Caston’s L. Mollenkopf scores 24, Hook adds 15, but W. Central stays unbeaten

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

FULTON — The boys basketball rivalry between Caston and West Central has reached must-watch status, and the sectional is still over six weeks away.

Logan Mollenkopf scored a game-high 24 points, and Lane Hook added 15 for Caston, but the visiting Trojans pulled out a 51-50 win Saturday on Landon Hughes’ game-winning basket with 3.6 seconds left.

The game-winning play appeared to be something of an accident. Brady Bishop tried to drive in from the left wing, but the ball slipped out of his hands and right to Hughes, West Central’s 6-2 big man.

He threw up a quick, flat half-hook that hit the back of the rim and fell in.

Caston coach Carl Davis called timeout, and then West Central coach Brad Odom called timeout when he saw Caston’s alignment, but Mollenkopf was unable to get off a potential game-winning shot before time expired.

Bishop led West Central with 18 points, and Brendan Grindstaff added 17.

Class 1A, No. 5 West Central improved to 11-0. Caston had their three-game winning streak snapped and dropped to 9-3.

“I couldn’t tell,” Davis said of the final basket. “I don’t know if we got a hand on it there or not. You know, just one of those loose balls in the second half that rattled around and ended up in a West Central player’s hands, and the Hughes kid made a good pickup and a good shot there.”

This was only West Central’s second win by single digits and their third game in which their opponent scored as many as 50 points. West Central ranks in the top 15 in the state in defensive scoring average. They allow just 40.1 points per game.

“We weren’t successful at all because they scored too many points,” Odom said when asked about the defensive strategy against Logan Mollenkopf and Hook. “We couldn't stop Mollenkopf no matter what we threw at him. I thought we did a good job of rebounding. But … making his life pretty difficult? I don’t think we answered that at all. He’s tremendous for as young as he is. He’s a handful for us. He’s got some strength. He’s got some length. And the guys I had to put on him are undersized.”

Caston led by as many as seven points in the third quarter, and they still led 50-49 after a Bishop 3-point play with 1:28 left.

Reed Sommers was called for a double dribble as he faced pressure coming upcourt, but West Central turned it right back over when they were called for a three-second violation after a bizarre possession where three West Central players seemingly played hot potato with the ball in the paint with 59.1 seconds left.

Gavin Mollenkopf missed two free throws with 41.3 seconds left, giving West Central a last chance to win.

The teams could meet again in Class 1A, Sectional 50, which Caston will host March 3-7. Perhaps it is neither the end or beginning of a rivalry.

West Central also beat Caston by one point in last year’s regular season, and then they knocked them out of the sectional.

West Central has no senior starters, and Caston has only one. Of the 101 combined points, seniors scored only five of them.

But the shorter-term concern could be Hook’s health as Caston prepares for games at Rochester Tuesday and at Winamac Friday. Hook suffered an injury while being fouled and finishing a layup with 4:20 going. He received attention from trainer Jordan Zook, and Davis called timeout, which allowed Hook to stay in the game.

Through gritted teeth, Hook made the ensuing free throw to complete the 3-point play and push Caston’s lead to 48-44. He would later leave and go to the locker room, but he returned and finished the game.

Davis said he did not know what body part was hurting. He also declined to comment on the status of junior guard Drew McGrew, who did not play and was on the bench in street clothes, adding that he does not comment on the status of injured players.

“I didn’t have a good viewpoint,” Davis said of Hook. “We’ll see what the trainer says after the game here, and we’ll see what we’ve got moving forward.”

Bishop got off to a roaring start, scoring 12 points on four 3-pointers in the first quarter, the last of which was a 25-foot buzzer beater that gave West Central a 21-14 lead.

A Brodie Howard 3-pointer carved into the lead to start the second quarter, and Logan Mollenkopf then outscored the entire West Central team 11-9 in the quarter.

He scored on a runner in the lane and was fouled. He got Bishop to fly out at him on a close out and then drove past him to the rim and scored.

Bishop hit pullup 15-footer, but Gavin Mollenkopf drove to the hoop and scored, and Logan Mollenkopf followed with two free throws. And when Logan Mollenkopf hit a 3-pointer after an offensive rebound, Caston had fought back even at 28-28.

Logan Mollenkopf answered a Hughes layup on an inbounds by putting back his own miss to tie at 30 at halftime.

Caston then opened the second half on an 8-1 run. Logan Mollenkopf scored on a third chance putback, and Hook scored off an offensive rebound. Logan Mollenkopf then split a double team and scored.

“He got some tough baskets,” Davis said. “I thought they gave him a lot of attention, but he still found ways to get to the rim and finish in there. I thought he finished through a lot of contact tonight, and that’s something he’s been better at as the season’s gone on, and we’re excited to see him continue to improve in that area.”

Bishop ended a 3:58 drought to start the second half with a free throw, but another putback from Hook made it 38-31.

Then, Grindstaff carried the Trojans. He scored their next nine points, including a driving layup and a 17-footer to start the fourth quarter that cut the lead to 45-42. 

When Tate Leman scored on an inbounds play, the lead was down to 45-44.

“100 percent,” Odom said when asked if fatigue was a factor while noting that West Central had played Friday night against Tri-County while Caston had the night off. “I think it was late on both teams. You could tell. His two scoring options were tired. They were on their knees at different times hugging their shorts. We started doing that probably the middle of the third. We just told the kids, ‘You know what? One’s team going to survive tonight, and it doesn’t matter if you are tired. You’ve got to play through it.”

West Central 51, Caston 50

WEST CENTRAL (51) (11-0)

Brendan Grindstaff 6 2-3 17, Brady Bishop 6 2-3 18, Connor Huber 1 0-0 2, Tate Leman 2 0-0 4, Landon Hughes 4 0-0 8, Malachi Wireman 0 0-0 0, Hayden Johns 1 0-0 2, Teagen Holle 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 20 4-6 51

CASTON (50) (9-3)

Reed Sommers 0 0-0 0, Carson Harness 1 0-0 3, Logan Mollenkopf 9 4-5 24, Gavin Mollenkopf 2 0-4 5, Lane Hook 6 1-1 15, Owen Chapman 0 0-0 0, Gage Thomas 0 0-0 0, Brodie Howard 1 0-0 3

TEAM: 19 5-10 50

Three-point field goals:

West Central 7 (Bishop 4, Grindstaff 3),

Caston 7 (L. Mollenkopf 2, Hook 2, G. Mollenkopf, Harness, Howard)

Total fouls: West Central 15, Caston 13

Turnovers: West Central 6, Caston 13

Score by quarters

West Central 21 9 8 13 – 51

Caston 14 16 12 8 – 50