The Batesville Boys 5th Grade Boys Basketball Team hosted their first tournament this past weekend at the Primary School. Four of the best teams from Southeastern Indiana participated: Batesville, Connersville, Greensburg and Richmond.
The day began with Batesville taking on Greensburg in the 9:00 AM contest. The Bulldogs got off to a fast start leading 6-0, before the Pirates went on a 10-0 run with a barrage of three pointers. Greensburg put up 31 points in the first half with a very impressive 6-8 shooting from behind the arc and led by 12. It was too much for the young Bulldogs to overcome as the team struggled with shooting in the second half by firing only 19%. Rebounds were even with 19 between the teams, but the tandem of Leland Workman, 16 points and Addison Barnes-Pettit, 11 points, were too much to overcome for the Bulldogs in the early game of the day. For the Bulldogs Chris Lewis led the way with 13 points and Bradley Wirth tallied 8. Lewis added 6 rebounds and Gus Prickle was a very solid floor general with 10 assists.
In Game 2 of the day, Richmond jumped out early on Connersville, never letting off the gas and went on to win 41-21.
In Game 3 at 11:00 AM, in a rematch of this year’s Dirt Road Basketball League Championship, the Pirates gained revenge on the young Red Devils with a hard fought 40-31 victory, earning them the number one seed heading into bracket play later in the day.
In Game 4, Batesville defeated Connersville 45-33. The Dogs jumped out to an early lead of 10-0 before the Spartans rallied to close the gap. Leading the way for Batesville was Chris Lewis with 16 points and Gus Prickel with 10. Jack Grunkemeyer, Lewis and Prickel each had 7 rebounds and Prickel had another impressive 7 assists. The Bulldogs outrebounded the Spartans 38-33. The win meant the Bulldogs would be the 3 seed on the day based on point differential to Richmond, who would be the 2 seed and Connersville the 4.
Skill competitions served as a break in between pool play and bracket play on the day. The large crowd was entertained to an obstacle course competition to begin. All participants from the four schools were allowed to participate and they didn’t disappoint. In a competition that included dribbling between the cones, ladders for foot work, lay ups and passing, fans were delighted to watch the top 10 participants from round one go head to head to determine the winner. Ryder Cate from Richmond won the contest with a time of 23.66 over second place finisher, Chris Lewis from Batesville at 24.87. Ryder received a trophy and well deserved applause from the audience present.
A 3 point shooting contest followed with all the participants. In a similar format to that of the NBA and NCAA, each contestant was given a minute to shoot from 5 different spots around the arc with the 5th and final shot at each location being considered the “money ball” or worth 2 points, versus 1 point for all other shots. The participants were eliminated to the final four, which ended up being one participant from each school. They were; Chris Lewis, Batesville; Justin Adkins, Greensburg; Brady Cloyd, Connersville and Ryder Cate, Richmond. The top two scores advanced to the championship showdown, where Lewis would take on Adkins from Greensburg. Adkins won the toss and elected to go first. Adkins had his worst round of an impressive performance with only 4 points setting up the dramatic hometown shooter, Lewis to win the championship. Chris did so in convincing fashion and walked away with the trophy.
Bracket play began at the conclusion of the skills contest. In bracket play the winner advances and the loser goes home. In a tight contest throughout the Greensburg Pirates were able to hold off a rejuvenated Connersville Spartans squad with a final score of 31-26. Leland Workman was a solid floor general leading the Pirates in scoring with 13, followed by Addison Barnes-Pettit and Johnny Linville with 8. The Spartans were led by Mason Beck with 11.
In the second semi-final, and the right to play the Pirates for the championship, the Red Devils of Richmond were simply too much for the young Bulldogs to overcome. The Red Devils came out firing on all cylinders shooting 5-11 from 3 point range in the first half to gain a 25-15 half time advantage. The Bulldogs were able to close the gap as the game neared the end, but a Richmond victory was never in question winning by the final score of 42-38, ending the Bulldogs campaign with an overall record of (26-11). Mason Carpenter led the Red Devils with 17 points, followed by Zion Deloney with 12. The Bulldogs were led in scoring by Bradley Wirth with 12 on an impressive 10-12 at the free throw line, and Chris Lewis with 9. Wirth was also a work horse on the glass with 11 rebounds, while Gus Prickel tallied 3 assists. The Bulldogs shot a paltry 29% for the contest to conclude their great season of fun and development.
In the championship contest the crowd couldn’t have asked for a better game. In a see-saw game the that went to overtime before deciding the champion of champions, the Greensburg Pirates pulled away in the extra session to win 53-47. The Red Devils began the contest with only 5 players due to an injury earlier in the day and the Pirates used it to their advantage, Javon Vacera fouled out with under 3 minutes remaining. However, the short-handed Red Devils were not going to go down without a fight. Cedrick Hogg buried a 3 pointer with 3 seconds left in regulation to the tie the score and sent the contest into overtime knotted at 47. With Richmond being short-handed, and perhaps a bit winded due to the four games on the day, the Pirates clearly showed who was the better team on the day by outscoring the opponent 6-0 extra session. Leading the way for the champion Pirates was Barnes-Pettit with 18 and Workman with 13, Justin Adkins added 11. For the runner-up Red Devils Zion Deloney had 27 and Mason Carpenter added 14.
After the trophy presentation to both teams, the tournament concluded with the announcement of the All-Tournament Team. The 5 players chosen were:
- Leland Workman Guard Greensburg Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player
- Zion Deloney Guard Richmond
- Chris Lewis Forward Batesville
- Mason Carpenter Forward Richmond
- Addison Barnes-Pettit Center Greensburg
Although the results may not have been what Bulldog fans were hoping for, everyone left with a great feeling of enjoyment, fantastic competition and excellent sportsmanship and hopes to return in 2018’. A special thank you to Heather Haunert at BPS for her assistance, as well as the Administration staff for allowing the use of the facilities. Also to the parents of the 5th grade Bulldogs, who did an exceptional job of working together to ensure everyone had a great experience. Go Bulldogs!
Courtesy of Bulldogs Coach Paul Drake.
