Center Grove’s Michael Ephraim snags a rebound during a game against Columbus North in Memorial Gymnasium at Columbus North High School.
Tommy Walker | For The Daily Journal
COLUMBUS
Center Grove will enter next week’s Bloomington North Sectional as the favorite, and if the Trojans have things working like they did in Thursday’s regular-season finale, they could be primed for a deep tournament run.
Class 4A No. 10 Center Grove was on top of its game at both ends of the floor, especially in the second half, in handing host Columbus North a 70-37 defeat.
“This is a great confidence builder going into the tournament,” senior Joey Schmitz said. “We want to make a state run this year, and I think this is a great starting point for us.”
Schmitz hit five second-half 3-pointers and led all scorers with 15 points. The Trojans (17-4) hit 12 of 21 3s for the game, including 10 of 14 in the second half.
“When teams go zone against us, that’s kind of a standard thing — we find the open gaps and we find the shots, and 3s usually come from that,” Schmitz said. “With the guys on our team that can hit 3s, and the percentage we shoot, I think it’s a pretty good chance we’ll hit 12 in a game.”
The Bull Dogs (6-14) were within 13-10 with two minutes left in the first quarter before Center Grove stretched the lead to 26-14 at halftime. After North opened the third quarter with a 3-pointer to cut the lead to six, the Trojans went on a 14-0 run, highlighted by a pair of 3s from Schmitz, to break it open.
Center Grove committed eight turnovers in the first half and only two in the second half.
“Honestly, I thought the first half, we were kind of sluggish a little bit,” Center Grove coach Zach Hahn said. “I thought our defense was great in the first half, but we turned the ball over a ton, seven or eight unforced. That made it tough a little bit. The second half, we shared the ball a little bit better, took more controlled shots and we hit 10 3s in the second half.”
Peyton Byrd scored 11 points for the Trojans, while Dylan Meador and Ben Chestnut each added nine off the bench. Will Spellman had eight points and eight rebounds, and 6-foot-10 center Michael Ephriam contributed six points, 12 rebounds and seven blocks.
“Their size wore us down,” North coach Paul Ferguson said. “We’re not used to playing against a 6-11 guy in the middle. Although we got to the rim a number of times, he blocked a number of them away, so that was hard to play against.”
The Trojans now turn their attention to the sectional, where they will open against Mooresville on Tuesday at Bloomington North.
“The boys have figured out their roles,” Hahn said. “They’re playing their best basketball at the end of the year, which is what we want to do. That’s every team’s goal because starting right now, everybody’s record is 0-0 in Indiana, so you have to be ready to go.”