BY JON REITER
NEW ALBANY — The New Albany boys’ basketball squad had all its weapons on display Friday night at the Doghouse, as they whipped visiting Evansville North 87-51 to improve to 10-2 on the season heading into tonight’s home matchup against Jasper.
Things got off to a rocky start for the hosts, however. Huskies forward Lleon Tillman treated the New Albany crowd to his own personal jam session — throwing down three dunks during the first seven minutes of the game as Evansville North (2-10) trailed only 19-16.
But New Albany guard Chris Whitehead nailed a 3-pointer at the first quarter buzzer to give the Bulldogs a six-point lead, 22-16. They didn’t stop there, and scored 20 unanswered points to open the second quarter, pulling away for good and ultimately leading 49-21 at intermission.
It was a vintage New Albany win, and coach Jim Shannon said Tillman’s jams helped set the tone for the game and his squad.
“We were upset that we let him get loose in our full-court defense a couple of times,” he said. “But it did set up how we played and I think we turned them over 15 times in the first half.”
Donnie Hale led New Albany with 25 points and 10 rebounds despite sitting most of the fourth quarter as reserves took the court. Whitehead added 13 points and eight assists and Jordy Martin nailed all four of his three-point attempts en route to his 12-point night.
The biggest boost for New Albany may have come from reserve forward Dylan McDaniel, who scored 15 points and grabbed five rebounds. McDaniel hit his first five shots from the field, including two three-pointers.
“He is playing really well for us right now,” Shannon said. “He gave us good solid minutes against Reitz the last game. We’ve got to keep looking at him. He gives us some good offense and rebounding, we’ve got to make sure that defensively he can cover his man and he’s getting better at it.”
The Bulldogs owned a plus-14 advantage in turnovers and rebounds over the Huskies last night, and were 11-of-20 from three-point range in their dominant performance.
“We’ve shot well all year, except for the Zionsville game (a 62-54 loss Jan. 2),” Shannon said. “I’m not saying great every night out, but for the most part we’ve only had one bad game, so it’s something we know we can do.”
Ty Pauley scored 14 of his 17 points in the 2nd half to pace Evansville North.
EV. NORTH 16 5 21 9—51
NEW ALBANY 22 27 25 13—87
Evansville North (2-10) — Johnson 2, Buening 9, Tillman 12, Hunter 6, Mullen 3, Pauley 17, Hawkins 2, Godread 0, Kinnard 0, Stevens 0.
New Albany (10-2) — Rohlfing 4, Hale 25, Whitehead 13, Benson 0, Martin 12, Tolliver 6, Stotts 9, McDaniel 15, Meyer 0, Newbolt 0, Threatt 0, Jones 0, Kraft 3.
Turnovers: Evansville North 23, New Albany 9.
Rebounds: Evansville North 24 (Tillman, Buening 5), New Albany 38 (Hale 10)
Three-point goals: Evansville North 4 (Pauley 3, Buening); New Albany 11 (Whitehead, Martin 4, Stotts 3, McDaniel 2, Kraft).
Junior Varsity
Evansville North 37 (4-6-10-17) Saxe 11, Barrett 1, Langford 8, Blackwell 6, Gilkey 3, Hawkins 6, Underwood 2. New Albany 45 (12-8-8-17) Newbolt 6, Meyer 7, Threatt 7, Edwards 7, Jones 5, Peavler 4, Parrish 4, Kraft 2, Brown 3.
