Nick Anderson proved to be one of the best shooters to come out of the state in recent memory during his senior year at Lake Central High School. He scored 25 points per game for Dave Milausnic while shooting 47.1 percent from three. Throughout his senior yeat at LC, Anderson went from a D3 recruit to drawing D1 interest. However, COVID put an end to spring recruiting for the D1 programs looking at him, and Anderson wound up at D2 Barry University in Florida.
Anderson progressed each season at Barry. As a senior, he averaged 17 points per game and almost led his team to the NCAA Tournament by pushing No. 1 Nova Southeastern to the limit in the conference tournament final.
Anderson decided to use his fifth season at the D1 level, and he is thriving for Furman University in the Southern Conference.
Brady Scholl stole the show as No. 10 Northridge (12-2) beat No. 17 Penn (9-7) 63-54. Scholl made two game-changing defensive plays down the stretch for the Raiders. First, he chased down Penn freshman star Caleb Coolman to erase a layup. A minute later, Scholl picked the pocket of a Penn ball-handler and took the turnover in for a dunk. The two plays by Scholl helped Northridge secure the road victory.
Scholl finished with 21 points, ten rebounds, and seven blocks. Coolman had a game-high 27 points in the losing effort.
Early on, Northridge’s Hayden Johnson was on fire from three. He made all four of his three-point attempts in the first half. He also hit a difficult baseline step back in the second quarter. Johnson scored 16 points in the first half.
Scholl began to make his impact from the tip on the defensive end first, then started to score more later in the first half. The athletic center blocked three shots in the first quarter to stall the Penn offense.
The Penn offense came from freshman Coolman in the first quarter. He scored eight of Penn’s ten points in the stanza. Coolman knocked down two first-quarter threes and added another in the second period. Coolman had 13 first-half points.
Ethan Good came off the bench to score the other eight first-half Penn points, including a fastbreak and-one and a pull-up three off a ball screen.
Northridge looked poised to blow the doors off Penn in the third quarter after Kam Radeker made a couple of threes. His transition triple pushed Northridge’s lead to 44-28, but Penn quickly responded. Good hit a fallaway three from the right side at the third-quarter buzzer.
Johnson scored on a drive to extend Northridge’s lead back to 14 with under six minutes to play. Once again, Coolman and Good answered for the Kingsmen.
Penn had it back to an eight-point game when Coolman stole the ball from Scholl. A six-point deficit looked imminent, but Scholl had other plans. The play seemed consequential at the moment and even more significant in retrospect.
Despite Coolman and Good combining for nine three-pointers, Penn could not get closer than eight points the rest of the game.
Johnson finished with 21 points, four rebounds, and two assists for the Raiders. Mason Bales played a steady role for Northridge throughout the game, recording 11 points, five rebounds, and four assists. Radeker tallied eight points, five assists, and four rebounds.
Coolman went for 27 points on five of ten from three-point range. He also added five rebounds and three assists. Good finished with 18 points. John Bedient posted four points, two rebounds, and two assists.
In a crosstown 3A matchup, No. 1 Saint Joseph hosted No. 11 Washington in South Bend on Thursday night. Washington jumped out to an 11-2 lead behind two three-pointers from Steven Reynolds III, then he found Gabe Burgin for a layup to give the Panthers a nine-point lead early in the contest. The game was all St. Joe's from there. The Huskies kept scoring, while Washington had trouble handling the ball. St. Joe had the game in control by midway through the second quarter and coasted to the 96-53 victory.
Unsigned senior Chase Konieczny scored 31 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead the way for the Huskies. Nick Shrewsberry added 25 points and seven rebounds, while sophomore Elijah King scored 18 points and collected eight boards. Reynolds scored 20 to lead Washington.
The game was hectic from the tip, but that looked to favor Washington early. Reynolds hit two difficult stepback threes within the first two minutes of the game. Burgin was playing well on both ends, and St. Joe's could not get the ball to drop. They had multiple point-blank shots in the opening minutes that would not go through the hoop.
However, once the Huskies popped the lid off the hoop, it was an avalache the rest of the way. St. Joe's scored 31 points in the second quarter, and followed it up with 32 in the third. For good measure, the Huskies outscored Washington 21-5 in the final stanza.
Shrewsberry made five of nine three-point attempts, and Konieczny dominated inside the arc. King had a fantastic third quarter for St. Joe's to erase all doubt in the game's outcome.
Junior guard Ethan Roseman peppered the statsheet with ten points, six assists, and five rebounds. He gets the ball where it needs to be for the Huskies.
2021 Lafayette Jeff graduate Brooks Barnhizer took over the game against Indiana on Wednesday, leading Northwestern to the 79-70 victory. The all-around performance has been a consistent thing this season for Barnhizer. He made the All-Big Ten third team last year and is poised to improve that in his senior year.
Barnhizer was a 2021 Indiana All-Star before enrolling at Northwestern University.
Here is a look at his clutch performance against Indiana, his high school career, and how he has progressed throughout his four years at Northwestern.
Senior guard Dominique Murphy caught fire from three-point range in the first half to give East Chicago Central breathing room against Chesterton. The Trojans battled to make it a game in the second half, but Murphy and Jamarie Pollard were too much for Chesterton. The Cardinals won 72-56.
Murphy usually operates in the mid-range. ECC began the game by trying to post Murphy, but it was the transition game where Murphy started to roll. He knocked down three three-pointers on fastbreaks in the first half to build an East Chicago Central lead.
Speaking of three-pointers, Chesterton's Logan Pokorney nailed three after three for the Trojans. He has a smooth, quick, consistent release which makes it surprising when Pokorney misses an open shot. The junior finished five of seven from deep. He also showed quickness and agility off the dribble to tally 21 points in the loss.
East Chicago's Greg Williams made a defensive impact with three blocks, two steals, and a couple of rebounds. Williams also gave ECC 11 points on the offensive end.
Chesterton sophomore point guard TJ Ray dished out eight assists by driving and finding outside shooters like Pokorney. He also scored eight points in the loss.