Center Grove senior Will Spellman attempts a shot over a Greenwood defender earlier this season.
Daily Journal file photo
Center Grove boys basketball reaches back to an era when final scores in the low 20s were considered an offensive free-for-all.
So much history — this is the Trojans’ 108th season — virtually guarantees some unusually tall ball clubs along the way, particularly in more recent decades.
Precisely where the current squad ranks isn’t known, but it is part of the dialogue.
Center Grove’s starting front line typically includes three of the following four players: 6-foot-6 Will Spellman, 6-7 Peyton Byrd, 6-10 Michael Ephraim and 6-7 Ben Chestnut.
And while it looks great on the roster, God-given leverage never assures success.
The current squad continues to adjust. The Trojans opened with a pair of victories, lost three of their next four games, then won by sizable margins against Martinsville, Whiteland and Perry Meridian. Most recently, Center Grove dropped a heartbreaking 66-65 home decision in overtime against undefeated Fishers, the top-ranked club in Class 4A.
Last season’s 22-3 finisher was a guard-oriented group. This time, not so much.
“I mean, it’s a balance. We have to do things differently than we’ve done in the past,” Trojans coach Zach Hahn said. “There are different coverages defensively. There is a completely different philosophy offensively from what we were last year.
“This year, we’re trying to play inside out and pound the ball inside. As a coach, you have to make adjustments. You’re not always going to have the same group to go run the same offense, the same defense year after year.”
It’s a process, he says, that requires time.
The 2022-23 Trojans put up an average of 24.5 attempts per game from two-point range, a number that’s been bumped up to 26.9 through the first nine games this season. This CG squad grabs an average of 24.9 boards per outing compared to 23.2 a year ago.
Center Grove’s last truly tall squad, the 2010-11 group under Hahn’s predecessor, Cliff Hawkins, likely experienced similar challenges.
Eventual Indiana All-Star Andy Smeathers checked in at 6-7. Among the others on Hawkins’ roster were Tyler Gliesmann (6-5), John Degenhardt (6-7), Joe Reed (6-8) and Nate Wozniak (6-10).
Their contributions varied, but the team overall proved solid, finishing 21-5 and winning the program’s first sectional championship in 17 years.
Spellman is the Trojans’ third-leading scorer (11.1 ppg) and top rebounder (6.6) this season. He is able to step back and convert the mid-range and the occasional 3-point attempt, all the while being dominant down low when the situation calls for it.
“It’s about everybody knowing their role,” Spellman said. “We’re pretty positionless, so that makes it easy to run our offense, and it’s an advantage on defense, obviously. It’s definitely a big difference from last year.
“I worked a lot this offseason to develop my outside game. Having other big guys out there with me allows me to show that off.”
Ephraim averages 4.7 points and four rebounds, Chestnut 4.8 and 1.6. Byrd, who sports norms of 6.8 points and 2.6 boards, senses the adjustment to becoming an interior-oriented ball club becoming more seamless with each practice and game.
“For us, I feel like we have height in every position, so we’re able to utilize it at center all the way to our guards,” Byrd said. “And we’ve got guys who can play in and out. We don’t really collide in there. As long as we box out, the rebounds take care of themselves.”
