New Palestine High School

The New Palestine boys basketball team rallied from a 13-point halftime deficit to forge a tie in the final minutes Friday, but a last-second shot by Roncalli's Luke Feldman handed the Dragons a 43-40 defeat. The Dragons are now 6-8 on the season headed into Saturday's game against Franklin. The Dragons led 17-10 in the second quarter, but Roncalli finished the quarter with a 10-1 run, hitting a late three-point play to take a 20-18 lead at the break. Roncalli extended it to 34-21 with a 14-3 run to start the third, with a basket and a free throw by Will Davison the Dragons' scoring. NP started the comeback by finishing the quarter with nine straight points. Evan Darrah, Sam Hirschy and Davison hit back-to-back baskets, and Darrah finished the quarter with a 3-pointer that drew the Dragons within four at 34-30. Liam Atkinson scored early in the fourth, but it matched a Roncalli hoop, and the Dragons trailed 36-32. Roncalli scored again to go up six, but Darrah followed with a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 38-35, and after a stop, Eli Parrett drained a triple to tie the game. A foul and two free throws gave the Royals a two-point lead with 2:36 left. After a long possession, Davison hit a contested step-back 17-footer with just over a minute to go to tie the game at 40. The Dragons forced a miss, but in the final seconds, were unable to score and gave Roncalli the ball in the final 10 seconds. The Royals set up Feldman for the game-winning shot. NP had a long heave at the buzzer fall short. Early on, the Dragons built a 12-8 first-quarter lead, bolstered by 3-pointers from Darrah and Parrett, and extended it to 17-10 on another triple by Parrett and hoop by Darrah before Roncalli closed the half on a run to take the lead. Darrah led the Dragons with 13 points, hitting three 3-pointers. Parrett tallied nine - all from behind the arc. Davison scored seven points, all in the second half. Sam Hirschy and Evan Study tallied four each. Atkinson scored two and Kade Stephens one.