Bob Wettig Tournament – Day One Live Blog

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Now that we have celebrated Christmas and the New Year it is time for our second round of Holiday Tournaments. Starting today and running through the weekend there will be many tournaments across the state of Indiana. Prep Hoops Indiana will provide coverage on Thursday from the Bob Wettig Tournament and then head to Fishers on Friday. The Wettig is always one of my favorite tournaments to cover each year, partially because it takes place just about 10 minutes from my house, but also because it features 16 teams from across the state coming to the Tiernan Center which is one of the best high school basketball venues in the country. I'll have boots on the ground today for the first game and a half or so before returning for the quarterfinal matchups in the afternoon and evening.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Bishop Luers 67 Warsaw 53</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>For it being a 9:00 a.m. tip-off this one had some fireworks right away. Warsaw had the three ball falling with [player_tooltip player_id='2050029' first='Luke' last='Bricker'] making a couple from the trail spot plus [player_tooltip player_id='2391213' first='Brandt' last='Martin'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1296995' first='Carson' last='Gould'] getting loose for triple of their own. Defensively, the Tigers 2-3 Zone neutralized some of Bishop Luers' dribble penetration, but when they were able to get in transition they still had a lot of success. [player_tooltip player_id='1297012' first='Danny' last='Kelly'] carried Lurs early on with 9 first quarter points as the game was tied 18-18.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The second quarter was all about the Truesdale twins. They were everywhere on both ends of the floor finishing with seven points a piece and several impactful defensive plays. [player_tooltip player_id='1749047' first='Dereon' last='Truesdale'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1297012' first='Danny' last='Kelly'] led the way at the half with 11 points a piece. [player_tooltip player_id='1749046' first='Drelyn' last='Truesdale'] added 9 points, 5 rebounds, and four steals. [player_tooltip player_id='2391213' first='Brandt' last='Martin'] was leading the way for Warsaw with 9 points as the Tigers trailed the Knights 34-26.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Truesdale twins continued to dominate the game throughout the second half. Their athleticism and length, along with 6'6" senior forward [player_tooltip player_id='1297012' first='Danny' last='Kelly'], was just too much for the Warsaw Tigers who couldn't seem to get anything going. [player_tooltip player_id='1749046' first='Drelyn' last='Truesdale'] finished with a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds to go along with 5 steals. [player_tooltip player_id='1749047' first='Dereon' last='Truesdale'] also scored 20 points for the Knights. [player_tooltip player_id='1297012' first='Danny' last='Kelly'] added 11 points and 7 rebounds. In the loss, [player_tooltip player_id='2391213' first='Brandt' last='Martin'] led Warsaw with 18 points.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">NorthWood 64 George Washington 48</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It was a sluggish start for NorthWood to say the least. Slow defensive rotations, not getting back in transition, and not getting out to contest three-point shots in the half court all lead to an early lead built by the Continentals. George Washington led 15-12 after the first quarter on the back of nine points from [player_tooltip player_id='1988137' first='Roosevelt' last='Franklin']. Franklin continued to play well in the second quarter, and Rob Sanders added a pair of three-point shots off of the bench, but late turnovers got NorthWood back in the game. The Panthers were able to climb on top 30-28 at the break. Franklin still led the way with 14 points. [player_tooltip player_id='2391220' first='Maddux' last='Everingham'] has 12 points to pace the Panthers of NorthWood.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>NorthWood went on to win 64-48.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Bishop Luers 64 Fort Wayne North Side 56</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>After playing about as well as they could play at 9:00 a.m. against Warsaw, Bishop Luers looked very much like a team playing their second game of the day against Fort Wayne North Side. They held onto a two point lead at the half, but [player_tooltip player_id='2812811' first='Sebastian' last='Moore'] and [player_tooltip player_id='2480704' first='Tyvon' last='Alexander'] got hot for the Legends and eventually built an eight point lead midway through the third quarter. Both Moore and Alexander connected on a pair of three-point shots in the third quarter and North Side led 47-39 after back-to-back Alexander buckets. However, Bishop Luers would not go away.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Truesdale twins started to take the game back over for Luers late in the third quarter. Eventually, the Knights would get back on top 50-49 heading into the fourth quarter and never looked back from there. Bishops Luers went on to with 64-56. For his second time of the day, [player_tooltip player_id='1749046' first='Drelyn' last='Truesdale'] finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds in the contest. [player_tooltip player_id='1749047' first='Dereon' last='Truesdale'] added 16 points and 7 rebounds of his own. [player_tooltip player_id='2480704' first='Tyvon' last='Alexander'] scored 18 points to lead North Side in the loss. [player_tooltip player_id='2812811' first='Sebastian' last='Moore'] added 17 points including four three-point shots.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Ben Davis 52 NorthWood 40</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ben Davis defensively dominated this game through much of the first half. They allowed just four points in the first quarter and didn't allow NorthWood to break into double-figures until late in the half. However, a [player_tooltip player_id='2391220' first='Maddux' last='Everingham'] three-point shot at the buzzer got it within 10 points, 25-15, at the break. [player_tooltip player_id='1297122' first='Tyler' last='Raasch'] had success on the offensive glass for the Panthers as well. Meanwhile, for Ben Davis, the story of the first half was [player_tooltip player_id='1749499' first='Tavion' last='Williams']. He was active all over the place on both ends as is typical for him. The 6'8" forward stuffed the stat sheet with 6 rebounds, 6 rebounds, and 3 blocked shots.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>NorthWood continued to chip away and got as close as having a three in the air while down five with under two minutes to play, but Ben Davis was untimely able to hold on and advance to the Bob Wettig Memorial Tournament semifinals with a. 52-40 victory. Kentucky Wesleyan signee [player_tooltip player_id='1749499' first='Tavion' last='Williams'] posted a double-double of 12 points, 13 rebounds, and 4 blocked shots while junior guard [player_tooltip player_id='2625235' first='JaShawn' last='Ladd'] led the Giants in scoring with 15 points. [player_tooltip player_id='2277726' first='Jahmir' last='Avery'] added 10 points for Ben Davis. Grace signee [player_tooltip player_id='1297122' first='Tyler' last='Raasch'] finished with 19 points and 10 rebonds in the loss for NorthWood. [player_tooltip player_id='2417743' first='Myles' last='Everingham'] added 11 points. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Shelbyville 63 Shortridge 54</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Eli Wilson did his best to keep Shortridge in it rom start to finish, but ultimately the shooting of Shelbyville allowed the Golden Bears to advance to the semifinals of the Bob Wettig Memorial Tournament with a 63-54 victory.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Junior guard [player_tooltip player_id='1561061' first='Caden' last='Claxton'] led Shelbyville with 17 points, 14 of which came in the second half. Fellow junior [player_tooltip player_id='1561096' first='Mar' last='Nicholson'] added 14 points and 8 rebounds for the Golden Bears. Senior wing [player_tooltip player_id='1607277' first='Damon' last='Badgley'] also scored 14 points for Shelbyville. Eli Wilson led all scorers with 23 points in the loss for Shortridge.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Richmond 44 Heritage Christian 38</h2> <!-- /wp:heading -->