Tuesday wrap: great matchups

All 3 county teams who played tonight fell as the final week of the regular season began tonight, but all three fell in their Tuesday-night contests.

Morristown 80, Eastern Hancock 68: The Royals and Yellow Jackets hooked up in a back-and-forth tussle that saw Morristown pull away in the final five minutes. A big reason why was the play of 6-foot-4 Morristown senior Dylan Langkabel. He had 44 points -- 30 in the second half -- to carry the Yellow Jackets to the victory.

Langkabel scored 15 points in each the third and fourth quarters and helped the Jackets pull away. EH led 31-30 at the half and had a 38-32 lead in the third quarter, but Langkabel led an 8-1 run that saw Morristown take the lead at 40-39. He also hit a 3-pointer and a pull-up jumper on back-to-back possessions to turn a three-point edge into a 65-57 game and essentially put it away midway through the fourth.

Victor Vincz followed up his 52-point game from last week by leading four Royals in double-figures, with 24 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Isaiah McCormick had 13 points, including three 3-pointers. Garrett Hancock also hit three triples -- EH hit 10 for the game -- and scored 11 points. Jared Pyle battled foul trouble but finished with 12 points and five rebounds. Cody Wallace had six rebounds.

You can listen to the archive of tonight's game at HancockCountySports.com

EH (10-9) finishes Friday against Hagerstown.

Westfield 59, Mt. Vernon 52: The Marauders dropped their third straight game -- all against 4A schools -- against a strong Shamrocks team on the road.

Stephen Turner led the Marauders with 19 points and 10 rebounds. C.J. Coleman scored 15. Center Wade Burtron led Westfield with 21 points.

Westfield built an early 10-point lead. MV cut it to one on several occasions, but couldn't get over the hump, as Westfield outscored the Marauders 26-20 in the fourth quarter.

MV is now 12-7 and finishes the regular season Friday at Yorktown. That game will be live at HancockCountySports.com

Connersville 59, Greenfield-Central 29: The Cougars hung tough for a half, trailing 26-23 at the break, but Connersville started the second half on a big run and outscored G-C 33-6 after the break to pull away.

G-C finishes the regular season 3-17, and opens sectional play Tuesday at New Castle against the same Spartan team it played tonight.

New Palestine was idle tonight, and finishes the regular season Friday at Greenwood. NP is 13-6.

Gymnastics
New Palestine posts season-high score:New Palestine's gymnastics team posted a season-high score in a 103.0-85.725 victory over the Shelbyville Golden Bears.

 

Kenzi Hoffman swept the meet, winning first place in all four events and the all-around. She scored 9.05 on vault, 8.85 on uneven bars, 9.225 on balance beam and 9.025 on the floor exercise. Her winning all-around score was 36.150. Senior Jessica Marshall placed second on beam (9.0) and in all-around (32.975). Ciarra Hough was second on floor (8.725) and third in all-around (30.275). Whitney Weileman was second on vault (8.3) and bars (8.6).Maddie Wallace and Julie Hilton tied for fourth on vault (8.15).

 

The Dragons' next meet will be Saturday's Columbus East Olympian Invitational, which will begin at noon.

 

Tuesday wrap: Vincz sets Royal record

A year ago, when we saw Dustin Smith drop 40 on Knightstown, a short-lived Eastern Hancock single-game school record was set -- because Smith broke it with 42 the next night.

That record, too, was short-lived.

Victor Vincz broke it tonight, becoming the first player in the 48-year history of Eastern Hancock boys basketball to score 50 points in a game, scoring 52 in the Royals' 92-91 victory over Alexandria.

But that wasn't all. Vincz was the game's leading scorer by just one point. Mitch Yeagy of Alex scored a school-record 51 in the loss.

Vincz hit 17-of-25 from the floor, including 7-of-8 from 3-point range. He was also 11-of-12 from the FT line and had five assists. He hit two free throws and two 3-pointers in the final 30 seconds to try to cut the Royals' advantage, the last coming at the buzzer. 

He scored 18 points in the first quarter, seven in the second, 15 in the third to get to 40, and then added 12 of the Royals' 28 fourth-quarter points.

Yeagy hit 15-of-25 from the floor, including 4-of-7 from beyond the arc and 17-of-19 from the line. He also had six assists.

Alex outscored EH 22-11 in the second quarter to take a 44-35 lead into the locker room. EH then outscored the host Tigers 29-13 in the third to seize the lead back at 64-57 going into the final eight minutes, which saw 62 points scored between the two teams. Alex had 34 in the final quarter, but the Royals scored just enough to win.

Jared Pyle added 16 points and eight boards and Garrett Hancock scored eight off the bench for the Royals. Alex had three double-figure scorers, with Jordan Allen scoring 13 and freshman Blaize Kelley 10. 

It was the Royals' most points since a 93-58 victory over Lapel last year on Jan. 21, 2011.

EH is now 10-8 on the year, its sixth consecutive season with double-digit victories. The Royals are idle until next Tuesday, when they visit Morristown, a game we'll be broadcasting at HancockCountySports.com. Log on at 7:10 p.m. Tuesday for the play-by-play as EH faces Dylan Langkabel and the Yellow Jackets.

(thanks to VarVee and EH assistant coach Joe Paxton for additional game info. The eyewitness game story can be found from the Anderson Herald-Bulletin)

Westfield 68, New Palestine 64: Center Wade Burtron scored 25 points to lead the Shamrocks to the come-from-behind victory over the Dragons, spoiling NP's senior night.

Burtron hit 12-of-14 from the floor and carried the Shamrocks, especially early, when he had 10 first-quarter points.

Westfield hit 63 percent of its shots -- 26-of-41 -- in the game, but the Dragons led throughout the first half despite having leading scorer Michael Morris saddled with early foul trouble, and maintained the lead through the late stages of the third quarter, when Westfield rallied. The Shamrocks outscored NP 19-10 in the third to take the lead at 44-43. The Shamrocks then opened the fourth with an 8-2 run to push the lead to seven.

The Dragons managed to keep fighting back. Trailing by six in the final three minutes, two backcourt turnovers led to a basket by Josh Penley and a 3-pointer by Justin Ikerd to cut a Westfield lead to 56-55. The Dragons again nearly rallied from a late six-point deficit, with Ryan Curry coming off the bench and hitting a 3-pointer to make it a 67-64 game. Penley then stole an inbounds pass with 5.5 seconds left and raced to the top of the key, but his 3-pointer fell short and the Shamrocks rebounded and hit a free throw with 0.3 seconds left to ice it.

Brandon Collins had a strong first-half for the Dragons, scoring 13 of his 15 points. Reid Clark continued his strong play with a 15-point night, hitting 6-of-10 from the floor and a perfect 3-of-3 from the line. He added 11 rebounds for his second straight double-double and fifth of the season. Penley added seven points, while fellow senior Wade Whitaker started and had two rebounds. The four make up a senior class that has been part of two sectional and two county title teams during their four years.

Justin Ikerd hit three 3-pointers for nine points for NP. Morris had seven points and five rebounds. Freshman Brandon Jonas had a strong floor game and scored five points.

The Dragons are now 12-6 on the year. They next play Friday at Mt. Vernon, a game we'll broadcast at HancockCountySports.com. Log on at 7:10 p.m. for the play-by-play.