New Palestine High School

The New Palestine boys basketball team returns home for two games vs. New Castle and Franklin Central. FRIDAY: #13/3A #6 New Palestine Dragons (3-1, 1-0 HHC) vs. New Castle Trojans (1-5, 0-1 HHC) Time: 6 p.m. JV/F, 7:30 p.m. V Site: New Palestine High School Tickets: $6/at gate or https://public.eventlink.com/tickets?t=106523 Video: IHSAAtv.org Audio: NewPalRadio.com SATURDAY: #13/3A #6 New Palestine Dragons (4-1) vs. Franklin Central Flashes (2-4) Time: 4 p.m. JV/F, 5:30 p.m. V Site: New Palestine High School Tickets: $6/at gate or https://public.eventlink.com/tickets?t=106691 Video: IHSAAtv.org Audio: NewPalRadio.com SETTING THE SCENE The Dragons continue conference play with a matchup against New Castle. The teams have played annually since 2000, with the Dragons having won the last two meetings and three of the last four. Last year, Ben Slagley’s late three-point play catapulted the Dragons to a 61-60 victory. The Dragons are ranked for the fourth consecutive week. This weekend will mark the Dragons’ final home games until Jan. 29. They will play their next nine games away from the Dragons’ Den. DRAGONS NOTES The Dragons went 1-1 last weekend, falling to Greenfield-Central 74-57 before beating Zionsville 65-53. Against Zionsville, the Dragons used a 21-1 second-half run to take control. They shot 6-6 from the floor and 5-6 from the line in the fourth quarter, and a season-best 57.5% (23-40) for the game, including 8-15 (53.3%) from deep. Julius Gizzi tallied 28 points against Zionsville, scoring 10 in the fourth quarter after giving the Dragons the lead for good with a four-point play near the end of the third. Moses Haynes added 12 of his 19 points in the second half. He was 8-10 from the floor and 3-4 from 3-point range. Friday night, Haynes had eight assists. Slagley had nine rebounds and Gizzi tallied eight. Gizzi led the Dragons with 19 points against the Cougars. Gizzi passed Kent Raymond to move to No. 4 on the Dragons’ career scoring list last weekend. He needs 105 points to pass former teammate Blaine Nunnally for third. With 88 career steals, Haynes needs three steals to move into the top five in school history. He is currentlly seventh, two back of Ian Stephens and three back of fifth-place Pat Feeney. Haynes also needs 21 assists to move into the top five. He is currently sixth with 283. Evan Darrah had a career-high 12 points Friday, then followed it up with an eight-point, four-rebound performance Saturday. The latter was a career high. Saturday, The Dragons and Flashes resume their series, which has been played intermittently since the 1938-39 season. FC leads the series 55-22, but the Dragons have won three straight, including a 75-56 win last season. Julius Gizzi scored 43 points in that contest. SCOUTING THE TROJANS New Castle is 1-5 after dropping two games last weekend to Shelbyville and Jay County. They have dropped five straight after winning their opener over Blue River. The Trojans are led by junior Mason Miller, who tallies 23.0 ppg. Landon Thompson adds 16.8 ppg and 7.8 rpg. Two other players - Alijah Turner (9.5 ppg, 7.3 rpg) and Cade Logston (9.0 ppg, 4.2 apg) - are close to double figures in scoring. SCOUTING THE FLASHES FC is 2-4 on the year against a tough schedule. The Flashes fell 53-38 to Ben Davis and then beat Bloomington North 64-59 last weekend. Darius Helm leads FC with a 10.0 ppg average. Dante Edwards and Jacob Parham each average 9.0 ppg and Raymond Hayes 8.8 for a balanced attack. The Flashes host conference foe Zionsville before facing the Dragons.