New Palestine High School

The New Palestine boys basketball is no stranger to fast starts. But Saturday night at Delta, the Dragons carried their fast start throughout the game, building an early double-digit lead, extending it to 20 at halftime and rolling to a 69-56 victory. The Class 3A No. 7 Dragons improved to 10-2 with the victory, while Delta fell to 9-2. NP scored the game’s first eight points - including 3-pointers from Moses Haynes and Julius Gizzi sandwiched around a basket by Austin McMahan - but most impressively, the Dragons locked Delta down on the other end. NP held Delta to 13 first-half points - leading 17-6 after a quarter and extending it to 33-13 at the break. Delta began the game in a 2-3 zone, and the Dragons threw a couple of quick haymakers. Gizzi and Haynes each hit two triples in the opening frame to give NP a nine-point lead, which forced the Eagles out of their zone into a man-to-man. In the second quarter, Gizzi attacked the basket, scoring seven points and earning three trips to the line. McMahan added four more points inside as the lead quickly was pushed into the teens. Delta was held to one second-quarter field goal and six points in the frame. Delta warmed up offensively in the third quarter - but couldn’t dent the Dragons’ lead. The Eagles cut it to 17 early in the third, but a basket by Gizzi and a triple by Haynes made it 42-20, and that continued. Delta equaled its first-half output in six minutes of the third quarter, hitting three 3-pointers in the frame - but still trailed by 19 going into the fourth, as Haynes hit two more triples against Delta’s 2-3 and 1-3-1 zones. Gizzi and Haynes scored six points each in the quarter. The Dragons pushed the lead as high as 23 - at 61-38 - before beginning to pull their starters in the final half of the fourth quarter. Gizzi led the Dragons with 24 points, with his 15 first-half points outscoring the entire Delta team. Haynes hit four 3-pointers en route to 18 points. McMahan added eight points, in addition to drawing the defensive assignment on Delta’s leading scorer Jordan Furney, who was held to 10 points. Bronson Edwards led the Eagles with 11 points, scoring eight after halftime. Evan Darrah added six points, while Will Davison, Ben Slagley and Liam Atkinson scored three each. Kegaan Harrison and Eli Parrett scored two each. The Dragons are next in action Friday at Pendleton Heights. The Dragons also won the JV game 57-41.