By MIKE RILEY
NEW ALBANY — There was no amazing fourth-quarter comeback this time.
None was needed as the New Washington boys’ basketball team built a 17-point halftime lead and wasn’t seriously threatened by Christian Academy of Indiana in a 66-51 win on Friday night.
After the Mustangs’ Vincent Minton scored 45 in his team’s opener against Charlestown and the Warriors’ J.T.Taylor totaled 29 against Henryville, a scoring duel looked to be in the making.
It never developed. Taylor scored only six first-half points, going to the bench after picking up his third foul with 5:34 left before intermission, then picked up his fourth early in the third quarter and fouled out with three minutes left. Taylor did finish with a team-high 16 points.
Meanwhile, Minton had a double-double at halftime with 10 points and 10 rebounds. But with Devin Freels getting a game-high 23 points and Dustin Hobbs coming off the bench for nine, a Minton onslaught was not required. He finished with 11 points and 16 rebounds.
“I want to say three names right off the bat,” said New Washington coach Jonathan May. “Dustin Bowman, Evan Bower and Jesse Wiggam for the defensive job they did on Taylor. They hit 11 threes against Henryville and Taylor got six of them.
“He’s hard to guard, but they locked in and did a great job all night. They cut off the penetration. We fouled more than I would have liked, but that’s the way things go sometimes.”
On the night, the Warriors were 1-of-12 from behind the arc.
Christian Academy far from folded after five consecutive points by Hobbs built the Mustang lead to 59-39 with 5:41 left.
Led by Alex Hayes and Justin Sturgeon, the Warriors ran off nine straight points in just 1:27 to pull to within 59-48.
Following a Mustangs timeout, Freels scored on a length-of-the-court pass from Minton as the Warriors never cut the lead to single digits.
And now the Mustangs are 2-0, something that hasn’t happened at New Washington for quite some time.
“There’s a lot of tradition here at New Washington,” said May, whose entire staff is made up of former Mustangs. “But in the past few years I don’t think the players realized what it takes, how hard you have to work. This group is different.
“Vince realizes he has a big target on his back and he didn’t have a big scoring night tonight, but I guarantee you he feels no different as he did against Charlestown. We know that it will be different guys on different nights and the players have to accept those roles. Our bench played great tonight.”
A big part of the Mustangs’ first-half lead was due to a 22-9 advantage on the boards. The Warriors were much stronger in the second half, but still the Mustangs won the boards by a 46-28 margin.
“Rebounding is will power,” said CAI coach Josh Hutchinson. “We did better in the second half, but we didn’t come into the game prepared to do what we needed to do and I take full responsibility for that.
“We knew that everyone would be looking at Taylor and Minton, but it’s still five guys on five guys, not just one player.”
Sturgeon added 11 points for CAI.
The Warriors will return to action on Tuesday when they face West Washington. New Washington will host Southwesterm next Friday.
NEW WASHINGTON 19 21 12 14—66
CHRISTIAN ACAD. 11 12 14 14—51
New Washington (2-0) — Radford 5, Jones 6, Minton 11, Freels 23, Bowman 8, Hobbs 9, Wiggam 0, Bower 0, Hughes 2, Krohn 2, Ramer 0.
Christian Academy (0-2) — Hammer 7, Sturgeon 11, McKain 5, Taylor 16, Hayes 8, Heinz 4, Sellers 0, Carruthers 0.
Three-point field goals — New Washington 6 (Freels 3, Bowman 2, Radford); Christian Academy 1 (McKain).
Rebounds — New Washington 46 (Minton 16); Christian Academy 28 (Hayes 6).
Turnovers — New Washington 25, Christian Academy 21.
