New Palestine High School

The 4-0 New Palestine boys basketball team returns home for a pair of games this weekend, starting with a key Hoosier Heritage Conference matchup against New Castle. Friday New Palestine Dragons (4-0, 1-0) vs. New Castle Trojans (4-2, 1-0) Time: 6 p.m. JV/F, 7:30 p.m. V Site: NPHS gymnasium Tickets: $6, cash at gate or https://public.eventlink.com/tickets?t=25482 Audio: NewPalRadio.com Video: https://www.ihsaatv.org/newpalestine Saturday New Palestine Dragons (4-0) vs. Franklin Central Flashes (0-5) Time: 6 p.m. JV/F, 7:30 p.m. V Site: NPHS gymnasium Tickets: $6, cash at gate or https://public.eventlink.com/tickets?t=25541 Audio: NewPalRadio.com Video: https://www.ihsaatv.org/newpalestine SETTING THE SCENE The second week of HHC play continues Friday as the Dragons meet New Castle in a matchup of teams that won their conference opener last week. The Dragons defeated Greenfield-Central 53-46, while the Trojans downed Shelbyville 50-38. Friday is the 25th meeting between the Dragons and Trojans. NP trails the all-time series 17-7. The home team has won seven of the last eight meetings. New Castle won last year’s meeting 48-37. On Saturday, the Dragons and Flashes have a history that dates back to FC’s founding in 1938. The teams have played 75 times since then, including annually since 2011. FC leads the series 55-20 but the two teams have split the last six meetings. The Dragons won last year’s contest 57-56 in OT. The Dragons are receiving votes in the IBCA Top 20 poll. DRAGONS NOTES The Dragons have started 4-0 for the first time since the 2017-18 season after last week’s victory over Greenfield-Central, marking the sixth consecutive season with a victory over the Cougars to open conference play. The Dragons hit only three 3-pointers against G-C, but they were key. Leading by one going into the final frame, Blaine Nunnally, Julius Gizzi and Bryant Nunnally drained triples on consecutive possessions to start the period and push the lead to 43-33. That run allowed the Dragons to seize control of the game. Blaine Nunnally and Ian Stephens each scored 17 points last week against G-C, the second consecutive Friday the duo tied for team-high honors. Blaine Nunnally needs 21 points this weekend to reach the 900-point milestone for his career. He is currently in 12th place on the NPHS career scoring list and needs 38 points to reach 1967 grad Royce McDougall to move into 11th. Blaine Nunnally also moved into fourth place all-time on the NPHS career assists list, passing 1993 graduate Jeff Mitchell. He has 310 career assists and needs 13 to reach 2004 graduate Kent Raymond and move into third place. He has had six assists in each of the last two games and also tied his career high against G-C with four steals. Nunnally led the HHC in assists with 4.4 apg last year, and currently leads the conference with 5.5 assists per game this season. He also is sixth in scoring at 17.3 ppg. Stephens led the HHC in rebounding last year at 9.7 per game, and currently leads the league again with 8.5 boards per game. His 18.5 ppg scoring average ranks third. SCOUTING THE TROJANS New Castle enters the week with back-to-back wins, beating Shelbyville 50-38 and Jay County 57-36 last weekend. The Trojans sport one of the league’s top 1-2 punches in 6-5 senior Gavin Welch (18.0 ppg) and 6-2 senior guard Ethan Hinton (17.4 ppg). SCOUTING THE FLASHES FC is 0-5 after a sweep last weekend, as they fell to 4A No. 1 Ben Davis 64-47 and then lost 78-43 to 3A No. 8 Norwell the next day. FC plays Hoosier Crossroads Conference foe Zionsville Friday night. Bryce Hoover (11.3 ppg) and Elijah Crockett (9.7 ppg) lead the Flashes. NEXT UP The Dragons will return to action Dec. 28-29 at the Lebanon Holiday Tournament, with the opening game at 1 p.m. Dec. 28 against Indianapolis Metropolitan. They will play at 10 a.m. Dec. 29 against Gary 21st Century or Mooresville, then play again at either 3:30, 5:15 or 7 p.m. that night.