Bob Wettig Memorial Tournament Recap

The 2017 Bob Wettig Memorial Tournament wrapped up Friday in Richmond. Here’s a recap of the action from the final day.

Tindley vs. Cathedral

In the Bob Wettig Memorial Tournament championship game, Cathedral started things off with a bang as Armaan Franklin threw down an alley-oop off of a feed from Jarron Coleman. The Irish raced out to an 11-3 lead early in the game. The early deficit was more troubling for Tindley when Eric Hunter picked up his second foul just four minutes into the game. He had to be more cautious the rest of the half. Cathedral took advantage of his foul trouble by posting Jarron Coleman and Armaan Franklin frequently. Coleman and Franklin had a field day against the smaller Tindley defenders and a reluctant Hunter. Franklin tallied 17 points in the first half.

With Hunter being blanketed by Franklin, Tindley used a balanced scoring effort in the first half. KJ Coleman, Sincere McMahon and Joe Johnson all stepped up to take some of the scoring burden off of Hunter. Behind the even scoring, Tindley only trailed by four points at halftime.

Cathedral wasted no time in the second half trying to attack the post match-ups once again. It helped the Irish open up a 13-point lead to begin the half. Tindley didn’t back down and quickly closed the gap.

Tindley was within four at 48-44 before Cathedral took full control of the game. Cathedral didn’t attempt a shot out of the lane in the fourth quarter. They were focused on using their size advantage to score in the paint or crash the offensive glass. Cathedral had 15 offensive rebounds for the game compared to three for TIndley.

As Cathedral pulled away late, the story of the game was Armaan Franklin. He was excellent on both ends of the floor. The 2019 wing had the task of defending Eric Hunter the entire game. Hunter was able to get some solid looks throughout the game but nothing was easy. It was impressive that Franklin could defend a player like Hunter then score 30 points on 10-16 shooting. Behind that effort, Armaan Franklin was named the tournament’s MVP.

Cathedral won 64-50. Franklin finished with 30 points and six rebounds. Jarron Coleman filled the stat sheet with 12 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. Eric Hunter finished with 13 points, Joe Johnson and KJ Coleman each had 12 and Sincere McMahon added 10 for Tindley.

Cathedral vs. Connersville

In the first semifinal, Cathedral was given a test from Connersville. Garrett Silcott’s slashing ability kept Connersville in it until the fourth quarter. In the end, Jarron Coleman was able to create too much offense for Connersville to handle.

Cathedral won 63-46.

Richmond vs. Tindley

In the other semifinal, Richmond led for most of the first half and parts of the second before Eric Hunter led Tindley to the victory. Hunter finished with 26 points, eight rebounds, six assists and four steals. Tindley had its hands full with Christian Harvey. The Richmond senior wanted to prove his worth against the Big Ten-bound Hunter. Harvey finished with 28 points, five rebounds and five assists.

The game was decided when Harvey couldn’t finish in the lane and Richmond missed a three-pointer off the offensive rebound while being down two. After the missed three-pointer, Sincere McMahon finished in the lane and added the foul to put Tindley up five points. Richmond couldn’t get over the hump after that.

Tindley won 63-60. Sincere McMahon added 20 points in the win. Rickie Wedlow finished with 14 in the loss for Richmond.

Greensburg vs. South Bend Adams

Greensburg came out running and scoring with little resistance from Adams. The Pirates opened a double-digit lead within minutes. The trio of Andrew Welage, Lane Sparks and Drew Comer were slicing and dicing Adams for easy baskets and clean jumpers early.

Upset with the play of his starters, Chad Johnston went to his bench. The bench players responded in the second quarter. Adams was able to cut the deficit to 12 points in the second period. Greensburg regrouped to take a 17-point lead into intermission.

Greensburg’s lead fluctuated in the second half but it was in the 15-point range for most of it. Adams caused problems with its full-court pressure. Adams was able to make it a seven-point game in the fourth quarter. Greensburg had enough firepower behind Welage and Sparks to escape with the victory, though.

Shakell Johnson was the workhorse for Adams. He’s an extremely undersized power forward, but he makes up for it with his toughness, athleticism and energy. Johnson has been that way throughout his high school career. He finished with 27 points and 10 rebounds.

Greensburg won 84-73. Andrew Welage was 10-10 from the field on his way to 26 points and nine assists. Lane Sparks added 26 points on 10-13 shooting. Drew Comer contributed 16 and Mason McLeod scored 14.

Portage vs. Shelbyville

The fifth place game was never in doubt thanks to the early play of Brock Blackwell. He scored a quick 12 points in the first the quarter. His finishing around the paint pushed Shelbyville to a double-digit lead in the opening period. Zach Kuhn took over from there for Shelbyville. The 2019 shooter scored 12 of his 26 points in the second quarter. He added eight rebounds to his game-high 26 points as well.

Shelbyville won 84-51. Sam Lewis added 15 points in the win. Greg Milledge led Portage with 10 and James Havrilla added nine.

Richmond vs. Connersville

Noah Belt was aggressive from the start in the consolation game. He tallied 16 points in the first half to give Connersville a cushion at the break. Connersville took complete control of the game in the third quarter behind Belt and Garrett Silcott. Those two helped Connersville to a 20-point lead.

Connersville won the third place game by the margin of 62-33. Belt finished with 23 points, Silcott added 14. Christian Harvey scored 14 in the loss.