New Palestine High School

The New Palestine boys basketball team used strong offensive surges to roar to a pair of victories Saturday in the Ray Furney Classic at Lawrenceburg. The Dragons won the silver bracket and finished fifth overall in the 12-team tournament, going 3-1 on the weekend. After splitting two games Friday, the Dragons beat Bethesda Christian 69-49 Saturday morning and Pike Central 91-48 in the last match. Against Bethesda, the Dragons saw the Patriots jump out to an early 8-2 lead, but Ben Slagley scored five quick points and the Dragons clawed back to within 14-11 after a quarter. In the second, Julius Gizzi warmed up, scoring 12 points in the quarter while the Dragons held Bethesda without a field goal for a long stretch, allowing NP to take a 27-21 lead at halftime. The Dragons broke it open in the third, opening the frame with a 14-4 run. Gizzi and Moses Haynes opened the frame with back-to-back 3-pointers to push the lead to double-digits. Austin McMahan scored six quick points in the quarter, while Haynes added a 3-pointer and Gizzi a three-point play to help close out the quarter, which saw the Dragons score 22 points and take a 49-33 lead going into the fourth. Alex Guhl scored four quick points to begin the fourth quarter and help the Dragons push the lead to 20. Bethesda cut the lead to 14 with a seven-point spurt, but Haynes came back into the game and hit two 3-pointers and laid off a beautiful dish to Keagan Harrison for a basket to push the lead to 64-40, the largest of the game. Gizzi led the Dragons with 24 points. Haynes added 14, including four second-half 3-pointers. Harrison, McMahan and Guhl scored six each. Slagley and Rigg Mahurin each tallied five points. Sam Mlagan led Bethesda with 17 points. Bethesda went on to beat West Morgan (Ala.) 70-46 in the seventh-place game to improve to 4-6 on the season. In the second game, the Dragons jumped on Pike Central early and never looked back in a 91-48 victory. The 91 points were the most scored in two years by a Dragons team. Gizzi and Slagley helped spur a first-quarter burst, as Gizzi scored 12 points and Slagley six in the opening frame, giving the Dragons a 25-9 lead after one. The Dragons extended it to 47-22 at halftime, with Gizzi scoring seven points in the quarter and Haynes, Harrison and Slagley tallying four each. The Dragons scored 27 points in the third quarter, as Gizzi tallied 11 and six different players scored. In the fourth, the Dragons salted the game away with Landon Seib scoring six points. . Gizzi tallied 30 points for the game, his fifth 30-point game in six outings. Slagley added 16. Haynes scored nine, Brady Armstrong and Harrison eight each, Seib six, Guhl five, McMahan four, Sam Adam three and Liam Atkinson two. Julian Gish led Pike Central (4-7) with 13 points. Gizzi was named to the All-Tournament Team after scoring 119 points - a 29.8 average - in the Dragons' four games. The Dragons are now 7-2 on the season. They next play Jan. 5 at home against Delta.