Published: February 13, 2009 12:26 am      

HOOPS: 2nd half surge means win for Kats

Kats outscore Berries by 17 after halftime

As their annual rivalry game went along, Kokomo just kept getting stronger against Logansport Thursday night in the Berry Bowl.

The Wildkats withstood a fast Berries start and took a four-point lead into halftime before dominating the second half in a 65-44 win.

It was the Kats’ fifth win in their last six, and they improved to 11-7 and 3-3 in the North Central Conference. The Berries (10-5, 2-3) dropped their third in a row.

“We had multiple guys really play well,” Kokomo coach Brian McCauley said, “and anytime you can beat a team of Logansport’s quality like we did and control the second half, you know you’ve got multiple guys playing well.

“I thought we took a step forward [Thursday night] as a team, and we just need to keep improving so we can be at our best when we need to be at our best. Logansport’s gonna continue to improve and they’re going to battle, and they’ll be ready come the tournament. But [Thursday night] I thought we did a fairly good job of taking away some of their strengths.”

Patrick Hopkins recorded all 15 of his points and 10 of his rebounds in the second half to lead the Kats’ charge. Hopkins played just four minutes in the first half due to foul trouble.

“He really was a force in the second half,” McCauley said. “On the offensive end he had good patience in the post. Our guys did a nice job finding him and he did a nice job of sealing. And then on the defensive end, he altered a lot of shots and he rebounded well. I was very pleased with his response after kind of a rough first half.”

Hopkins picked up his third foul just 1:27 into the second half but McCauley decided to keep him in the game.

“He picked up his third early and we gambled,” McCauley said. “And he did a nice job of just contesting shots without fouling.”

The Berries shot just 6 of 27 in the second half after shooting 8 of 20 in the first and were outrebounded 26-11 in the second half after it was just a 15-14 disparity at the break.

“The first four minutes of the third quarter, they just came out and totally dismantled us,” Logan coach Mark Victor said. “Rebounding-wise they did a number on us, 41-25. That’s tough. And we weren’t shooting the ball well, so that compounds the problem. It was just one of those games.”

The Berries jumped out to a 12-3 lead to start the game, but the Wildkats pulled to a 14-14 tie after one quarter and they took a 30-26 lead at halftime. Alan Arnett scored 13 of his game-high 17 points in the first half to help the Kats get the halftime lead. Brock Barbary added eight of his 12 points in the first half.

“I thought we did a nice job of weathering the storm,” McCauley said. “Logansport’s a very good offensive team, and we really did a good job of holding them down. I think it was 30-26 at halftime, and we had some guys step up and make big plays to keep us in the game.”

Joel Gotshall scored 14 of his team-high 17 points in the first half for Logan.

“The last couple games we hadn’t gotten off to a very good start, and I thought we got off to a great start,” Logan coach Mark Victor said.

Brown added six points and a game-high 11 rebounds and five assists for the Kats.