Culver Academy first to hit the floor
CULVER — Culver Academy gets the distinction of being the first area high school to play a boys basketball game after it opened the season Monday night at Fleet Gymnasium.
The Eagles are now the first team to have a win too, after defeating the Indianapolis Home School Wildcats, 66-56.
“I love this team. It might be my favorite team, but I say that every year,” said Culver Academy head coach Mark Galloway, now in his 12th year at Culver and 20th overall. “The biggest takeaway is you learn from a win, you get to enjoy it, and now you can look forward to what’s ahead.”
Not only were there the usual first game jitters/ kinks to work out, but the opponent already had two games under its belt and it’s always difficult to scout a home school team.
“They are a nice team,” Galloway said of the opposition. “You can’t size them up. I hope our kids never say, ‘We’re just going to show up and win.’ Winning is hard.”
It didn’t take long to realize that the Wildcats’ Joel Owen was a shooter as the senior guard nailed three straight 3s to help open a 13-5 lead over the Eagles.
“We didn’t cover up the 3 very well early, but did a better job later,” admitted Galloway.
In the first quarter, junior Cooper Farrall all but two of the Academy’s nine points, but in the second quarter he started to get some offensive help. The Eagles had an 8-0 start to the period with Thomas Collins, another junior, scoring five of those. Collins hit another triple a little later and finished with eight in the quarter as the Eagles exploded for 21 points in the frame. Six players in all scored during that eight-minute stretch and the home team held a six-point lead at the break.
Culver outdid that effort in the third period with a 12-0 blitz behind two more 3s from Collins, four points from junior Folabomi Fayemi and a drive from Farrall to push the lead to 42-24. By the end of the quarter the Eagles had tallied 22 points during that stretch and two late treys by Farrall expanded the gap to its highest mark at 52-30 before settling at 20 heading into the fourth period.
The Wildcats put together a 24-point frame of their own, including a long 3 at the buzzer to make the final score more respectable, but Culver was never seriously threatened down the stretch.
Farrall led all scorers with 26 points. Collins (four 3s) finished with 14 and Fayemi 12.
“They’re all juniors, but they need more experience,” Galloway said of his top three scorers on this night. “The real challenge about here is the players don’t grow up playing together. We’re trying to work with a kid from Nigeria, a kid from Michigan and a kid from Valpariaso. No one is going to cry for us though because we have good players, but it is a challenge. We’ve got a lot of work to do. This team wants to learn though. We hope we get better.
“Cooper has a chance to be special. Folabomi has a chance to be special and Thomas has a chance. Our seniors are special too because they’ve been through the wars. We can be special collectively.”
Owen (five 3s) led the Wildcats with 20 and Sam Wirts was also in double figures with 14.
Due to Thanksgiving break, Culver’s next game isn’t until Dec. 3 at Mishawaka.
“You can learn from a win,” concluded Galloway, who was also celebrating his birthday. “They worked for it and earned it and now they get to go home and have a break.
• CULVER ACADEMY 66, INDY HOME SCHOOL 56
At Culver
INDY HOME: Ty Suess 2 2-2 6, Aaron Gourley 1 1-1 3, Micah Beachy 2 1-2 6, Joel Owen 6 3-5 20, Daniel Bryan 3 0-0 7, Sam Wirts 4 4-4 14, Reese Semler 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 18 11-14 56. CULVER ACADEMY: Amir Gates 0 0-2 0, Andrew Macheca 0 0-0 0, Colin Chupp 1 0-0 2, Jokubas Skurdenis 3 2-2 8, Thomas Collins 5 0-0 14, Luke Vincent 0 0-0 0, Cooper Farrall 10 3-3 26, Folabomi Fayemi 5 2-2 12, Daley Stein 0 2-2 2, Will Yan 0 2-2 2, Wade Seddelmeyer 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 24 11-13 66.
Score by quarters
Ind. Home 13 24 32 56
Cul. Acad. 9 30 52 66 3-pointers: CMA 7 (Collins 4, Farrall 3), Ind. Home 9 (Owen 5, Wirts 2, Beachy, Bryan). Fouls (fouled out): CMA 16 (none), Ind. Home 15 (none).
Records: CMA 1-0, Ind. Home 2-1 JV score: CMA 50, Ind. Home 25