Indian Creek sophomore Landon Sichting (24) has a 20.4 scoring average this season, tops among Johnson County boys basketball players.
Daily Journal file photo
Indian Creek began the season in a most humiliating manner — losing at home by 36 points to an opponent missing its top two players.
There was, Braves coach Drew Glentzer readily admits, only one direction to go.
To Indian Creek’s credit, it’s heading that way, winning seven of its last eight games for a 7-3 record entering tonight’s Johnson County tournament opener at Whiteland.
“At the beginning of the year, we weren’t what I would call real healthy,” said Glentzer, now in his sixth season. “Two weeks was not a long enough period of time for us to be ready to play games.
“We started three sophomores, so our kids just needed to get used to being in games together.”
As ninth-graders, 6-foot-4 wing Landon Sichting and guard Adam Crouch were integral parts of what the Braves were doing last season. Sichting was basically a starter from Day 1; Crouch emerged as a scoring threat in the waning stages of the 2021-22 campaign.
The two have taken that momentum and run with it.
Sichting leads Indian Creek with averages of 20.4 points and 7.4 rebounds. He poured in 33 points in a 61-60 loss at Martinsville in which the Artesians scored at the buzzer, and 30 in a 72-39 rout of Owen Valley that placed the Braves in the win column after a 0-2 start.
He’s scored in double figures in all 10 of the Braves’ games this season.
Crouch scores at a 16.6 clip to go along with his 4.3 boards and 2 steals per contest. Those numbers include three outings in which he scored between 24 and 26 points.
Other starters are 6-5 sophomore center Bobby Emberton (7.9 ppg, 6.3 rpg), junior guard Payton Modlin (4.8 points, 5.2 boards, 5.3 assists) and the team’s lone senior, guard Aiden Pemberton (3.9 ppg, 2.2 apg). First off the bench are juniors Trent Volz and Brady Connell, as well as soph Brayden Lowhorn.
“We’re starting to come together more as a team,” Sichting said. “At the beginning of the season, we didn’t have a lot of experience. But we’ve started moving the ball around more and we’re really connected as a team.
“Our first win really got our confidence going.”
Even in the loss at Martinsville, the Braves demonstrated serious grit after falling behind 25-13 after one quarter and still trailing by a dozen points at halftime. Their rally fell short, but Glentzer sensed that progress had been made.
Indian Creek was 47-24 over Glentzer’s first three seasons, but dropped to marks of 10-15 in 2020-21 and 5-17 last winter (the program’s lowest number of wins this century).
It’s human nature to see the young talent on this Indian Creek roster and project big things the next two seasons. But this season is shaping up to be special in its own right.
“I think our players got more confidence when they won the game against Owen Valley,” Glentzer said. “Then they won another game, and then they won another game. Winning at Edgewood (55-46 on Dec. 16), that was a place where we had never won.
“They tried to be physical with us, like, ‘You guys are sophomores.’ But we battled through. The kids are buying in and listening, which is good. All these guys, they just keep getting better every day.”
IF YOU GO
Johnson County tournament
Today
Greenwood Christian at Franklin, 7 p.m.
Edinburgh at Greenwood, 7:30 p.m.
Indian Creek at Whiteland, 7:30 p.m.
Friday (at Whiteland)
GCA/Franklin vs. Edinburgh/Greenwood, 6 p.m.
Indian Creek/Whiteland vs. Center Grove, 7:45 p.m.
Saturday (at Whiteland)
Championship, 7 p.m.
