Bloomington South held a 4-2 lead at the end of the 1st quarter. Yes, you read that right. Both teams struggled to get opportunities to fall. Barr-Reeve scored 13 points in the second quarter to go into half time with a 15-8 lead. In the third quarter both teams found ways to get points on the board and Bloomington South was making it a game with the score 33-27 after 3. South went on a furious run in the 4th to bring it to as close as 4 but couldn't buy a bucket for the last couple of minutes.
A 13-3 second quarter saw Carmel stretch a three point 1st quarter lead to a 26-13 spread at halftime. Their lead only grew from there.
OK...as subjective as this process is, sometimes it's not fair when you have *the* game in front one of the guys making the decision. And yes, sometimes the opponent matters. However, Ian Scott from Plainfield put on a show vs. North Central in front of COVID restricted crowd that likely housed more people in the media than actual fans.
Friday night Scott had his "worst" performance of the season, 17 points and 8 rebounds in a win over Whiteland. The 6'7" senior center is averaging 26.5 points and nearly 13 rebounds per game.
In Plainfield's 66-56 win over North Central, Scott totaled a mere 43 points, 15 rebounds and 2 steals. 23 of his 43 came in the first half, but his second was even more impressive. As he nearly doubled down on his point total, he took the brunt of halftime adjustments, more double teams and having to catch and score in space vs. NC's pressure, rather than in the confines of paint.
Scott responded, including three transition dunks and one 18' jump shot. Most figured he would be a problem for NC, but not sure anyone expected that. As a result, Ian Scott is the Metro Indy Basketball Player of the Week for week of November 30-December 5
Others Getting Considered
In 2 wins, Cole Wireman scored 64 points (29 and 35), grabbed 7 rebounds, handed out 7 assists, and had 10 steals. The 6'0" senior guard shot a combined 30 of 42 from the field, and 4 of 7 from the free throw line. Cole moved into 3rd place on our schools all time scoring list with a combined total of 1457 points. He is averaging 36.3 points per game this year through 4 games.
While the household name for Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian is Caleb Furst, they have other weapons around him. Zane Burke is one of those. The 6'3" senior guard had a big week in wins over Fort Wayne North, New Haven and Hamilton (OH), averaging 21 points, 10.7 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game.
A strong week for a youngster! Jack Benter put up 25 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists in a win over Salem, and he followed it up with a 29 point, 6 rebounds and 3 steals in a win over Seymour. The 6'2" freshman hit 9 3pters in those two games as well. That's an impressive week for Coach Benter's freshman son. Their group of underclassmen will make noise before it's done...see below.
Cambridge City's Tyler Wyles put up impressive numbers vs. Muncie Burris. 37 points, including 6 3pters. The 6'1" sophomore guard also put up 3 rebounds and 3 steals on the night.
Other Nominees
Sophomores and Freshmen Nominees
Zak Tyler and Jim Reamer update recruiting news. Zak provides good intel on how Gary West's Jalen Washington looked in his first week back to action after an ACL tear.
Our weekly in season feature: Best Game, Best Team, Best Performance
Zak and Jim each talk about the best game they saw this past week, as well the best team and best performance.
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Jalen Washington didn't play in West Sides first game of the season vs Hammond Gavit, so his status for this one was up in the air for me. After seeing him go through warm-ups he seemed ready to go, and he was. He started and played limited minutes, nut his presence was felt. This game saw a lot of zone from Michigan City, which slowed down the game and is something they are not accustomed to. West Side did not see a lead until there was 3:23 left in the 3rd quarter when they were finally able to get over the hump. In the end, the defense and rebounding of West Side prevailed.
DISCLOSURE: Only saw games 1,2 and 4 in full
Brownsburg vs. Gary 21st Century
Plainfield vs. North Central
Crispus Attucks vs. Warren Central
The Wildcats came out dialed in from the tip. With new coach Alex Daniel this team has a totally different feel from last years Riley squad. They played hard and as a team. Focused on their game plan, they executed it nicely. Fired on all cylinders early and often. Yes, Blake Wesley finished with 38, but it was a true team win. Played tough team defense. Marian's young core battled and got them back in the game, but in the end they were in just too deep of a hole.
Cathedral has now won this game 20 straight times, and staring off on a 21-2 run pretty much propelled them to the win. The Irish stretched the lead to as high as 23. However, Brebeuf cut it to 10 by the end of the 3rd quarter. Cathedral scored the first three possessions of the 4th quarter, and that ended much of the suspense.
The Recap: This is a game I wanted to get to when I first saw schedules coming out. Michigan City had basically everyone coming back from a very solid team last season, led by one of the most underrated and electrifying players in the 2023 class in Jamie Hodges Jr. I'll get to more of this Michigan City squad below. Another reason I wanted to get to this game was to see how 2022 guard Brit Harris stacked up against some tough competition. I will also touch on this result below, but overall, this game ended up getting out of hand unfortunately, and being a little lopsided.
Six Takes:
Next Up and Top Uncommitted Prospects
Michigan City - 12/4 vs. Gary West
Maquette Catholic - 12/5 vs. South Bend St. Joe
Brooks Barnhizer messed around and got a triple double. The 6'7" senior guard, who is committed to Northwestern, toyed with Metropolitan, as one observer put it. Barnhizer produced 40 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists and 8 steals. The production makes Brooks Barnhizer the Metro Indy Basketball Player of the Week for week of November 23-November 28.
Others Getting Consideration
Opening the year 3-0 is never a bad thing. Loogootee senior, Silas Bauer, was impressive in each of those wins. The 6'5" forward, who is still uncommitted, poured in efforts of 19 points and 10 rebounds vs. Rock Creek, 16 points and 12 rebounds vs. Crawford County and 31 points and 10 rebounds vs. Evansville Day.
Pike juniors JJ Louden and Ryan Conwell are both off to strong starts. Both scoring 18 points in their win over Hamilton Southeastern, Louden, 6'4" guard, produced it on 7-9 FG, 2-2 3pt, 4 assists and 4 steals. Conwell, 6'2" guard, was 6-9 FG, 4-6 3pt, including a nice second quarter barrage, 4 rebounds and 3 steals. Both are involved as primary ball handlers.
Kaden Stanton had an impressive opening week for New Albany, averaging 20 points and 8.5 assists per game, vs. Bloomington South and Clarksville, he did all of that with just one total turnover.
Last year Gus Etchison started the season as POTW, with a 50+ point game. He tailed off just a bit...a teeny, tiny bit. "Only" producing 39 points (5-9 3pt) with 6 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks, the video of one is surfing around social media.
Sophomores and Freshmen nominees