Spencer Piercefield’s hot hand got the Center Grove boys basketball team rolling on Tuesday night but many Trojan hands helped to make light work of Perry Meridian.
Piercefield hit six 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 22 points, leading nine Center Grove players in the scoring column during a 71-54 road win against the Falcons.
“It was 1 through 10 tonight,” Center Grove coach Zach Hahn said. “We didn’t do everything right, but we played hard and we played together, and I told the kids we can live with that every game — as long as you play hard and play together, I can live with it.”
Piercefield helped stake the Trojans to a brief double-digit lead in the second quarter. The sophomore hit three 3-pointers in a span of 79 seconds and senior Travis Roehling added another with two and a half minutes left in the half to put Center Grove up 26-16. The Falcons fought back, using a late 7-0 run to get within 26-23 by the break.
In the third period, though, Piercefield got it going again, hitting two more from long range as the Trojans opened the second half with a 12-4 surge, building their advantage back up to double digits at 38-27.
“I was hitting in warmups,” Piercefield said. “My teammates did a good job finding me, and once I see a couple go in it’s pretty good from there.”
When Perry Meridian stretched out its defense to shut off the 3-point spigot, Center Grove did its damage elsewhere, getting baskets in the paint from Kas Oganowski, Lucas Doyle and Parker Ferguson to take a 46-33 cushion into the fourth.
Trayce Jackson-Davis scored the game’s next two buckets down on the block, giving the visitors a comfortable 17-point lead, and the Falcons got no closer than 11 down the stretch. Perry Meridian’s comeback hopes were dashed largely by Center Grove’s impeccable performance at the foul line.
The Trojans, who had just two attempts from the line in the first three quarters, finished the night 15 of 16. Ben Nicoson came in cold in the fourth quarter and hit 6 of 6 free throws, and Piercefield and Nate McLain were each 4 for 4.
Jackson-Davis had 12 points for Center Grove, while Oganowski had nine, McLain eight and Travis Roehling seven.
Being able to close out the win was big for a young Center Grove team still learning on the fly.
“It boosts our confidence,” Piercefield said. “We had two 10-point leads that we’ve blown and lost, so to get this one and extend it to a 20-point win, it’s good for us.”
