The Blackford Bruins traveled to Mississinewa High School for a Conference rivalry game. Blackford has matched up with the Indians 43 times over the last 35 years, the Mississinewa Indians have won 27 out of the 43 games. The Bruins entered the game on a 4 game winning streak, as their team is getting closer to fully healthy and playing some of their best basketball of the season. The Indians entered the game 7-3 overall and sitting atop of the Central Indiana Athletic Conference with a tie for first place.
The Bruins (2-1overall in the CIC) started the game in a dominating fashion, jumping out to a 10-0 lead during the first 3 minutes of play. Junior Gage Baker was able to help engineer the hot start for the Bruins in the first quarter, scoring 10 out of the teams 15 first quarter points. The Indians made a run of their own at the end of the first quarter, to end the quarter with a score of 15-11. In the 2nd quarter, both teams continued to make runs, with the Bruins making a 5-point swing to take the lead 24 -16. During the 5 point swing, the Indians were whistled for a technical foul, Baker drilled both free-throws. On the side out of bounds off the technical, Blackford executed a set play for Jacob Leas who drained a 3-pointer out top. The Indians were then able to go on another run, scoring 11 straight points over the final 3 minutes of the 2nd quarter to take the lead 27-24. The Bruins were able to find Leas off a screen from Gavin Collett at the top of the floor, Leas drained his 2nd 3-pointer of the half, this time getting knocked to the floor on the attempt, but no foul was called on the play.
Blackford entered half-time tied at 27 overall with the Mississinewa Indians. The Indians were able to grab ahold of a lead early in the 3rd quarter. Blackford struggled to put the ball in the basket for much of the 3rd quarter and late in the 3rd quarter the Bruins had back-to-back careless turnovers. One of the turnovers for Blackford was a 5-second call after an Indians made basket, Morris retrieved the ball to throw the ball inbounds and all four Bruins left to the front court resulting in Morris not having anyone to throw the ball to on the inbounds. The following possession for Blackford resulted in another careless pass that led to an Indians steal for a fastbreak two handed dunk. The Indians were up 43-34 with about 90 seconds remaining in the 3rd quarter. Blackford held their composure and finished the quarter scoring with guard Ethan Morris scoring a couple baskets and making a free-throw to end the 3rd quarter down 44-40. The Baskets by Morris were huge, as the Bruins were appearing to start to fall apart late in the 3rd, one of the baskets by Morris was a runner at the buzzer of the 3rd quarter to pull the Bruins with 4 points.
At the start of the 4th quarter, the Indians were able to get the ball inside a draw a foul, they made both free-throws to extend the lead to 46-40. Morris then was able to drill a step-back 3-pointer to pull the Bruins within 3 points, 46-43. Blackford fell behind 48- 43, before Baker drove and hit a pull-up jump shot to pull the Bruins within 3-points. Both teams had several empty possessions, before the Bruins found Baker on the left wing to make his 3rd 3-pointer on the game. The quick 5 points from Baker tied the score at 48 with 3:30 remaining in the 4th quarter. The Indians were then able to draw a shooting foul, making 1 of their 2 attempts to retake the lead 49-48. Down 49-48, Blackford had a turnover that led to Mississinewa completing another fastbreak lay-up to extend their lead to 51-48.
Down 51-48, the Bruins were able to execute a set play getting Baker a clean look from the 3-point line in the left corner, the shot was off the mark. The Indians proceeded to turn the ball over on the next possession, resulting in Blackford ending up getting the ball under their own baket due to a personal foul called on the Indians. The Bruins were then able to score on a basket from Baker after a wild scramble for the ball off a pass from Oxley to Baker. Blackford then went to a scramble pressure defense down 1 point with about a minute to play in the game. Blackford ended up fouling the Indians big man, putting him on the line with about 40 seconds remaining. The Bruins attempted to ice the shooter with a time-out, but it did not matter as the Indians drained both free-throws to extend the lead to 53-50. Down 53-50, Gage made a nice drive from the wing and jumped up for a shot in the lane, the whistle was blown for a foul mid shot, Baker drilled the shot for appeared to be an and-1. The referee called the foul on the ground, forcing Blackford to take the ball out of bounds.
On the next possession, Jacob Leas was able to get free for a clean from the 3-point line for the Bruins off a dribble hand-off from Ethan Morris, the shot was missed long, and the Indians collected the rebound. The Indians passed the ball up the floor for an open lay-up, but missed the attempt and Blackford called time-out with about 14 seconds remaining to set up another attempt to tie the game. The Bruins set-up a play for Gage Baker, as he was able to get a solid look from the left wing to tie the game. Baker's attempt jarred off the rim, Jacob Leas was able to time his jump and knock the ball back out top to Kian Wells who had a 2nd attempt from the top of the key to tie the game, the ball landed off the back of the rim and buzzer sounded. The Bruins were defeated 53-50. Blackford is now 2-2 in the Conference and 8-5 overall. Blackford will play tonight vs Winchester High School at home. Please come out and support your Blackford Bruins!
thank you to LEVI GROOMS for the pictures!
Varsity stats:
Gage Baker - 23 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 blocks, 2 steals, & three 3-pointers
Ethan Morris - 8 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and one 3-pointer
Mason Kitterman - 6 points, 3 rebounds, 1 block
Jacob Leas - 6 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 2 steals and one 3-pointer
Vince Oxley - 4 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal
Kian Wells - 3 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block & one 3-pointer
Gavin Collett - 2 rebounds
Kentral Toomer - 1 block
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