New Palestine High School

The New Palestine boys basketball team seized control in the third quarter and never looked back Friday in a 61-51 victory at Shelbyville, giving the Dragons a piece of the Hoosier Heritage Conference title. The 10th-ranked Dragons are now 18-1 on the season and 6-0 in HHC play and have clinched at least a share of the league title. They can win it outright with a victory over Mt. Vernon next Friday. The Dragons trailed by two at halftime, but Ben Slagley had a huge third quarter. Eian Raoudebush sandwiched a pair of hoops around a basket by Slagley. Slagley then hit two free throws, a basket, another free throw and scored again, tallying seven straight points for the Dragons. Ian Stephens then hit a shot in the lane, followed by a basket by Blaine Nunnally off a steal. The Dragons forced a Shelbyville turnover in the closing seconds of the frame, and Nunnally found Julius Gizzi for a 3-pointer at the buzzer to cap a 20-point quarter and giving the Dragons a 40-31 lead going into the fourth. The Dragons outscored Shelbyville 20-9 in the third quarter, with Slagley scoring nine of the Dragons' points. In the fourth, Shelbyville scored an early three-point play to cut the Dragons' lead to six, but the Dragons responded. Slagley scored inside, Moses Haynes hit two free throws and a 3-pointer, then Nunnally followed with back-to-back hoops. In the closing minutes, Nunnally hit 7-of-8 from the line and the Dragons were 10-of-14 from the stripe in the final frame. Nunnally scored 11 of his game-high 23 points in the final quarter to help seal the victory. The Dragons fell behind 15-11 after a quarter, with Nunnally scoring five points in the opening frame. NP was held to two field goals in the second quarter, but hit five free throws and outscored Shelbyville 9-7 in the frame to cut the deficit to 22-20 at halftime. Nunnally's 23 points moved him into third place all-time on the NPHS career scoring list with 1,140 points, as he passed Kent Raymond (1,135). He needs 145 points to catch Tom Giles (1,285) in second place. Slagley added 15 points, his 11th double-figure game of the season. Stephens added seven points. Gizzi and Haynes scored five points each, Roudebush four and Bryant Nunnally two. Ollie Sandman led three Golden Bears in double figures with 16 points. The Dragons' HHC title is their fifth, joining championships won in 2000, 2003, 2013 and 2020. It's the 12th conference title overall in program history. They'll seek their second outright HHC title - the last came in 2013 - against MV next week. The Dragons are next in action Saturday at Connersville. The Dragons JV dropped a close 42-41 decision. Rigg Mahurin scored 12 points and Keagan Harrison 11.