Game Report: New Palestine 66 Guerin Catholic 60

<p>New Palestine comes in at 13-4 and on a six-game winning streak as the Dragons had not lost since their overtime defeat to Southport on January 8th. They are led by [player_tooltip player_id="958409" first="Steele" last="Brasfield"] who came in averaging over 20 points per game. Guerin Catholic comes in at 10-8, and they have lost back-to-back games to 4A opponents, Noblesville and North Central. Will Grissom comes in leading the way for the Golden Eagles at over 19 points per game.</p> <p>In the first quarter, both teams got off to a pretty slow start, and after four minutes of action, it was just 4-1 Guerin Catholic. However, in the last five minutes of action, both teams got hot very quickly. [player_tooltip player_id="1162765" first="Kamea" last="Chandler"] came into the game, and he scored 7 points in 9 seconds to get the Golden Eagles going. To end the quarter, Jack Cherry hit a corner three to extend the lead to 19-13 at the end of the quarter. Chandler led the way with 9 points for Guerin Catholic, and the New Palestine big man, Ben Slagley, led the way for 7 points.</p> <p>In the second quarter, we saw more of the same from both teams. Both teams came out cold, and then, halfway through the quarter, they both got hot once again. Will Grissom, the Golden Eagles leading scorer, finally got on the board with 7 second quarter points, but he and Reed Sorenson picked up their second fouls early on and had to sit for the rest of the game. This opened the door for Chandler to play the whole quarter and set up his teammates. He would end the half with 12 points and 3 assists. For New Palestine, [player_tooltip player_id="958409" first="Steele" last="Brasfield"] got going after a slow first quarter, and he would led the Dragons with 8 points at the break. Guerin Catholic led 37-28 thanks to their 5-10 effort from the three-point line.</p> <p>To start the second half, New Palestine came out firing, and they really came out putting pressure on the ball to try and speed up the Golden Eagles. They fought and forced __ turnovers in the quarter, but Guerin seemed to have an answer for every single New Palestine bucket. However, Guerin Catholic went ice cold in the final four minutes of the quarter, and New Palestine was able to end the quarter on an 8-2 run to cut the lead to 48-44. A couple of and-one buckets by Blake Slagley and [player_tooltip player_id="1295323" first="Ian" last="Stephens"] sparked the run for the Dragons. Stephens led the Dragons with 12 points and 9 rebounds at the end of three. Brasfield and Slagley also added 10. For Guerin Catholic, Aden Cannon led they with 15 points in the lane, and [player_tooltip player_id="1162765" first="Kamea" last="Chandler"] had 12 after a scoreless third quarter.</p> <p>In the fourth quarter, both teams kept trading buckets and stops for the first three minutes of the quarter, but [player_tooltip player_id="1160679" first="Blaine" last="Nunnally"] hit Slagley inside for a layup and Brasfield on the outside for a three, and the Dragons cut the lead to 2 with just 5 minutes remaining. Then, [player_tooltip player_id="1295323" first="Ian" last="Stephens"] crashed the glass for an offensive rebound and putback to give himself a double-double and tie the game at 56 in one possession with 3 minutes remaining. New Palestine continued their scoring run with a 18-4, and they pulled out to a 66-58 lead with just 20 seconds remaining. The Dragons would hold on to a 66-60 victory. </p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="958409" first="Steele" last="Brasfield"] led the way for the Dragons with 21 points despite a poor shooting performance. [player_tooltip player_id="1295323" first="Ian" last="Stephens"] added 17 points and 12 rebounds after dominating the offensive glass. Blake Slagley also took over the paint with 14 points and 8 boards. For Guerin Catholic, [player_tooltip player_id="1162765" first="Kamea" last="Chandler"] led the way with 18 points and Aden Cannon added 16. </p> <p>On Sunday, we will be back with some player evaluations from this game. For now, [player_tooltip player_id="1162765" first="Kamea" last="Chandler"] will be a player to watch next year for sure. Also, [player_tooltip player_id="958409" first="Steele" last="Brasfield"] should be very good at Indiana Tech for the next four years. Guerin Catholic has played an extremely tough schedule this year, and their 10-9 record is definitely not representative of how good this team really is. They will give Chatard a run for their money in Sectional 27. New Palestine is not 14-4 on the year, and they will enter an extremely tough Sectional 10 with Mt. Vernon (Fortville) and Anderson. They will look to win their third Sectional title in four years after a tough first round exit last year.</p>