Braves answer wake-up call

The Indian Creek boys basketball team may have taken Edinburgh a little lightly at the outset of Tuesday’s opening-round game in the Johnson County tournament. The Braves quickly woke up, however, and put to bed any hopes the Lancers might have had of pulling an upset.

Bryce Hogue finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds and Indian Creek turned in one of its best defensive efforts of the season, rolling past the host Lancers 63-32 to advance to Friday’s semifinal round.

The Braves (8-3) will face host and top seed Whiteland in the second semifinal matchup immediately after Greenwood and Center Grove lock horns in the 6 p.m. opener.

Determined to make amends for an 85-55 loss to the Braves in the season opener, the Lancers (4-10) came out brimming with energy Tuesday and scored the first seven points of the game. Once Hogue got Indian Creek on the board a little more than two and a half minutes in, however, the visitors quickly regained control. The Braves ended the first period on a 14-2 run, capped by a Tim Abel 3-pointer at the horn, to pull in front for good.

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Edinburgh got as close as 16-12 on a Justin Fosskuhl 3 with 4:46 to go in the half, but the Braves again pulled away, responding with a 9-2 burst over the next two-plus minutes to grow the lead back to 25-14. The margin was still 11 points at halftime, but Indian Creek sealed the outcome by outscoring the Lancers 21-7 in the third quarter. Edinburgh got no closer than 21 in the final period.

“Our effort kind of went with our shooting,” Edinburgh coach Drew Glentzer said. “The more shots we missed, the worse we got.”

Indian Creek coach Derek Perry was pleased with the defensive effort of his team, which has held two straight opponents under 40 points after some less impressive showings at that end earlier in the season. Hogue echoed the need for quality play on defense, and said the Braves cannot afford a repeat of Tuesday’s start when they travel to Whiteland.

“If we do that the first few minutes, it’ll be a blowout,” Hogue said. “We have to come out ready to play defense, and if we don’t, we’ll get blown out.

Abel added 14 points for Indian Creek, hitting four of the team’s seven 3-pointers. Jared DeHart and Trevor Ankney added nine and eight points, respectively, with DeHart adding three steals and Ankney pulling down seven boards.

Parker Bryant had 12 points to lead Edinburgh, which will attempt to bounce back in Saturday’s fifth-place game against Franklin.

“We’ve been the model of inconsistency this season,” Glentzer said. “We played terrible against Seymour, we played really good against Indy Lutheran; played terrible tonight. So I guess, the law of averages, we’re supposed to maybe play good against Franklin come Saturday.”