New Palestine High School

The New Palestine boys basketball team hits the road for two games this weekend. FRIDAY (13/3A 6) New Palestine Dragons (11-2) at Roncalli Royals (10-3) Time: 4:30 p.m. F/6 p.m. JV/7:30 p.m. V Site: Roncalli HS Tickets: $6/cash at gate or online https://public.eventlink.com/tickets?t=111184 Audio broadcast: NewPalRadio.com SATURDAY (13/3A 6) New Palestine Dragons (11-2) at Franklin Grizzly Cubs (4-8) Time: 6 p.m. F-JV/7:30 p.m. V Site: Franklin HS Tickets: $7/at gate Audio broadcast: NewPalRadio.com SETTING THE SCENE The Dragons travel to Roncalli to resume their series. The two schools have played annually since the 2012-13 season, but this will be their first meeting as potential sectional opponents since 2003. Both teams are in the Class 3A Shelbyville sectional this year. Roncalli leads the all-time series 11-6, but NP has won three straight meetings, including a 67-60 win last year in which Julius Gizzi scored 36 points and Moses Haynes 19. This weekend marks the end of a nine-game road swing for the Dragons that began with the Ray Furney Memorial Tournament at Lawrenceburg Dec. 27, and has included five scheduled road games in addition to the four tourney games. Saturday, the Dragons and Grizzly Cubs meet for the 30th time, and the 13th consecutive year. Franklin won 81-67 last season and leads the all-time series 19-10. This will be the Dragons’ fourth of five games against a Mid-State Conference team. NP is 3-0 against the Mid-State this season. DRAGONS NOTES The Dragons are 3-0 in 2025 after knocking off Pendleton Heights 59-51 last Friday. Julius Gizzi scored 23 points and Moses Haynes added 10 points and nine assists. The Dragons shot 52.2% from the floor (24-46) in the road victory. The Dragons’ magic number has been 60 this season. When the Dragons hold a team to fewer than 60 points this season, they are 11-0. Gizzi has scored 20+ points in 11 of the Dragons’ 13 games this season. He now has 1,373 career points and needs 239 to catch his older brother Maximus, the Dragons’ career scoring leader. He is currently ninth in the state and second in the HHC in scoring at 24.9 ppg. Over the last six games, Austin McMahan is avearging 10.3 ppg. He is shooting 78.9% from the field (30-38) in that stretch. Haynes ranks fifth in the state in assists at 7.4 apg. Haynes leads the HHC in assists, while Slagley is third (4.6 apg). Slagley leads the HHC in blocks (1.4 bpg) and is third in rebounds (6.9 rpg). Haynes is closing in on a pair of records. He has 107 career steals, eight shy of Maximus Gizzi’s mark of 115. He also has 351 career assists, 72 back of recordholder Blaine Nunnally. SCOUTING THE ROYALS The Royals are 11-3 on the season. They have dropped two of their last three games, but avenged one of those losses when they beat Franklin Central 62-59 in the Marion County Tournament. A pair of juniors lead the Royals. Conner Kesler tallies 13.2 ppg, while Joe Taylor tallies 11.2 points and a team-best 7.0 rebounds per game. SCOUTING THE GRIZZLY CUBS This will be Franklin’s third game of the week. They lost to Shelbyville in overtime Tuesday after building a 10-point halftime lead. They play Whiteland Friday. Kolt Nelson leads the Grizzly Cubs, talling 14.3 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. Senior Jayce Nielson adds 9.7 ppg and junior Tony Barnes 8.7 ppg.