More on EH-Alex shootout

We've been asking some of the state's basketball historians about some of the great individual shootouts in Indiana high school hoops history.

What we've unearthed, so far, are some memorable games, but none where players from both teams topped 50 like Eastern Hancock's Victor Vincz and Alexandria's Mitch Yeagy did last night.

Vincz hit 17-of-25 from the field, 7-of-8 from 3-point range and 11-of-12 from the line. According to VarVee stats, Yeagy was 15-of-25, 4-of-7 from beyond the arc and a whopping 17-of-19 from the stripe in the Royals' 92-91 victory.

Both set their respective schools' single-game scoring records.

Here are some of the other games that fall under the "memorable shootouts" line. 

• The "Church Street Shootout" that featured Ray Pavy of New Castle and Jimmy Rayl of Kokomo, which Kokomo Tribune sports editor Bob Ford called, at the time, "the greatest show ever staged in this fabled Indiana high school basketball." Pavy scored 51 that night on 23-of-39 from the floor and 5-of-8 from the line. Rayl hit 18-of-36 from the floor and 13-of-14 from the line and scored 49. Pavy's New Castle team won the game 92-81, the last varsity game ever played in the 1,800-seat Church Street Gymnasium in New Castle. The Trojans moved across town to the 9.325-seat New Castle Fieldhouse the following season. Pavy and Rayl would become teammates at Indiana University.
• Blackmon vs. Alford in 1983 at the New Castle Fieldhouse. Blackmon and Alford were in the race for Mr. Basketball at the time -- Alford would win it -- and their teams were among the state title contenders. Alford scored 48 points that night for New Castle, Blackmon 41 for Marion. New Castle won the game 103-79. 
• 1983 state semifinals at Market Square Arena. James Blackmon shows up on this list twice -- the early 1980s were an unbelievable time in the North Central Conference with great scorers throughout the league. This time, Marion and Anderson met up in the state semifinals. Blackmon scored 52 points -- a State Finals record -- and Anderson's Troy Lewis scored 42 in a game that went double-OT (back then, OT was 3:00, so the teams played 38:00 of basketball, not quite one extra quarter). Anderson won 89-87 in 2OT, and then lost to Connersville that night in a game the Spartans won when Lewis missed a would-be game-winning shot at the buzzer. 
• 1998 Tournament of Champions another game involving Alexandria. The postseason tournament of the first four single-class state champs featured a matchup between 2A's Alexandria and 1A's Lafayette Central Catholic that would've been one of the most memorable tournament games in state history if anybody had ever paid attention to the short-lived TOC (which, while ill-fated, produced some great basketball games). Dan Schukraft of LCC scored 36 points, Daniel Lustig of Alex scored 37. Lustig hit 13-of-17, including 5-of-6 3s. LCC won 113-106 in a 2OT game that featured multiple buzzer-beaters and some great comebacks -- LCC scored 35 fourth-quarter points, but Lustig hit a 3 at the buzzer to force OT, and teammate David Porter hit another off a turnover to force the second OT. I'm tossing this one in because it's the most amazing high school game I've ever attended. What was even nuttier was that Lustig was averaging less than four points per game prior to that night.

Thanks to Chris May with the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, HickoryHusker.com publisher Leigh Evans and former IHSAA sports information director Jim Russell for the assistance and reminiscing (which, believe me, I love to do :) ).

Vincz broke Eastern Hancock's record of 42 set by Dustin Smith last year. It's the third time in the span of 35 games the EH single-game scoring record has been broken -- as Smith set it at 40 on Dec. 17, 2010 at Knightstown, then scored 42 the next night against Cambridge City Lincoln.

Vincz is at least the fourth Hancock County player to break 50 in a game. The county record is 57 points, by Greenfield High School standout Mike Edwards, which he set in the final regular-season game in GHS history (and the final varsity game to be played in the old Greenfield High School gymnasium on School Street) in 1969. Edwards hit 21-of-34 shots that night, was a perfect 15-of-15 from the line, and scored 35 points in the first half of a 99-45 victory over Morristown. Edwards didn't play the last 5:30 of the game. Due to consolidations, that mark doesn't show as a school record, as G-C reset its record book when Greenfield and Hancock Central consolidated at the end of the 1969 school year.

Greenfield-Central's John Hamilton and Kevin Bell have each tallied 50-point games in their careers.

Log on to HancockCountySports.com to listen to a live broadcast of EH's next game, Tuesday at Morristown. Between then, join us for the New Palestine-Mt. Vernon game Friday night, and the Mt. Vernon girls in the Lebanon regional Saturday.