BLACKHAWK ADVANCES WITH BIG SECOND HALF
BERNE—South Adams may not have pulled off what would have been the biggest upset of the night in the state tournament in Indiana, but they sure showed the Blackhawk Christian Braves of Fort Wayne that they have a lot to work on if they are to get anywhere near the state championship level they reached back in 2021. Despite a 62-30 final score, the Stars pushed one of the state’s top teams for much of the first half before faltering after halftime.
“Coming into the night we knew we were going to have to hit some shots, but it was going to come down to playing good solid defense,” noted head coach Garrett Krieg of the Braves. “They’re a big team and they can do so many things. It’s an honor to play them here tonight.”
The visitors blitzed South Adams in the opening minutes of the second half and put the game away, but there were enough missed layups, missed dunks and turnovers by coach Matt Roth’s team that the first-year coach may wear out his whistle at tonight’s practice back in the Fort.
Blackhawk wasted no time in the early going and Josh Furst put the #3 team in 1A up 8-2 just two minutes in with the first dunk on the new Starfire court.
All five starters reached the
The two-headed monster of Josiah Ball and Bauer Maple lived up to expectations and Maconaquah High School won the battle of the Braves 60-47 in the postseason opener with Bellmont at Peru High School in 3A play.
A seemingly meaningless free throw in the fourth quarter after the game was decided received the biggest cheers of the game as Maconaquah’s leading scorer this year, Bauer Maple, reached the 1000-point mark in his career. He will attempt to climb the school’s leaderboard Friday when the Braves take on Norwell Friday evening.
Bellmont’s man-toman defense did not hinder the Maconaquah Braves from finding open shots early as the away team on the scoreboard jumped out to an early 10-1 lead.
Bellmont made a switch out of their first time out to a zone defense and it helped the team climb back into the game after Jack Scheumann drew the team within seven points at 14-7.
Needing to be patient in the game as Maconaquah got into foul trouble, Bellmont got some good minutes from Job Hoffman with an offensive rebound, but the biggest moment of the first quarter was Josiah Ball’s third foul, drawn by a charge on senior DJ Kitson. That negated a bucket and sent Maconaquah’s leading scorer in the contest with eight points to the bench for the rest of the half.
Hoffman picked up his second bucket of the game with the first possession of the second quarter to draw Bellmont within five, but they didn’t score again until Hoffman hit a reverse layup as Maconaquah led 23-13.
The Bellmont Braves ramped it up in the final two minutes and did their best to draw the game somewhat closer, finishing on an 8-2 run, but still trailed 30-22.
Much as they had done for the entire season, Ball and Maple led Maconaquah with 18 points in the first half. For Bellmont, there were no points from starters Dylan Velez and Andrew James in the first 16 minutes.
The third quarter was played at a torrid pace with both teams running the court and trading baskets, but it was the first two points by James that drew the lead to five points midway through the period.
Much as they did throughout the first half, Maple and Ball answered right back with consecutive field goals to stretch the lead back out.
The outcome of the third quarter hinged on a key call by the officials, who deemed Andrew James to have driven down the lane out of control for a charge, taking away two points from the junior guard and handing the ball back to Maconaquah. Ball immediately answered with a long jumper to put his team up by twelve.
30 seconds later, Ball drained a three to draw even with Maple at 18 points and coach Jonathon Fuelling had no choice but to call time out, facing a seemingly insurmountable 15-point deficit.
Jack Scheumann was the first Bellmont Brave to reach double digits with a layup with 20 seconds left in the quarter, but he quickly picked up two fouls in
scoring column before anyone not named Ty Lehman scored for the Starfires as Blackhawk extended their early lead to 17-4.
Gavin Myers scored the final points of the quarter with a three for the home team as Blackhawk led 17-7 at the first break.
An early run in the opening minutes of the second quarter by South Adams was highlighted by two hard-earned free throws by Gavin Myers and a long three by Matt Steiner, cutting the lead to just five minutes after ten minutes.
Suddenly realizing they were playing a team that was not just going to lay down and accept defeat, Blackhawk seemed to stumble as the game rolled towards halftime.
BC responded, however, with an 8-0 run and pushed the lead back into double digits with two minutes left in the half, using their size to their advantage. When the game tipped off, the shortest Brave was taller than the tallest Starfire.
Led by nine points by Furst and eight by Pickett, the Braves took a 32-18 lead into the halftime