Published: February 27, 2009 12:23 am      

HOOPS: Kings beat Braves for 7th win in last 10 games

WALTON — As the regular season winds to a close, Lewis Cass’ boys basketball team needed a win as a momentum and morale booster heading into tournament play.

The Kings got just that — in convincing fashion, no less — running away from Mid-Indiana Conference foe Maconaquah by a final of 76-57 Thursday night.

After going 2-8 to start the year, Cass went 7-3 in the second half of the season to finish 9-11 (2-5 MIC). Maconaquah dropped to 5-14 overall and finished MIC play with a 1-6 mark. Kokomo visits Mac tonight in the regular-season finale for both squads.

Despite an intense Maconaquah defense out of the gate, Cass never trailed, building an early lead thanks to the play of juniors Damon Foreman and Evan Depew. The Kings jumped up 7-0 on a basket from Depew and a pair of free throws and a 3-pointer courtesy of Foreman on the way to a 17-10 first quarter lead.

Foreman finished with a career-high 20 points, 15 of those coming in the first half as Cass raced to a 37-20 half-time advantage on 62 percent shooting (13 of 21).

Depew finished the game with 14 points to go along with a game-high eight rebounds, and Keith Lee chipped in 10 points for the Kings.

Maconaquah’s stifling defense caused Cass to use its first time-out just 40 seconds into the game. The Braves gave the Kings fits throughout the game, forcing Cass into 19 turnovers, with 11 of those coming in the first half.

“We knew they were going to come after us with the press early,” Cass coach Matt Carver said. “I don’t know if the guys weren’t in the right spot mentally at the start because of it being senior night or what the case was, but once we got into the right formation, we were able to put ourselves in a better position.

“And we shot well early, which put us in a good spot as far as getting an early lead and being able to keep it.”

Maconaquah committed 19 turnovers of its own, though, and also struggled from the field in the first half, hitting only 8 of 24 attempts for 33 percent. Add to that a 15-9 first half rebounding edge for Cass, and the Braves were in a hole too great to overcome.

“In the first half, we gave them too many second-chance opportunities to score, and at the same time we were unable to score,” Maconaquah coach Luke Zartman said. “We were hesitant to attack the basket, and they took advantage of us on that.”

After turning the ball over eight times in the first half, Maconaquah suffered ten miscues in the third quarter as Cass upped its lead to 51-32 heading into the final quarter.

Sophomore Nate Shinn came off the bench to lead the Braves with 13 points. Nick George followed with ten.