BY CHRIS STONER
FLOYDS KNOBS — Floyd Central’s offense caught up with its stifling defense Saturday night, as the hosts drilled South Central 90-48 for its 11th win of the season.
It was the eighth time this season the Highlanders held an opponent under 50 points. Floyd smothered the Rebels all night, as they held the visitors to 35 percent shooting and forced 21 turnovers.
“We wanted to hold them under 40. We let Seymour get 69, and we’re not very good when that happens. Our defense, especially the second half, was good tonight,” Floyd head coach Randy Gianfagna said.
The Highlanders Ben Allen led all scorers with 23 points, including seven 3-pointers. The hosts placed four players in double-figures, shot 54 percent from the field, and hit 9-of-14 3-point attempts.
“We moved the ball better in the second half, and our defense got better. Our transition points were killing them,” Gianfagna said of his squad, who outscored South Central 54-24 over the last two quarters.
The Rebels, losers of eight straight, came out firing early. They jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead and held Floyd scoreless for the first three minutes of the game. The visitors led 12-10 with 31 seconds left in the first period before Cody Banet hit back-to-back triples to end the frame, the latter a bomb from 30 feet, as the Highlanders led 16-12 at the first stop.
“You have to give South Central credit they really fight. They play hard,” Gianfagna said. “They dive for loose balls and play good defense. We felt in the first half we just shot the first shot we got.”
Floyd slowly pulled away from the Rebels in the second frame as a Jeffrey Thompson 3-point play with 1:54 left gave the Highlanders their first double-digit lead at 30-18. The home team forced nine first-half turnovers and led by 12 at the break.
“We had zero offensive rebounds the first quarter, then (we) had five the second quarter when we ran an offense finally. We talked about moving the ball at halftime and, obviously, talked about rebounding,” Gianfagna said.
The third quarter was the deciding frame. Floyd came out of the locker room blazing, outscoring the visitors from Harrison County, 31-8, and led by 35 entering the final stanza. Allen pumped in 17 of his 23 in the third while the Highlanders shot 64 percent and forced six Rebel turnovers in the game-breaking period.
“The second half we reversed the ball, got the shots we wanted, and had rebounders,” Gianfagna said. “Allen’s four 3s in a row in the third just killed them,” Gianfagna said.
The Highlanders shot 63 percent in the second half, and only had four turnovers overall, en route to beating South for the third straight year.
Floyd’s next game is this Thursday at Bedford North Lawrence.
SOUTH CENTRAL 12 12 8 16—48
FLOYD CENTRAL 16 20 31 23—90
South Central (3-14) — Pease 4, O’Connor 6, Hockenbury 7, Sams 7, Carpenter 12, Miller 10, Wiseman 2.
Floyd Central (11-5) — Mitchell 8, Jeffries 2, Niehoff 4, Banet 17, Codey 4, O’Neal 2, Allen 23, Crone 10, Peters 1, Knight 8, Je. Thompson 11.
3-point field goals — South Central 5 (O’Connor 2, Pease, Sams, Carpenter); Floyd Central 9 (Allen 7, Banet 2).
Rebounds — South Central 34, Floyd Central 34.
Turnovers — South Central 21, Floyd Central 4.
Junior Varsity: South Central 26 (7-6-4-9) — Wemes 6, Wiseman 10, Boston 2, Carter 2, Soots 6; Floyd Central 51 (17-11-10-13) Wortham 2, Miller 7, Jeffries 10, Bomersbach 4, Peters 4, O’Neal 6, Missi 3, Knight 7, Jo. Thompson 8.
