Center Grove celebrates after defeating Whiteland for the Johnson County tournament championship.
Chris Williams | For the Daily Journal
It took some time, but Center Grove eventually started throwing its height around Saturday night.
A layup by senior wing Peyton Byrd early in the fourth quarter touched off a 20-0 scoring run to close the game, giving the host Trojans a 68-43 victory over Whiteland in the championship game of the Johnson County tournament.
The win made Center Grove (9-4) back-to-back county champs and earned Zach Hahn his sixth snippet of net in 10 seasons as head coach.
Thirteen of the points during the Trojans’ message-sending run late were provided by the frontcourt combination of the 6-foot-7 Byrd, 6-6 Will Spellman and 6-10 Michael Ephraim. Point guard Jalen Bundy and backup Dylan Meador, by no means strangers when it comes to taking the ball strong to the hoop, supplied the others.
“Layups are always easier than 3s, and with our big guys, who are so strong and confident, we know they can dominate the size of almost any other team in the state,” said Center Grove senior guard Joey Schmitz, whose four first-half triples paved the way to a 35-30 advantage at intermission.
“Going down low is a secure option for us. I don’t mind. It’s a team game, and I love it. As long as we get stops and scores is all I need.”
Whiteland (10-6), which trailed virtually the entire game and at one point was down 16 midway through the second quarter, clawed to within three points, 40-37, after junior wing Gavin Stubbe swished a pair of free throws at 4:01 of the third.
Schmitz then stepped forward with the game’s biggest sequence, knocking down a 3-pointer from the right wing at 3:08, and stealing the ball near midcourt and laying it in 27 seconds later to push the push the spread back to eight.
That, coupled with Hahn opting for his team to play a 2-3 zone the final half, proved too much for Whiteland to overcome.
“We were struggling, but we went two weeks without playing a game, so we really practiced the zone,” Bundy said. “The first half we played strictly man, but then (Whiteland) kind of figured it out, and they shoot the ball really well. Probably the best 3-point shooting team we’ve played all year.
“We knew if we could make them drive, and go into our big guys, they would struggle.”
The Warriors’ shooting touch abandoned them the final eight minutes, a most glaring contrast to the chippies Center Grove was making at the other end of the floor to blow open a game that once looked as though it might go down to the wire.
Whiteland’s final field goal of the contest was senior Wiatt McLaughlin’s bucket with 37.6 ticks showing in the third stanza. Two more Stubbe charities were the Warriors’ only points of the final period.
“We want to play inside out regardless of who we’re playing,” Hahn said. “Our philosophy is paint touch or post touch every possession. Sometimes it doesn’t work out that way, and we have some guys who shoot the ball really well. When they’re open, we want them taking a good, quality shot.
“But yeah, I thought we really tried to instill our will in the second half. That third quarter, we went inside the first four or five touches, and got some (Whiteland) guys in foul trouble.”
Whiteland outscored the Trojans, 18-7, over the final 4:32 of the second period, a burst that started with a Stubbe layup. The run concluded with Whiteland tallying the final eight points on a Jazz Banwait triple followed by Ethan Edwards delivering five points on a layup and ensuing free throws after a CG technical foul.
Schmitz led all scorers with 21 points, while Bundy added 14 and Byrd 11 for Center Grove. The Warriors were paced by Stubbe’s 16 points, with Edwards, who sat out most the third quarter after picking up three fouls in a span of 1 minute, 36 seconds, good for nine.
Whiteland finished 12 of 42 from the floor (28.6%) compared to the Trojans’ 26 of 44 (59.1%). Center Grove dominated the rebounding battle, 29-13, as Spellman pulled down seven boards and Schmitz six. McLaughlin led the Warriors in rebounds with four.
Even though the month of March serves as the ultimate yardstick for most programs, Bundy, who was on the Trojans’ roster in 2021-22 when the team lost to Whiteland in the county final, 46-43, insists there is no way to take the belated payback for granted.
“My sophomore year we lost,” Bundy said. “We know teams want to beat us as much as anybody. They think of it as a state championship, so it was good to beat them.”
