Friday by pulling out a 67-62 victory at Southwood High School. Senior Eddie Dickman had his second highest scoring output of the season, finishing with 25 points as the Braves won a tight contest. Area ROUNDUP The Knights led 19-16 after the first quarter, but the Braves were up one, 33-32, at halftime and again after the third quarter 47-46. Tim Maiben was also in double figures for the winners, scoring 17 points and had four 3-pointers. Peru 88, Madison-Grant 82 Peru made a strong move early in the fourth quarter to earn its fourth Central Indiana Conference victory.

After three quarters of action, the Tigers were down 63-57. Then a strong defense forced Madison-Grant to turn the ball over. A few quick threes put Peru up for good. Jabin Newhouse led the Tigers with 16 points. Junior Nathan Curtis added 14 in the victory.

Madison- Grant's Beau Miller had a game high 39 points. Peru won the battle of the boards at 38-34. Peru (8-7, 4-1 CIC) hosts Northwestern (13-1) Tuesday. Delphi 75, Carroll 68 It was the fourth quarter that sunk the host Carroll Cougars. They were outscored 24-17 in the final period.

Carroll had bounced back from a 38-29 deficit at halftime to lock the game at 51 in the third. Eric Daugherty scored a team high 21 points for Carroll. Josh Green added 17 in the Hoosier Heartland Conference loss. The trio of Chad Springer, Green and Brad Coomer grabbed five rebounds a piece for the Cougars. Carroll HHC) hosts Caston( 10-4) today Boys basketball Christian Heritage 88, Kokomo Christian 75 Girls basketball Kokomo Christian girls 53, Community Bluf fton 38 Host Kokomo Christian split a boys-girls doubleheader Friday evening.

Kari Teachout's KCS girls defeated Community Bluffton Church 5338. The boys team lost a face-paced thriller to Frankfort Christian Heritage 88-75. In the boys game, a flurry of three- pointers by Frankfort turned out to be the difference. Heritage outshot KCS 12-7 from beyond the three-point land. For the Kingsmen, Chad Byers had 24 points, while Brandon Schall added 17.

"Our guys are starting to climb the hill and we are hoping that they will reach their peak at tournament time," Kokomo Christian coach Kraig Kailey said. "We had 15 assists and 11 turnovers which were encouraging signs." In the girls game, a strong second quarter which was propelled by an effective KCS (12-4) press turned a one-point deficit into a 28-16 advantage by halftime. KCS's Jen Raush had a double- double with 18 points and 13 rebounds. "We shot a lot better from the line (60 percent)," Teachout said. "We also had a good game on the boards.".