Hellums scores 20, but Argos commits 20 turnovers in loss to NM

Norman leads 4 in double figures with 16 as Warriors overcome FT woes

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

DENVER — The Argos boys basketball team’s ballhandling issues did not jibe with host North Miami’s sticky man-to-man defense Tuesday.

Laython Norman, a 6-8 sophomore center, scored 16 points to lead four players in double figures, and North Miami forced 19 turnovers in beating the Dragons 63-44.

Kale Deardorff added 13 points, Ryan Meredith had 11 before fouling out, and Karston Black added 10 for the Warriors, who won despite making only 4 of 17 free throws.

Zhayne Hellums made five 3-pointers and scored a game-high 20 for Argos. Mack Calhoun contributed a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

North Miami, seeking their first winning record in 16 years, improved to 6-4 overall and 3-1 in the Hoosier North. Argos lost their fourth straight game and fell to 1-10, 0-4.

Argos got off to an 8-2 lead thanks to the smooth shooting from Hellums, who hit treys on back-to-back possessions, and they still led 11-8 on a Calhoun free throw with 2:46 left in the first quarter.

But North Miami responded with an 18-0 run that bled into the second quarter. Argos coach Nick Kindig called two timeouts during the run to try and quell the momentum. Hellums split a pair of free throws with 2:31 left in the half, breaking an 8:15 scoreless drought.

The lead stayed in double figures the rest of the way, though Argos cut what had been a 23-point deficit down to 51-39 when Aiden Samuels capped a 10-0 run with a 3 from the right corner a minute-and-a-half into the fourth quarter.

Argos outscored North Miami 15-6 in the first six minutes after Kindig was called for a technical foul for arguing a no-call on what he thought was a moving screen on North Miami. Mekhi Austin hit a long 3, and Hellums scored seven points during the run.

“I think our guys, they were frustrated, and they finally just played,” Kindig said. “That’s what I told them at halftime. I feel like we’re so tight, like all the pressure is on us. Just go out there and play. … I told them after the game too that maybe I need to be sitting down the whole time and they just play.”

However, North Miami responded with another 10-0 run with Meredith scoring on a cutting layup, Norman putting down a dunk in transition, Black hitting a 15-footer while being fouled from the high post, Deardorff scoring after a backcourt steal and layup and Black getting a steal and layup.

“I think a lot of it was carelessness, but man, they do a good job of forcing you to play careless at times,” Kindig said. “Just a few times, we had the ball kind of in our possession and didn’t make some good decisions that were unforced, but they did a good job of pressuring us and playing physical tonight, and we didn’t match that from them, and that’s how you have 19 turnovers.”

Already up 32-18 at halftime, North Miami went on a 12-3 burst to open the second half. Norman dropped in a layup while being fouled on an inbounds play, Lake Musall found a cutting Meredith for a layup, and Deardorff found Norman for a layup. Angelo McMillen drained a 3 for Argos, but Deardorff found Musall for a layup after a wild scramble at midcourt for a loose ball. A Deardorff transition layup and a Norman lob finish off a Musall setup made it 44-21 with 4:10 left in the quarter.

Asked about changes in culture at North Miami, first-year coach Chuck Evans – Evans was the Argos coach from 1995-98 and this is his first varsity head coaching position since he coached West Central from 2001-03 – said he talked about building trust and relationships within the program. He said the kids have bought in and believe in each other. He also said defense has been emphasized.

“We changed some things here,” Evans said. “From a basketball standpoint on the floor, offensively and defensively, there are some things that are different from what they’ve done in the past. We always start on the defensive end. … It’s taken awhile, but we’re getting there.”

Black had the primary job of defending Austin, who came in averaging 15 points per game but was held to a season-low five.

North Miami has cut their defensive scoring average from 55.7 last year to 39.6 this year.

“We told him that he was a very decent penetrator and that he needed to be able to contain that,” Evans said of the defensive instructions for Black. “And I thought he did a very job on that. We stress team defense, so there was obviously some people that were in the right positions to help him as well. And I just thought the entire team did a superior job defending Argos.”

Argos’ best defensive possessions occurred when they played both a 1-3-1 halfcourt trap and a 2-2-1 halfcourt trap in the second half. 

“We weren’t ready to move, and we weren’t communicating with one another,” Kindig said. “Very disappointing in our 2-3. I thought in the Plymouth game on Saturday (a 51-41 loss), we played it really well, and tonight, it just wasn’t there. So we’ve got to spend more time on it. We’ve got to be better at that, but it just felt like we were a step slow all night.”

Game notes

• Argos hosts Oregon-Davis Friday in their game that will count in the Hoosier North standings. The Dragons and Bobcats will meet again next Tuesday at O-D in the first round of the Bi-County Tournament. Argos, O-D, Culver and John Glenn are a combined 6-38, but one of them will be in the Bi-County championship game.

• North Miami senior forward Ryan Smith missed the game with a foot injury suffered in practice Monday. Evans said he hopes to have him at “full strength” for Saturday’s game at North Judson. Evans said it’s the same foot that forced him to miss three to four weeks earlier in the year.

North Miami 63, Argos 44

ARGOS (44) (1-10, 0-4)

Mekhi Austin 1 2-2 5, Aiden Samuels 1 0-2 3, Angelo McMillen 1 0-0 3, Zhayne Hellums 5 5-7 20, Mack Calhoun 4 1-2 10, Ethan Samuels 0 0-0 0, Ayden VanDerWeele 1 1-1 3

TEAM: 13 9-14 44

NORTH MIAMI (63) (6-4, 3-1)

Kale Deardorff 6 0-2 13, Lake Musall 2 2-3 6, Karston Black 4 1-5 10, Ryan Meredith 5 1-3 11, Laython Norman 8 0-4 16, Courtlen Finnegan 1 0-0 2, Caden Clingaman 2 0-0 5

TEAM: 28 4-17 63

Three-point field goals:

Argos 9 (Hellums 5, Calhoun, Austin, A. Samuels, McMillen),

North Miami 3 (Deardorff, Black, Clingaman)

Total fouls: Argos 15, North Miami 13

Fouled out: Meredith (NM), 2:58, fourth

Technical foul: ARG bench, 3:03, third

Turnovers: Argos 19, North Miami 7

Score by quarters

Argos 11 7 13 13 – 44

North Miami 12 20 19 12 – 63