By Alex Kirby
HoosierAuthority.com
INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana Mr. Basketball Tyler Zeller scored 22 points to lead Indiana’s boys All-Stars to an 83-82 over Kentucky in the nightcap of a Friday the 13th basketball doubleheader. Before that, the Hoosier girls shot just 29 percent and committed 27 turnovers in falling 76-59 to Kentucky to end a 15-game winning streak at home in the series.
A crowd of just over 5,000 spectators was in attendance at Conseco Fieldhouse for the Hoosiers’ hosting of the annual Indiana-Kentucky All-Star Game. They saw the boys extend Indiana’s winning streak to eight, while the Kentucky girls notched their first win in the series in four years.
The Indiana girls never led in the contest, getting down by as many as 10 early in the first half. Indiana shot only 27 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes, including a chilly 1-for-9 effort from beyond the 3-point arc.
“It was really hard to get into a rhythm out there,” said Avon’s Kaley May, a Butler recruit who scored three points and remained optimistic about Sunday’s game in Louisville. “We have a good chance – we know their personnel, so we know what we need to work on.
“The coaches are gonna be watching game film, we’re gonna be preparing hard because you have to. I think we’ll come back and play with a lot more effort next time.”
Things didn’t improve much in the second half. Kentucky, which had 27 turnovers as well and shot only 39 percent in the game, pushed the lead to as many as 18 with about a minute to play before settling on the final 17-point margin.
Looking at the stat sheet, only Bloomington North’s Alex Guyton impressed. In 19 minutes of play, Guyton scored 12 points on 3-of-5 shooting while collecting a team-high seven rebounds, blocking a game-high five shots, and nailing six of her eight free throws.
On the flip side, the high-scoring duo of Miss Basketball Brittany Rayburn of Attica and Lebanon’s Katie Boyer combined for just 18 points on 7-of-20 shooting.
In the second game of the evening, the Indiana boys narrowly avoided a fate similar to the Hoosier girls in prevailing by a single point.
While Zeller was named the game’s most valuable player with his team-high 22 points, he was joined in double figures by Indianapolis Howe Academy’s Larry Stone – whose game-tying layup ahead of the buzzer at the end of the first half knotted the contest at 40 – Brownsburg’s Gordon Hayward (11), and Indianapolis Northwest’s Alex Young (10).
Kentucky had led by as many as 11 in the first half, but a determined Indiana squad kept the visitors from pulling away.
“They came out driving the ball strong,” said Brownsburg’s Julian Mavunga, who had one point and five rebounds in eight minutes of play. “But after all those charges we took, I think they started picking and choosing when they were going to drive inside and started taking a lot more perimeter shots.”
The Indiana boys came out of the locker room in the second half and almost started a blowout of their own, leading by as many as eight midway through the second half. Kentucky stormed back, however, with Shelvin Mack scoring 11 of his game-high 24 points. Mack would eventually foul out with just over a minute to go in the game.
Indiana took a four-point lead with two seconds to go after Young two free throws, giving them the Hoosiers a two-possession lead and sealing the win. Kentucky’s Scotty Hopson (14 points) did manage to sink an amazing full-court three pointer as time expired to get it to the final score.
“We have players that come in and do an excellent job like Julian, who came in and took two charges, had lots of big rebounds,” said Zeller, who had seven rebounds and was 7 of 12 from the field and 8 of 9 from the stripe. “He had a nice offensive rebound for a putback that he got fouled on.
“He changed the game completely.”
The two teams play again June 15 in Louisville, part of a newly tightened format in response to the proliferation of club play.
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