Published: December 27, 2008 10:31 pm      

HOOPS: Trojans tumble in Conseco matchup

No. 10 Lapel pulls away from TC in second half

INDIANAPOLIS — For most of two quarters they defied all the pollsters, the Conseco Fieldhouse onlookers and coach Jimmy Howell’s bigger and more talented Lapel Bulldogs. Tri-Central (0-5) supposedly had no business flirting with the Class 2A No. 10-rated Bulldogs (5-1) here Saturday in the second bout of the inaugural Ivy Tech Holiday Classic.

That Trojan defiance lasted all of two periods.

Lapel turned up the adrenaline at both ends, broke away from a 30-22 halftime edge to a pair of 16-point third-quarter leads, then coasted to its sixth win in seven contests, 62-41.

Simply put, TC went down for the sixth straight time.

“We never did get into our offense, but that goes back to cutting, screening and passing,” TC coach Jeff Layden said. “But you have to credit Lapel’s man-to-man defense that pushed us out on the floor and never let us get the ball to the middle as we had planned.

“We played fairly well in the first quarter, but we missed on a lot of open looks. They burned us in the third quarter, but we also had 23 turnovers to just six assists. We simply have to get more physical with the ball. But overall, I don’t feel like we played hard enough.”

The brightest Trojan moments came in the early going as they took leads of 2-0 and 5-2 on the efforts of sophomore Robby Howell and senior Austin Burton.

The Trojans, with Burton meshing 12 of his Trojan-high of 14 points, hung tough most of the initial 16 minutes in spite of icy 7-of-22 shooting and 15 turnovers. Lapel staged a 7-0 run to take over at 9-5 and was up at the first stop, 13-7, before Burton, sophomore Jake Robertson and senior Kevin Ray chopped the lead to 19-17 and 24-22.

A 6-0 Lapel run in the last 1:30 of the first half made it 30-22, and from there the Bulldogs ran the table with a 32-point, last-half siege and a defense that throttled the Trojans to seven baskets in 29 shots and 17 points.

The Trojans had few answers for 6-foot-5 Lapel junior Logan Ingle who canned 19 points and snared 11 rebounds, 13 of those tallies coming in the first act. Lapel’s Chandler Guion and Michael Pritchett then went the long-distance route in the third segment with a pair of dagger-like treys that broke it open.

Guion stung TC with 20 markers, 14 coming in the second half; Pritchett had nine key tallies and a pair of steals, and 10-of-15 last-half Bulldog charity work added to TC misery.

The Trojans were absolutely horrid afield going 2-of-11, 5-of-11, 4-of-14 and 4-of-15 by quarters (a total of 15-of-51, 24 percent), but six of their early misses came within 10 feet of the hoop. Lapel wasn’t exactly torrid, 20-of-55 (36 percent) that included a 6-of-18 second act.