NEW ALBANY — New Albany was challenged early by visiting Anderson, but the Bulldogs wore down the Class 4A No. 10 Indians over the remaining three quarters and captured a 72-60 win in The Doghouse Saturday night.

New Albany coach Jim Shannon said his squad’s effort wasn’t perfect. However, the No. 3 Bulldogs are just that at 12-0.

“The first half was pretty tough,” Shannon said. “We went into halftime thinking we were playing pretty well, but we weren’t hitting the bucket very well. We let them get some penetration in on us and that hurt. But I think we did a much better job of cutting that off starting in the third quarter.”

The Indians (8-3), who played their second ranked opponent on the road in as many nights, started five guards and were at an immediate height disadvantage against 6-foot-8 center Donnie Hale and 6-5 power forward Brett Martin.

Martin led New Albany with 20 points despite sitting for much of the first half with foul trouble. Hale, a Division I recruiting target, finished with 14 points and eight rebounds.

"Hale is a heckuva player and can go to school (college) anywhere he wants to,” Anderson coach Ron Hecklinski said. “I think we did a pretty good job of doubling on him. But their 3-point shooters got loose a couple of times, and that’s what happens when you have to focus so much pressure inside.”

The Indians led 14-13 at the end of the first quarter and only trailed 26-23 at intermission. Hecklinski said it was crucial for his squad to get off to a good start in the second half, something that it failed to do in allowing New Albany to score on seven straight possessions to begin the third stanza.

“That’s the game right there,” Hecklinski said. “You’ve got to be able to get some stops, and we weren’t able to do that.”

The score was 35-30 New Albany, after Anderson guard Daniel Froedge nailed a jumper from the free-throw line with 5:21 left in the third quarter. Over the next two minutes, the Bulldogs went on a 12-2 run that was punctuated by a layup from Martin that gave New Albany a 47-32 lead with less than three minutes left in the third quarter.

Anderson never drew closer than 10 points during the fourth quarter. New Albany gained its largest advantage of the night, 66-48, following a putback and successful free-throw attempt by Tenale Roland with 1:48 left in the contest.

During New Albany’s third-quarter run, Hecklinski was assessed a technical foul that resulted in two free throws by Hale. The Anderson coach criticized the officiating after the game, calling some of the calls they received as “horrendous.”

The Indians, who were beaten by No. 6 Marion Friday night, were 16-of-22 from the line and saw two players, Garrett Bell and Tre Jackson, foul out. On the other end, the Bulldogs were 20-of-34 from the line.

“We had some horrible calls go against us tonight,” Hecklinski said. “Three of those guys can come back to me and say, ‘well you guys didn’t play very well tonight,’ and they’ll have that right.”

Troy Taylor scored 29 points for the Indians to lead all scorers. Taylor was 8-of-11 from the field and 12-of-14 from the line.

“I thought Taylor was tremendous,” Shannon said. “He drew a lot of fouls, and we’re the reach-in kings of the world. He gets you off your feet and makes you pay for it.”

The win was a balanced effort by the Bulldogs, who host Evansville North Friday night. Roland added 13 points for New Albany, and sophomore guard Chris Whitehead notched 12, despite leaving during the fourth quarter to be treated for an injury to his right index finger.

"We played better defense in the third quarter and didn’t allow them to penetrate inside and get as many layups,” said Shannon, an Anderson High School graduate. “They were going to get some of those because they’re so quick. But overall I’d say we had just a little bit better of a team.”

Froedge added 14 points for the Indians.



ANDERSON 14 9 14 23—60

NEW ALBANY 13 13 25 21—72

Anderson (8-3) — Taylor 29, Froedge 14, Nunn 9, Jackson 3, Bell 2, Burks 3, J. McGhee 0, Harter 0.

New Albany (12-0) — B. Martin 20, Hale 14, Roland 13, Whitehead 12, Rohlfing 8, J. Martin 5, Benson 0, Meyer 0, Winburn 0.

Three-point field goals — Anderson 4 (Nunn, Froedge, Taylor, Burks); New Albany 4 (Whitehead, Roland, B. Martin, Rohlfing).

Rebounds — Anderson 23 (Bell 7); New Albany 25 (Hale 8).

Turnovers — Anderson 18, New Albany 15.

JUNIOR VARSITY: New Albany 53 (15-17-17-4) — Striegel 11, McDaniel 8, Meyer 7, Stotts 7, Toliver 5, Jones 3, Hinkle 3, Newbolt 4, Kinnard 2, Kraft 3; Anderson 32 (6-12-7-7) — Peak 7, Peterson 7, Haynes 6, Coleman 5, B. McGhee 3, Jennings 2, Jones 2.