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The second night of the 2011-2012 season took us to New Castle. There weren’t many games on the schedule for the night plus it was a chance to see New Castle’s Steven Bennett and Blue River’s Kyle Gross.

New Castle jumped on Blue River early with an 11-2 run to start the game. New Castle was scoring lay-ups off of simple “UCLA cuts” and other simple cuts. Kyle Gross struggled on the offensive end for Blue River. He knew he needed to score in a big way for his team to have a chance and he forced it. It was 24-8 in New Castle’s favor after one period.

It looked like Blue River might get back into the game in the second quarter behind Kevin Koutz. He was able to hit a couple of 3’s and then an “and 1” play. Blue River cut the deficit to 31-18, but they couldn’t get defensive stops when they needed them. New Castle led 41-24 at the half.

New Castle set the tone right away in the second half that there was not going to be a big comeback. They were the more aggressive team and also hit open 3’s when they were left open. New Castle cruised to the 88-52 win.

Steven Bennett led New Castle with 18 points on 6-15 shooting. Fellow junior Korey Ryan had 17 points including 5-6 from 3. Kyle Gross had just 6 points for Blue River on 2-13 shooting.

This game wasn’t very competitive so I’m just going to give player evaluations instead of a full game report.  The first half wasn’t clean, but Lake Central led 34-23 at halftime. Things were close because of the play of sophomore Arnold Wilson from West Side. He was the only one making plays for West Side.

After three quarters it was still close with Lake Central up 45-36, but Wilson picked up his fourth foul early in the period. West Side just couldn’t find anyone else who could score. When Wilson was in the game, he began to force shots instead of getting the good looks that he got in the first half.

Tyler Wideman picked up two technical fouls in the second half; one for hanging on the rim after a missed dunk and the other for pushing a player after the whistle. Fortunately for him and the interested fans, he will not have to miss Saturday’s game against Hamilton Southeastern. The rule was changed after DeJuan Marrero picked up two technical fouls for hanging on the rim in a regional game. That forced him to sit out the next game in the state tournament which Bowman Academy ended up losing without Marrero. The IHSAA changed the rule so that both technical fouls have to be for unsportsmanlike behavior. The main advantage Lake Central has in the game against Hamilton Southeastern is Wideman inside. It would have been a huge blow to LC’s chances.

Lake Central blew the game wide open in the fourth quarter and cruised to a 72-47 victory. Glenn Robinson, III (Michigan signee) led all scorers with 25 points. Tye Wilburn (2014) had 15 points for Lake Central. Arnold Wilson (2014) led West Side with 17 points.