Published: February 09, 2008 09:53 pm            

No. 6 Catholic keeps Tri-Central winless

SHARPSVILLE — The end result was no surprise which is usually the case when “too much takes on too little” — which was precisely the case here Saturday afternoon when Lafayette Central Catholic hung Tri-Central out to dry, 80-48.

Getting double-digit scoring efforts from Dru Anthrop (20), Jade Anthrop (17), Dan Mills (17) and Cameron Loepker (12), the Class A No. 6-ranked Knights weaved and muscled their way around and through the Trojans for 32 baskets in 57 attempts (.561), with 20 assists aiding the cause.

The Knights absolutely mauled the hosts on the boards, 42-21, with 15 of those grabs coming off the offensive glass. And 16 miscues were barely visible.

“We had seen TC play several times, and we were just too big and quick for them,” Catholic coach Dave Barrett said. “We had no emotion early in the game, but we came out with more pressure in the second half and picked up the offense, and they couldn’t handle it.

“We did a better job of executing our offense in the second half,” he added, referring to LCC’s torrid 17 of 30 firing (.567) in the last two segments.

The Trojans actually enjoyed one of their best starts of the season as Justin Huddleston had a trey and deuce, Austin Burton nailed a trey and Brock Tew had a rebound basket and a free throw to help TC to an 11-7 lead — but Griffin Richeson and the 6-9 Loepker put LCC up 13-11 before Burton hit to tie it for the last time. Jade Anthrop canned a trey and deuce to put the Knights in charge, 18-13, and the Trojans would not see daylight the rest of the afternoon.

As to the big breaking points, the Knight ran off 10 straight points in the second quarter; went on an 11-0 spree in the third segment and then stung 12 straight markers in the fourth when they expanded the spread to 74-31,

“I thought we attacked them pretty well the first half. But they just got too many easy baskets, and instead of running our offense we settled for shooting threes,” TC coach Jeff Layden said, referring to TC’s anemic 3 of 16 shooting from 3-point range and an overall mark of 17 of 48 (.354).

Toss in 22 Trojan turnovers and a 21-point last half, and that gaping 32-point differential makes sense.

Justin Huddleston had 13 points for TC; freshman Robby Howell had 11, and Burton added 10.

The Knights are 12-5 overall and a perfect 4-0 in the Hoosier Heartland Conference while TC is 0-17 and 0-4. The Trojans will host Sheridan Tuesday.

        

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