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Spin, K. Zeider, Smith, Rudicel all score in double figures
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
FULTON — “Thank you, seniors,” the Caston student section chanted during the fourth quarter of their boys basketball team’s senior night home game against North Miami Thursday.
Afterwards, coach Carl Davis agreed with the sentiment.
When he became the coach in 2017, this current group of seniors were in the eighth grade. He saw them develop, and they gave him and the student section one more victorious performance in an 82-60 win over the Warriors.
All four Caston double figure scorers were seniors: Joey Spin led with 19 points, Kade Zeider had 18, and Sam Smith and Bryce Rudicel had 12 apiece. Rudicel also had 12 rebounds for a double-double.
The fifth senior, Jake Paschen, had six points.
Caston hit 13 3-pointers, including six from Zeider and two from younger brother Talon Zeider in the fourth quarter, in improving to 15-7. They finished 8-2 at home.
Braden Burns scored 19 points for North Miami (9-13), who was playing their third game in three days. They won the previous two games against West Central and South Newton but trailed this game by as many as 24 in the second half.
Patriks Reimanis, a foreign exchange student from Latvia, added 13.
Caston forced 19 turnovers with their pressure defense. Combined with the 13 treys, North Miami fell to Caston for the sixth straight time. That included Caston’s 65-45 win over North Miami in the consolation game of the Miami County Invitational back on Dec. 29.
“It’s such a special group,” Davis said. “We’ve been spoiled the last four years. There’s a lot of coaches that have to deal with a lot of stuff off the court and outside of basketball and drama. This group, they just come to play every day. We’ve really been spoiled with the group we have. … They’re coachable, and they’ve just continued to get better from the first time I saw them play when they were eighth-graders. What an incredible group. They’ve accomplished a lot, but I don’t think I have to tell you that they’re not satisfied with what they’ve accomplished.
“They’re ready to go get some more next week.”
Caston went on an 11-0 run covering the first and second quarters to build a 23-11 lead and another 13-2 run to close the first half and get the lead to 38-22.
The lead stayed in double digits for the rest of the game.
The tone setter might have been Rudicel. He had nine rebounds in the first half alone.
“Obviously, he rebounds well for us all the time,” Davis said. “I thought at Argos the other night, he had a point where he really just got aggressive attacking the boards, and that’s something we need moving forward. He does a great job. He’s just so long. He uses his length. He has great ball instincts and obviously had a great night on the boards for us tonight. We needed it.”
Rudicel started the run with two free throws to make it 27-20. Smith caught a lob pass, came down with it and then went back up for a bucket and a foul in which he completed a 3-point play.
Parker Johnson found a cutting Burns for a layup for North Miami, but Spin hit a 3 from the left wing, and a Smith steal and layup turned into another 3-point play.
Rudicel found Spin for another transition layup to close out the scoring in the half.
Spin’s acrobatic layup was a highlight in the third quarter.
The Zeider brothers combined to make five 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.
“They shoot the ball really well outside,” North Miami coach Ryan DeMien said. “We played them in a tournament earlier this year, and (Kade Zeider) had six 3s. Coming in, we knew we had to guard him and find their shooters. They do a nice job of moving the ball and playing together as a team.”
Caston was coming off a 59-45 loss to Argos on Tuesday. That was their first game after a win at LaVille that clinched the outright Hoosier North title.
“I just think coming off the conference championship, we just weren’t focused,” Kade Zeider said. “We didn’t have enough urgency on the defensive end, and we just weren’t all five attacking on offense like we should.”
Kade Zeider and Spin might have an especially tight bond, but it’s more than just the two of them, and it’s something that transcends sports.
“We play all the sports together,” Kade Zeider said. “We play baseball. We’re the middle infield together. It’s just that way with the rest of the guys too. We’re all friends in school. We have classes together. It’s close.”
Caston also cruised to a 65-14 win in the JV game. Talon Zeider hit six 3-pointers and scored 28 points, and Caleb Stinson added 10. Alex Craig had six, Josh Evans had five, Evan Howard and Corbin Smith had four each, Grant Yadon and Connor Sommers had three each, and Jackson Rentschler had two.
Caston notes
Caston’s first sectional game will start at 6 p.m. March 4 at Tri-County. If they win, they will play in the sectional final at 7 p.m. March 5.
Caston 82, North Miami 60
NORTH MIAMI (60) (9-13)
Parker Johnson 3 2-2 9, Trevor Simons 3 0-0 7, Landen Hunt 0 3-4 3, Patriks Reimanis 5 0-0 13, Braden Burns 8 2-4 19, Keagan Donaldson 1 1-4 3, Austin Smith 0 0-0 0, Conner Pugh 0 0-0 0, Brayden Binnion 0 0-0 0, Reid Johnson 0 0-0 0, Jake Riley 3 0-2 6
TEAM: 23 8-16 60
CASTON (82) (15-7)
Joey Spin 8 1-1 19, Kade Zeider 6 0-0 18, Bryce Rudicel 4 4-4 12, Jake Paschen 2 0-0 6, Sam Smith 4 4-6 12, Connor Sommers 0 0-0 0, Jackson Rentschler 0 0-0 0, Colby Pugh 1 0-0 3, Evan Howard 0 0-0 0, Cain Schanlaub 3 0-0 6, Talon Zeider 2 0-0 6, Caleb Stinson 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 30 9-11 82
Three-point field goals:
North Miami 6 (Reimanis 3, Burns, Johnson, Simons),
Caston 13 (K. Zeider 6, T. Zeider 2, Spin 2, Paschen 2, Pugh)
Total fouls: North Miami 11, Caston 12
Turnovers: North Miami 19, Caston 8
Score by quarters
North Miami 11 11 16 22 – 60
Caston 17 21 18 26 – 82
JV: Caston 65, North Miami 14
Watch Full Game Here:
The five seniors on the Caston boys basketball team each hold photos of younger versions of themselves following their 82-60 win over North Miami Thursday. From left – Joey Spin, Jake Paschen, Sam Smith, Bryce Rudicel, Kade Zeider.
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