INDIANAPOLIS
About the last thing most teams would want to see after a 40-point conference loss is a date the following night with the No. 6 team in the nation.
For three-plus quarters, Center Grove’s boys certainly didn’t look as though they were suffering from a hangover.
The Trojans gave powerful La Lumiere all it could handle for most of the night before top-20 national recruits Keion Brooks and Isaiah Stewart helped the Lakers pull away late for a 62-48 victory in the marquee game of the Tip-Off Classic Saturday night at Southport High School.
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Even though the Trojans (4-2) suffered a second straight defeat, the team felt much better about this performance than it did about its 84-44 drubbing at Pike a night earlier.
"(Friday) night’s not what we’re about; that’s not the Center Grove basketball team we should be," senior Trayce Jackson-Davis said. "I think three quarters of tonight showed who we are and how we play."
With a who’s who of college coaches in attendance, including Kentucky’s John Calipari, Michigan State’s Tom Izzo and Indiana’s Archie Miller, it was the 6-foot-9, 245-pound Stewart who took control late, scoring 18 of his 22 points in the second half and 12 in the fourth quarter to help La Lumiere (8-0) pull away.
But prior to that, Center Grove had stayed with the Lakers stride for stride despite an All-America performance from 6-8 forward Keion Brooks, who also had 22 points.
"We dictated the tempo of the game the first three and a half quarters," Trojans coach Zach Hahn said.
Center Grove built an early 8-4 edge behind a 3-pointer from Spencer Piercefield and a spinning three-point play from Jackson-Davis in the first quarter. The Trojans led 10-6 after the opening period before the Lakers countered with an 8-0 burst to take the lead.
Despite a significant size disadvantage, the Trojans fought back, taking a 20-18 lead on two Cam Petty free throws before settling for a 23-23 halftime stalemate.
Jackson-Davis scored seven third-quarter points, including a pair of hard dunks that sent a jolt through the large crowd and gave the Trojans a brief 29-27 lead early in the period. But two Brooks free throws and a Desmond Polk 3 gave the Lakers a 34-29 lead, and the Trojans never pulled in front again.
Center Grove was nonetheless well within striking distance until La Lumiere scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter, building its advantage to 50-39 on a dunk from Stewart, who asserted himself on the block late after a quiet first half.
The combination of Stewart’s size and the length of Brooks, who was guarded for much of the night by smaller Trojans such as Petty, proved to be too much in the end.
"I tried to use my physicality, being a football player, and usually that gets into basketball players’ minds a little bit," Petty said. "I tried to do that with Keion, but when he hits a 25-footer and a little jumper over the top of you, it’s kind of hard to."
While unwilling to hand his team a moral victory, Hahn saw plenty of positives.
"I can live with our intensity and our effort tonight," he said. "I thought we played together for the first time all year, and I think that our energy and us getting on the floor for loose balls and taking charges and doing all of the little things is how we need to represent ourselves every night."
Jackson-Davis finished with 18 points and three steals for Center Grove, while Piercefield added 12.
