New Palestine High School

The New Palestine boys basketball team is on the road tonight to face unbeaten No. 10 Richmond. New Palestine Dragons (9-2) at Richmond Red Devils (16-0) Time: 6 p.m. JV/F, 7:30 p.m. V Site: Tiernan Center, Richmond Tickets: Available at gate Audio: NewPalRadio.com SETTING THE SCENE The Dragons head outside of conference play for the first time in 2024 with a trip to unbeaten Richmond. This game was originally scheduled for Nov. 22, but postponed due to the Dragons’ football team participating in the semistate. This game is the seventh meeting in the series, and the fourth time it has not been played on its originally-scheduled Thanksgiving Eve date - thrice due to the Dragons’ football success and once due to COVID-19 postponements. The Dragons and Red Devils have met nine times, with the Dragons winning seven. NP has won two straight meetings, including a 75-51 decision last year. Juluis Gizzi scored 14 points in that game. The Dragons and Richmond are both potential sectional opponents. Class 4A Sectional 9 will be played at Greenfield-Central this season. This will be the Dragons’ third game this season against a team ranked at gametime. NP is 1-1, having beaten then-3A No. 2 Delta 62-54 Jan. 5 and fallen to then-Kentucky No. 8 Newport 72-66 Dec. 29. This is one of two three-game weeks on the Dragons’ schedule. DRAGONS NOTES The Dragons’ next victory will bring Trent Whitaker into a tie with Brian Kehrt as the Dragons’ career boys basketball coaching wins leader. Whitaker has 125 wins in nine seasons. He has led the Dragons to three sectional and two HHC titles. The Dragons enter this contest on a four-game winning streak, including last Friday’s 57-54 come-from-behind victory over Pendleton Heights. The Dragons rallied from an early 20-6 deficit to take the lead early in the third and win it late. Moses Haynes’ steal and feed to Keagan Harrison gave the Dragons a 54-52 edge. After PH tied it, Julius Gizzi hit a shot to put the Dragons up for good. Gizzi scored 35 points against PH, his seventh 30-point outing in the Dragons’ last eight games and his third consecutive. He is the only player in school history to score 30 points seven times in a season. He hit 10-of-20 from the floor and 12-of-14 from the line. Gizzi scored 18 points in the last nine minutes of the first half, drawing NP back to within 34-33 at the break. Gizzi is averaging 32.8 ppg over his last eight games and 29.6 ppg for the season. He ranks third in the state in scoring. Junior Moses Haynes is one of the state’s top point guards, and showed why Jan. 5 against Delta, as he dished 13 assists in the Dragons’ victory over Delta. He is currently sixth in the state in assists at 6.3 per game. Gizzi and Slagley both reached 500 career points against Delta. Gizzi now has 565 points, Slagley 514. Gizzi has scored 326 points this season. Slagley now has 53 career blocked shots, fourth-most in school history. He needs one block to tie Seth Cox for third place. Gizzi is third in the state in scoring at 29.1 ppg, trailing International’s Philip Randolph (31.6) and Maconaquah’s Josiah Ball (30.1). Slagley (7.6) and Gizzi (7.5) are 1-2 in the HHC lead in rebounding. Haynes (6.3) leads the conference in assists, with Slagley (3.8) fourth. Haynes is fourth in steals (2.4). SCOUTING THE RED DEVILS Richmond is off to its best start since starting 18-2 in 2014-15 - a year the Red Devils went 26-4 and won the regional. The Red Devils beat Muncie Central 40-32 and Madison 54-49 last weekend. Junior Cedric Horton leads the Red Devils with 18.9 ppg. Junior Mason Carpenter adds 12.9 ppg and senior Ryder Cate 11.1 ppg. LOOKING AHEAD The Dragons finish the week with weekend games against Roncalli and No. 20 Franklin at home. It is their lone January double-weekend. FOLLOW US Follow the Dragons on Facebook (@newpalestinedragons), Twitter (@NPHSDragons), Instagram (@newpalestinedragons) and online (NewPalestineAthletics.com). All Dragons boys basketball games, home and away, are broadcast at NewPalRadio.com. All home games are also provided via pay-per-view at IHSAAtv.org. Photo credit: Aaron Smith