New Palestine High School

The New Palestine boys basketball team rallied from a deficit in the final minute Tuesday to beat Guerin Catholic 67-63. Blaine Nunnally scored on a drive through contact with 15 seconds left to give the Dragons a lead and the Dragons forced a long miss on a tough shot by the Golden Eagles. Ian Stephens rebounded and hit two free throws with 1.8 seconds left and Guerin missed a three-quarter court shot off the back of the rim at the buzzer. The 10th-ranked Dragons improved to 17-1 with the victory, beginning their three-game week, which continues Friday at Shelbyville before a Saturday trip to Connersville. The Dragons led by seven on two occasions in the fourth quarter and built it to six when Julius Gizzi buried his fifth 3-pointer of the game to put NP up 57-51. Lucas Parker followed with his third fallaway jumper of the quarter to cut the lead to three, then Guerin's Kamea Chandler took over, hitting two shots between a Robert Sorenson a 3-pointer to draw the Golden Eagles within 60-59, with Ian Stephens' three-point play providing the Dragons' points. After a Dragons turnover, Chandler hit two free throws to put Guerin up 61-60 with 1:07 left. Nunnally answered by going coast-to-coast and converting a three-point play to put the Dragons up, but Chandler responded with a three-point play of his own to put Guerin up 64-63 with 30 seconds left. The Dragons missed on the other end, but fouled and saw Guerin miss the front end of a one-and-one. Nunnally went coast-to-coast with the rebound to put the Dragons up for good. It was a game of runs early. The Dragons led 10-5 as Ben Slagley scored seven points and Stephens hit a 3-pointer in the opening minutes, but the Golden Eagles responded with a 9-0 run to go up four. Gizzi then came off the bench and hit back-to-back 3-pointers and followed with a driving shot for an eight-point Dragon run to put NP up 18-14 at the break. Guerin responded to take the lead, led by Sorenson, who scored eight of his 14 points in the second quarter. He hit two free throws and hit Lucas Parker for a 3-pointer to put the Golden Eagles up 33-26 before a steal by Slagley set up a basket by Stephens in the closing seconds of the half, cutting the Dragons' deficit to 33-28. Parker opened the third quarter with a 3-pointer to put the Golden Eagles up eight, but the Dragons responded with a 17-2 run over the next four minutes to take a 45-38 lead. Nunnally led it, scoring nine points in the quarter. Stephens added five, including a 3-pointer, while Gizzi drilled a triple in the run. After a seven-point run by the Golden Eagles tied the game, Nunnally fed Eian Roudebush for a shot at the third-quarter horn to put the Dragons up 47-45. Stephens led the Dragons with 23 points, two steals and four rebounds. Gizzi added 17 points off the bench, hitting 5-of-7 from 3-point range. Nunnally added 16 points on 7-of-13 shooting, seven assists and two steals. Slagley had nine points and four rebounds. Roudebush added two points. The Dragons shot 61 percent for the game (25-41), including a blistering 72 percent (13-18) in the second half. Guerin shot 52 percent (23-44) and was led by Parker, who scored a career-high 19 points. Chandler added 16 and Sorenson 14. The contest featured 10 lead changes and five ties. The Dragons dropped the JV game 67-65. The Dragons were led by 16 points from Evan Darrah and 15 each from Rigg Mahurin and Keagan Harrison.