Hot shooting leads juniors to win in Indiana All-Star series
LEBANON, Ind. — Kris Wilkes wasn’t pleased Tuesday night.
His group of talented Indiana juniors was shellacked by the seniors in Bloomington, losing 118-96, in the first game of the Indiana All-Star series. So Wilkes and the other Core 6 gathered up their junior counterparts from the north on Thursday — those who replaced the south from Tuesday — and told them how it would be.
“We had to,” said Wilkes, who helped the juniors to a 103-90 win at Lebanon High School Thursday night. “It was embarrassing. I’ve never been straight up whooped like that (on Tuesday). It was crazy coming out there and getting beat like that. I didn’t want to see that again. We came out here on a mission and we’re successful.”
The juniors jumped out early — that Mr. Basketball Kyle Guy was late due to graduation didn’t help the seniors’ cause — racing to a 23-10 lead. With Guy back, the seniors responded, briefly taking a first-half lead.
But it was short-lived. A late run at the end of the first gave the juniors a 47-35 edge.
Then, the underdogs — maybe — slammed the door in the second. A 16-2 run turned a seven-point lead into 21. During the stretch, Tyler Smith hit a three in transition that was almost immediately followed by a triple by Jaren Jackson Jr.
On the later, the big man grabbed a loose ball, then turned to get behind the three-point line. His shot from the right corner went through for a 64-51 lead.
“I’m very confident in my shot,” said Jackson, who scored five with seven rebounds. “I’ve been shooting it well all summer. In these games, I haven’t shot as well, but I’m not worried about that. I can turn it on.”
Another Smith three was followed by a hot stretch by Paul Scruggs, who led the juniors with 17, as he scored four of the next six. It left the juniors up 74-53 at the 12-minute mark. And they rolled from there.
“We played how we knew we could play,” Jackson said. “Before we were kind of chilling a little bit and (the seniors) played much harder than us. This time, we had a chip on our shoulder and decided to come out and show them.”
The game, which was equal parts All-Star showcase and grudge match, featured 175 shots and nearly 200 points but only 16 free throws. The juniors shot only two, hitting one.
“They played well together,” said junior coach Matt Britton, who coaches at Bloomfield High. “Anytime you score 103 points and only shoot two free throws, the offensive talent speaks for itself. But they shared the basketball, with 26 assists tonight.
“We put in some structure so it wouldn’t be just chaos, because we knew we were going to be defended. The seniors are a good team, a deep team.”
After Scruggs’ 17, with six assists and eight rebounds, Malik Williams scored 15, all on three-pointers, with six boards. Smith had 15 as well, while Jack Nunge matched Wilkes’ 14.
“We have a lot of offensive players on this team,” Jackson said. “What I have to bring isn’t offense in a setting like this. It’s defense, so changing shots, making sure I’m a good passer, just compete and be a team guy today.”
The juniors shot 50 percent, hitting half their 90 attempts, including 12-of-32 from three-point range. The seniors were led by C.J. Walker’s 18. Guy, who missed the first eight minutes before racing onto the court, had 17.
The juniors were happy to draw even.
“We knew the record coming in was pretty low,” Jackson said. “Practice time was a little different and sometimes called didn’t go our way, but we kept fighting and we ended up putting it on them.”
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