If ‘The Charlie Hughes’ displayed anything this past weekend, it revealed the Hancock County well is not dry.
The high school boys basketball showcase, that included all four Hancock County programs and a record 156 IHSAA varsity teams, was a chance to get an early preview of what to expect come November.
Hancock County squads went a combined 79-21 in 2022-23. All four teams had at least 16 wins. Two teams (New Palestine 23, Greenfield-Central 21) set single-season school records for wins in a season. Those two Class 4A teams and Eastern Hancock, in Class 2A, spent most of the season in either Associated Press or the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association state rankings.
Of 42 players listed on their combined 2022-23 rosters, 21 were seniors.
Friday-Sunday at Westfield High School and numerous locations in Carmel, the four teams — without their Class of 2023 standouts —went 12-4 in the showcase named after the long-time Hamilton County youth basketball tournament organizer.
Eastern Hancock won all four of its games. New Palestine and Greenfield-Central each went 3-1 and Mt. Vernon was 2-2.
The Royals beat a pair of Class 4A schools, Lowell (64-34) and Kankakee Valley (77-70) on Saturday, and two 1A programs, Rising Sun (57-44) and Tri-Township (77-23), on Sunday.
In a come-from-behind win over Kankakee Valley, four players had nine points or more, led by lone returning starter Kayden Ruble with 19. Last season’s sixth-man Luke Morris scored 16, including 4 of 4 free throws down the stretch.
Keying the comeback was rising-junior Myles Wennen, who scored 12 fourth-quarter points. He hit his first five shots of the quarter including a 3-pointer to give his team a 68-67 lead.
Caiden Willis and Charlie Halcomb, who along with Morris will be seniors next season, each had big scoring games over the weekend. Halcomb had six 3-pointers in the win over Rising Sun. Willis scored 21 in the victory over Tri-Township. Rising-sophomore Caiden Powers also had a double-digit scoring game.
“These kids are really coachable. They do a really good job of coming out of the huddle and executing stuff,” First-year coach Brett Bechtel, who had been the school’s junior varsity coach for over 20 years, said. “Most of these kids have played for me and they know what to expect and what’s coming.
“We need to get better defensively,” he added, after the team’s win over Kankakee Valley. “(Saturday) was, by far, the best we’ve been offensively all summer. That’s a process that’s going to take time.”
Just like in the school year when you want the team to be playing its best at the end of the season, Bechtel sees improvement from his team as it wraps up summer play in June.
“At this point in June, we are playing the best that we’ve played all summer. That’s really encouraging,” he said.
Of the county teams, no squad got more attention from college scouts than Greenfield-Central.
There to see rising-junior Braylon Mullins, Indiana, Michigan State, Marquette, Cincinnati, Ball State, Toledo, Tulane, Valparaiso and Kent State were among the NCAA Division I programs in attendance to see the 6-4 ½ guard.
Mullins tweeted out Monday he has added offers from Tulane and Kent State. He had previously received offers from IUPUI, Indiana State, Miami of Ohio, Valparaiso and Toledo.
He didn’t disappoint the onlookers.
In the team’s opening game on Saturday, he scored 30 in a 59-44 victory over Gary 21st Century. Up six at halftime 27-21, Mullins scored 15 third-quarter points to help the Cougars extend their lead to 48-33.
Mullins is one of only two starters back from last year’s 21-win club. He and starting forward Braden Robertson are the only two with ample varsity experience that played at the showcase.
Mullins scored 30 in a win over New Albany, 23 in a victory over Lutheran and 16 in a loss to Providence.
“They’ve been following him all weekend,” Greenfield-Central coach Luke Meredith said of the college scouts showing interest in Mullins, who will still just be a junior next season. “He’s coming into his own, his body and physique. He’s put on good weight. He can really shoot it and see over people at 6-4, 6-5. You saw some of his athleticism (against Gary). A couple plays he didn’t have last year he’s put in his package, which has really made him the total package. When you’re trying to take him away, that makes it hard.”
With the graduation of Hancock County Player of the Year Dylan Moles, two other starters, and another senior that played big minutes off the bench, Meredith said his players have a lot to learn as they prepare for the 2023-24 campaign.
“We’re still trying to figure out roles,” Meredith said. “We’re still trying to figure out who does what and what I’m expecting from each of these guys.”
Mt. Vernon will have the most returnees from its ‘22-23 team. The Marauders started three freshmen and a sophomore, but still lost four seniors on its roster, including three-year varsity veteran Eli Bridenthal and 3-point specialist Adam Hackett. In addition, the Marauders have a new head coach, Joe Bradburn.
With 301 wins in his career, Bradburn comes over from Greenwood High School.
The Marauders opened with a loss to a very strong Lawrence North team (57-33), beat Center Grove (56-50) and split games Saturday against Portage (winning 62-30) and Guerin Catholic (losing 60-53).
They played without rising-sophomore Julien Smith, who led the team in scoring last year at 13.1 points per game.
Luke Ertel, who was just .1 behind classmate Smith in scoring, and the team leader in assists and rebounds, had 17 in a win over Center Grove. Rising-junior Tanner Teschendorf had 11 in the victory over the Trojans and another rising-sophomore Elijah Parra scored 10.
“Lawrence North was a great challenge for us to get a gauge,” Bradburn said. “They gave us a measuring stick to what we need going forward. That’s the first time we’ve really gone through some adversity this summer. They really smacked us in that first game and we bounced back and regrouped. The guys had a better focus on offense and moved the ball better against Center Grove. They trusted each other a little more than they did in the first game.”
Bradburn added that his team is still in the learning stages of transitioning to a new coach.
“This is our second week of playing competition. It’s a learning process,” Bradburn said. “The kids have good attitudes. They’re team-oriented and support each other. It’s made it a lot of fun. We’re learning some things on the fly. We’ve learned a lot in our practices as well. It’s what you’d expect out of the summer, having fun with guys that want to compete.”
New Palestine had the best season of county teams in 2022-23, but along with graduating its two top scorers – Blaine Nunnally and Ian Stephens – the Dragons lost three other seniors that either started or had key roles coming off the bench.
Rising-juniors Ben Slagley, a starter as a sophomore, and classmates Julius Gizzi and Moses Haynes, all saw plenty of action during last year’s run that reached a regional championship game against Brownsburg.
Coach Trent Whitaker has the luxury of some experience in a strong post player in Slagley, a scorer/shooter in Gizzi and a savvy point guard in Haynes. He’s looking for those key role players to join a strong nucleus.
Over the weekend, Gizzi showed he can make up some of that graduated scoring. He averaged 23.8 points per game in four contests.
The Dragons just missed joining the Royals with a perfect 4-0 mark. They lost their final game to Warsaw 60-57. They picked up wins over Munster (70-45), Bloomington South (60-42) and Avon (66-55). Rising-sophomore Evan Darrah and rising-junior Keagan Harrison each scored double figures in the win over Munster.
“Friday (in wins over Munster and Bloomington South) we shot the ball extremely well so it came easy to us. (On Saturday) we didn’t take care of (the basketball),” Whitaker said, in letting a halftime lead to Avon slip away. “We played a more athletic team (in Avon). It was a good test. It was a little more mental toughness that we worked on (Saturday). We’ve got kids that haven’t been in that situation and that’s what the summer is all about.”
Against Avon, New Palestine was up 12 at halftime, 33-21. The Orioles came back to get within five going into the fourth quarter. The Dragons were able to put away in the final quarter, relying a lot on their most experienced players. Gizzi had 23. Slagley scored 17, including eight in the fourth quarter, and Haynes had 12.
“We’ve got three guys that are pretty steady with Mo, Julius and Ben. They’ve been there before,” Whitaker said, following the Avon game. “When things are going tough, we look to one of those guys to step up and make a play.
“We talked about all of our seniors that have been around a long time are now gone. Who’s going to step into that role? Mo’s going to do a great job of leading our team. Down the stretch he had the ball in his hands and he made the right plays that led to some layups. We’re looking to those three (veteran) guys. The question is who are going to be the guys to step into those other roles.”
