BB Marion County: 4A #2 North Central rolls, host Speedway hangs on

By Mike McGraw

Executive Director

SPEEDWAY – At the high school level, athleticism can beat you in so many ways. It can apply ball pressure. It can take away cuts. It can jump over ordinarily solid blockouts. It can frustrate a team mentally.

Most importantly, it can more than make up for mistakes. Put that athleticism in the hands of someone like veteran North Central (Indianapolis) coach Doug Mitchell, and it can be devastating.

That is the story of the Class 4A second-ranked Panthers’ 69-47 victory Jan. 12 at Speedway over Roncalli in the first round of the Marion County Tournament.

There is no need for a narrative of events in this game. The simple storyline is North Central (8-2) used its athleticism to completely take Roncalli out of the game at the Rebels’ offensive end.

Only two things kept this contest from being a complete blowout: The Rebels (6-4) displayed outstanding perimeter shooting, and North Central had brief lapses of offensive carelessness. Those lapses were seen when the Panthers squandered an early 8-2 lead, and again when leading 30-29 with a minute-and-a-half to play in the first half.

That’s when the Panthers allowed Roncalli to score the last five points of the half, showing a lack of patience on their own offensive end. But the deciding stretch in the contest came over the last four minutes of the third quarter, when North Central outscored the Rebels 15-4 to take control, 53-35, at the end of three periods.

North Central, which got a game-high 20 points from Terone Johnson and another 17 from D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera, will now face Speedway in the second round Jan. 13 at Franklin Central. Roncalli was led by Ryan Weber with 16 points.

Speedway showed a resilient character in its 60-58 triumph over Indianapolis Lutheran. Playing their first game without two key performers in a close contest down the stretch, Sparkplugs (6-3) made the big plays when they had to.

Lutheran (5-3) closed within four with slightly less than three minutes remaining, but Speedway hit a big 3-pointer on its next possession (video of that shot accompanies this story.) Then, after the Saints closed within a point in the final minute, the Sparkplugs ran a perfectly executed in-bounds play to score the deciding bucket (that video is also on this page.)

Keenan Lewis had a game-high 23 points for Speedway, while Lutheran was led by Jensen Nowakoski’s 15 points.

The box scores:

North Central 19 11 21 18 – 69

Roncalli 13 11 11 12 – 47

North Central: T. Johnson 20, Smith-Rivera 17, R. Johnson 12, Ingram 6, McFall 6, Bluitt 4, Griffin 2, Latham 2. 3-pointers: R. Johnson, McFall. Totals: 25-55 16-27 69

Roncalli: Weber 16, Mislan 8, Lynch 7, Miller 5, Reeser 5, Baker 3, Heckman 3. 3-pointers: Weber 4, Lynch 2, Heckman, Reeser. Totals: 16-41 7-11 47

Indianapolis Lutheran 16 9 17 16 – 58

Speedway 9 17 17 17 – 60

Lutheran: Nowakoski 15, Denecke 13, Ford 13, Rolf 15, Brockett 2. 3-pointers: Rolf 2. Totals: 23 10-12 58

Speedway: Lewis 23, Deghe 11, West 8, Dial 7, Staton 5, Shambaugh 4, Rosebrough 2. 3-pointers: Lewis 3, West 2, Deghe 2, Dial. Totals: 25 2-7 60

Marion County Tournament

First round (Jan. 12 @ four sites)

Speedway 60, Indianapolis Lutheran 58

4A #2 North Central (Indianapolis) 69, Indianapolis Roncalli 47

Franklin Central 49, Beech Grove 39

4A #10 Lawrence North 58, Southport 48

Brebeuf 41, Lawrence Central 40