New Palestine High School

The New Palestine boys basketball team took command early Tuesday night and never let up in a 75-31 sectional-opening victory over Rushville. The Dragons (22-3) advance to face Beech Grove (8-15) in Friday's 6 p.m. semifinal at Garrett Gym in Shelbyville. The 44-point margin is the largest-ever margin of victory for the Dragons in 193 state tournament games, eclipsing an 89-58 win over Trafalgar in the 1967 Whiteland sectional. Julius Gizzi hit a jumper 10 seconds into the game to start things off, and the Dragons never looked back. He scored the game's first five points, then Austin McMahan hit a 3-pointer to put NP up 8-0. Rushville tallied four straight, but Will Davison buried back-to-back triples to push the lead to 14-4 and the advantage would never dip below single digits the rest of the game. Davison tallied eight first-quarter points and Gizzi seven to give NP a 22-8 lead after one. The Dragons blew it open in the second quarter, scoring 36 points to go up 58-14. The Dragons opened the frame on a 23-2 run, fueled by eight points from Gizzi and seven from McMahan, to go up 45-10. Gizzi would finish with 11 points in the quarter to give him 18 for the first half. McMahan added a late dunk to give himself 12 points at halftime. Moses Haynes hit two 3-pointers to score eight points in the frame, while Keagan Harrison and Evan Darrah also each hit triples. The Dragons opened the third quarter with 10 straight points before beginning to sub their starters out in the middle of the frame. The lead got as high as 54 points. Gizzi finished the night with 20 points, playing two and a half quarters, and became the first Dragon to tally 1,700 career points. McMahan tallied 14, one off his career high. Haynes added 11 points, while Harrison and Davison scored eight each. Darrah and Ben Slagley scored six each, while Sam Hirschy scored two. Rushville had two double-figure scorers - Zy Adams had 11 and Xxzavien Jenkins tallied 10. Sectional play continues Wednesday with Roncalli facing host Shelbyville and Greenwood meeting Indian Creek. The winners of Wednesday's games will meet in Friday's second semifinal. The championship game is slated for 7 p.m. Saturday at Shelbyville.