What a night!

New Palestine and Eastern Hancock are notorious for playing barnburners. And, most of the time, the Dragons manage to win.

Tonight was no exception on either count.

Josh Penley hit two free throws with no time on the clock to give the Dragons a 57-56 win over EH in what became a see-saw game. The moment the second shot went through, Penley found himself mobbed by the entire Dragon student section, which poured onto the floor when the ball went through the net. It had been tied at 51-51 when Dustin Smith hit two FTs to put the Royals up 53-51 -- one answered by Michael Morris, who scored a putback. Austin Lee made it 55-53 with a shot on an out-of-bounds play with 34 seconds remaining, but Morris again picked the ball up out of a scramble and tied it with 11 ticks remaining. Smith went coast-to-coast, split a double-team and drew a foul with 6.3 left -- hitting one of the two FTs, setting the stage for Penley to catch the inbounds pass, drive coast-to-coast, and draw the foul as he was going up for the game-winning shot.

Penley scored 12 points, but didn't miss a shot -- 5-of-5 from the floor, 2-of-2 from the line. He wasn't the only star. Taylor Rainey scored 15 points, Michael Morris 13 and Reid Clark had six of his eight in the fourth quarter for the Dragons. Smith scored 16 points to lead the Royals, with many of those coming as tough points late in the fourth. Jared Pyle hit three 3s and scored 13 points.

NP beat EH for the 17th time in 18 meetings, but this was the fifth consecutive game between the teams that would be decided in the closing seconds.

It was a great game, and one that had a lot of big plays. Morris, Penley, Clark and Rainey all hit big shots for the Dragons at big moments. Smith tried to carry the Royals on his back down the stretch after Pyle's shooting helped EH rally from a 28-18 halftime deficit.

The Dragons (1-2) move on to play Rushville on Saturday night, before visiting Greenfield-Central next Friday for our next Hancock County Game of the Week broadcast. The Royals (2-1) host Southwestern (Shelby) on Saturday night, and then travel to Northeastern next Friday. They will then visit Knightstown on Dec. 17 -- a game we will also broadcast.

Click here to LISTEN LIVE to upcoming broadcasts and also to listen to our archives.

Elsewhere in Hancock County tonight:
Mt. Vernon fell to 0-2 after a 53-34 loss to a VERY strong Hamilton Southeastern squad.
Greenfield-Central dropped to 0-3 after a 46-25 loss at New Castle.
Elsewhere in the HHC
Rushville (2-0) knocked off arch-rival Connersville 67-55, spoiling Spartans head coach (and former Rushville coach) Kerry Brown's return to Memorial Gymnasium.
Shelbyville (2-1) fell to Columbus North 63-61 in a barnburner.
Delta (1-1) got its first victory for returning coach Stan Daugherty by beating Cowan 53-33
Yorktown (1-2) fell in OT to Muncie Burris 52-48.

Some good girls games coming up Saturday, one of the biggest being Mt. Vernon's visit to Pendleton Heights in a matchup of what could be two of the top teams in the HHC. Greenfield-Central (at Chatard) and New Palestine (at Delta) are also in action with afternoon games -- weather permitting.

We've already mentioned the NP and EH boys games Saturday night. G-C is also at Southport on Saturday, meeting up with a Cardinals team led by Wes Peek, a starter on G-C's 1998 sectional championship team.