New Palestine High School

The New Palestine boys basketball team finished the third and started the fourth quarter with a furious rally, but Guerin Catholic's offense turned out to be too much for the Dragons as NP dropped a 72-61 decision Tuesday at Guerin. Will Davison scored 24 points to lead the Dragons. Evan Darrah added 18. They combined to lead the Dragons back from a 37-28 third-quarter hole, as they started bombing 3-pointers. Darrah and Cael Butler each hit one to draw NP within 37-34. Guerin answered with a three-point play, but Darrah and Davison each hit one - answered by another Guerin triple - to cut the deficit to 43-40. A free throw by Butler and another 3-pointer by Darrah drew the Dragons within one at 45-44 after three. The Dragons briefly took the lead as Davison scored on an out-of-bounds play, but it was short-lived. On the ensuing possession, Guerin's Jake Grissom drove inside and scored, and 6-8 center Alex Wall had a three-point play to put Guerin up 50-44. While the Dragons kept fighting back - Grissom and the Golden Eagles were able to keep the spread game at two possessions the rest of the way. Grissom scored 16 of his game-high 37 points in the final frame. Davison scored six points and Darrah seven for the Dragons, but the Golden Eagles were 11-of-14 from the floor in the final quarter. The Dragons started out hot, building early leads of 5-1 and 8-5. Darrah hit an early 3-pointer and scored five in the opening frame. Davison added four, but a late Guerin run gave the Golden Eagles a 20-12 lead after one, as Grissom scored 10 of Guerin's first 11 points and had 12 points in the quarter. The Dragons switched to a zone and slowed the Golden Eagles down, but not after they opened the second quarter with five straight points to extend their run to 12 straight, and take a 25-12 edge. The Dragons battled back, as Davison hit two 3-pointers and scored eight points in the second quarter. Sam Hirschy added four despite battling foul trouble. NP got as close as three and trailed 31-26 at the break. The Dragons were 6-of-7 from the floor in the third quarter - 5-of-6 from deep - in cutting their deficit to one, but were 4-of-10 in the fourth . In addition to the two double-figure scorers, Butler and Hirschy scored six points each. Evan Study had four. Eli Parrett tallied three. The Dragons are now 9-9 on the season. They next play Friday at home against Shelbyville.