New Palestine High School

The New Palestine boys basketball team hits the road Tuesday to face a top-five 3A team in Guerin Catholic. TUESDAY: (IBCA #18) New Palestine Dragons (14-4) at (AP 3A #4) Guerin Catholic Golden Eagles (15-6) Time: 6 p.m. JV/7:30 p.m. V Location: Guerin Catholic High School, Carmel Tickets: $6, cash/credit at gate or https://public.eventlink.com/tickets?t=60384&p=92120 Audio: NewPalRadio.com SETTING THE SCENE The Dragons head to Guerin Catholic for a midweek matchup of ranked teams. The Dragons are ranked in the IBCA all-class poll, while the Golden Eagles - the defending 3A state runner-up - are in the top five in the AP Class 3A poll. This is the third meeting between the two teams. The Dragons have won both, including a 67-63 decision last year in which Julius Gizzi scored 17 points. Guerin is the Dragons’ second Circle City Conference opponent. NP eat Roncalli 77-60 Jan. 19. DRAGONS NOTES The Dragons enter the week on a two-game winning streak, having swept Perry Township last week - beating Perry Meridian 71-52 and Southport 73-60 last weekend. The Dragons had big individual performances in both games. Julius Gizzi tallied 27 points against Perry Meridian along with eight rebounds. Moses Haynes had 10 assists - his second 10-assist game of the year. Ben Slagley had 11 points and seven rebounds. The Dragons shot 53 percent from the floor (27-51) and outrebounded the Falcons 31-17. In Saturday’s game against Southport, the Dragons trailed by five in the third quarter before going on a 14-4 run to take the lead and ultimately pulling away to a 13-point victory. Gizzi scored 37 points - the second-highest total of his season and the 10th-highest in school history. He added nine rebounds. Slagley had seven points and 12 rebounds - the highest total for a Dragon this season on the glass. Haynes had 11 points, four rebounds and nine assists. Austin McMahan added 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Gizzi is the state’s second-leading scorer at xx.x ppg. Last weekend, he moved into second place on the NPHS single-season scoring list with 551 points. He needs 57 points to tie his older brother Maximus’ single-season school record of 608 points. Haynes is also moving up the charts. With 19 assists in two games last weekend, he now has 112 on the season. He needs 26 to reach Jeff Mitchell’s single-season mark of 138 set in 1992-93. Slagley had four blocks against Southport. He now has 61 for his career and is in third place on the school single-season list. He needs 21 to catch Jeff Guerin (1991-93) for second. Haynes is seventh in the state in assists (6.2 apg). He leads the HHC in assists. Slagley is fourth in assists (3.5 apg). Gizzi (7.8) and Slagley (7.1) are first and third in the HHC in rebounding. Haynes is also fifth in the HHC in steals (2.0). SCOUTING THE GOLDEN EAGLES xxx. LOOKING AHEAD The Dragons finish their second three-game week of the year with a home weekend, as HHC foe Shelbyville visits Friday and Connersville travels to the Dragons’ Den Saturday. 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.