Published: January 25, 2009 01:17 am      

Kokomo tops 2A No.1 Tipton

TIPTON — Kokomo’s boys basketball team was too pumped following its victory over Class 2A No. 1 Tipton to stay contained in the lockerroom. Within a couple minutes of the final buzzer, the Kats flowed out of the lockerroom, still in uniform, to greet fans and savor the moment. The scoreboard still had the final score up: Kokomo 52, Tipton 51.

“It feels so great,” said Kokomo center Patrick Hopkins, who scored a dozen points to lead the Kats, including nine in the decisive fourth quarter.

Kokomo improved to 7-6 with the victory. Tipton is now 10-2 with its only losses to Class 4A schools — in overtime to No. 9 Franklin Central and now by a point to the Kats.

“This is a very big win for us as a team,” Hopkins said. “Coming into the No. 1 team in the state for 2A and beat them on their home floor; I feel that we had to play hard, play smart and play together to come out with the victory. I think we did that.”

Tipton had a chance to win it at the end, taking possession with 47 seconds left after Hopkins split a pair of freebies to put the Kats up 52-51. The Devils didn’t find an opening and called time out with 4.7 seconds left. Tipton looked to get the ball to star forward Derek Elston after the time out but Kokomo kept him away from the hoop with double and triple teams as he moved from low to high on the inbounds play. He got the ball on the perimeter and put up a contested jumper which didn’t connect. Hopkins grabbed the rebound at the buzzer.

“We wanted to get the ball in Derek’s hands,” Tipton coach Travis Daugherty said. “We had something set up on each side of him and just sort of let him make the decision on what he saw. Obviously, it was a difficult shot but you want your best guy shooting.”

Kokomo coach Brian McCauley was elated with the victory saying that the Wildkat players “went out and earned it.” In particular, he was glad to see Tipton held to 51 points. The Devils entered the weekend averaging 65 points per game. Elston got 23 points, but no teammate cracked double figures.

“Credit our defense,” McCauley said. “Tipton’s a tremendous offensive team with a lot of weapons and we held them to 51 points so our guys really competed, really played hard, they played well together. I’m very pleased with their effort, enthusiasm and toughness.

“Tipton is an outstanding team and very well coached and they’re going to have a tremendous season. They’re going to go on and contend for a state title. We proved that we’re a tough team again. These guys are playing hard, playing well together and that’s exciting.”

The Wildkats trailed 41-34 at the beginning of the fourth quarter but got the lead in just 93 seconds. Hopkins hit a short post shot over Elston, then twice hit teammates for 3-pointers — the first a trey by T.J. Weir in transition and the second a trey by Alan Arnett after Hopkins saved a long pass in transition. That put the Kats ahead 42-41.

The teams traded leads twice more after that and the game was tied twice in the closing minutes.

Down the stretch, Hopkins kept coming up with big plays. He scored three baskets in the fourth quarter and drew three shooting fouls, hitting 3 of 6 freebies including the go-ahead point with 48 seconds left.

“Patrick made some plays there in the fourth quarter,” Daugherty said. “That’s the challenge that Kokomo poses any night, but especially with the way they shot it [Saturday] is their ability to make the [3-pointer]. The way they shot in the first half, we were forced to play one-on-one inside. They deserve credit for the way they executed down the stretch.”

Hopkins drew three fouls on Elston in the second half.

“He’s a really good player but I feel one of our strengths is inside, so we went to one of our strengths and it obviously worked.”

Kokomo hit seven triples with Brock Barbary hitting two early in the first quarter to get the Kats off to a good start. Arnett and Weir each had two and Colton Summers had one. Arnett finished with 11 points, Barbary had nine and Weir had eight.

McCauley praised the play of seniors Arnett, Tyrone Brown and Hopkins. He also noted big lifts from Summers and Parker Salinas off the bench. Summers scored six points in the first half and Salinas, subbing for Hopkins when the center had foul trouble, had five rebounds and four points in the second quarter.

“Kokomo deserves a lot of credit for the way they played,” Daugherty said. “They outplayed us and they deserved to win more than we did with their effort and execution.”

Point guard Greg Dickey scored nine points — all on 3-pointers — for Tipton. Jake Hoffman added eight points off the bench.

Elston finished with a game-high 10 rebounds but Kokomo outrebounded Tipton 27-19 with Hopkins taking eight.