- Feb 24, 2022
- 3 min read

Morris, seniors show the ‘Wey’ in home finale, lead Argos past Caston

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

ARGOS — Playing in the gym in which they have enjoyed so much success during their high school careers, Argos boys basketball seniors Michael Richard, Jake Stults, Teddy Redinger and Dylan Kindig enjoyed one final home win at Phil Weybright Gymnasium Tuesday.

J.J. Morris scored a game-high 20 points, and Richard hit three 3-pointers and added 19 as the host Dragons beat Caston 59-45.

Redinger and Kindig added nine points each.

Argos was coming off a loss to North Judson Friday, but in this game, they never trailed after the first quarter. They led by as many as 21 points in the second half and held off the Comets after Caston went on a 14-4 run in the fourth quarter to get within 55-45 on a Jake Paschen 3-pointer from the right wing with 1:15 left.

Joey Spin led Caston with 13 points. Bryce Rudicel added nine, and Paschen and Sam Smith had eight each.

Argos improved to 14-5 going into their showdown at Elkhart Christian on Friday. Elkhart Christian has already clinched a share of the conference title, but Argos will share it with them with a win.

Caston, who was playing for the first time after wrapping up the Hoosier North title with a win at LaVille Friday, dropped to 14-7. Caston is 2-3 in their last five games.

Argos went on a 15-2 run in the second quarter to build a 28-13 lead.

Richard started the run with a 3-pointer off a Redinger assist. Redinger had a lay-in off a drop-down pass from Morris.

Smith missed two free throws, and Kindig scored in the post to make it 20-11. A Redinger layup on a press breaker got the lead into double digits.

Rudicel tipped in his own miss, but Morris hit a free throw, and Richard hit a 3 to make it 26-13. That led to Caston coach Carl Davis calling timeout, but Argos kept the momentum rolling when Richard put back his own miss.

The Argos defense held Caston to two points in a 7:10 span of the quarter. Reserve Sean Richard didn’t score in the game but played a role defensively when Dylan Kindig was forced to the bench in foul trouble.

“After the game, I just had to compliment everybody because I really feel everyone played a solid game tonight,” Argos first-year coach Jason Breden said. “For one, Sean Richard played great post defense on the Sam Smith kid inside. They were really looking to pound the ball into Smith. Dylan Kindig picked up a couple fouls. Sean Richard comes in, and we don’t miss a beat. He just really plays solid defense.”

Argos led 30-16 at halftime and went on another 7-0 run in the third quarter to get the lead to 40-19. All seven of the points came from seniors – a Kindig 3-point play, a Stults driving layup and a Richard driving layup.

“Just attack, and if I saw a matchup I liked, just be aggressive,” Richard said of his mindset. “They were switching, so I got some of their big guys on me and just utilized some of my shot fakes to get to where I want to go and got some shots up.”

Said Breden: “I thought we really worked the ball and waited until an open shot presented itself.”

Argos 59, Caston 45

CASTON (45) (14-7)

Joey Spin 5 1-1 13, Kade Zeider 2 0-0 5, Bryce Rudicel 4 1-1 9, Jake Paschen 3 0-0 8, Sam Smith 3 2-6 8, Colby Pugh 0 0-0 0, Evan Howard 0 0-0 0, Cain Schanlaub 0 2-2 2, Talon Zeider 0 0-0 0, Caleb Stinson 0 0-0 0, Connor Sommers 0 0-0 0, Jackson Rentschler 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 17 6-10 45

ARGOS (59) (14-5)

Michael Richard 8 0-3 19, Jake Stults 1 0-0 2, J.J. Morris 7 6-10 20, Teddy Redinger 4 1-2 9, Dylan Kindig 4 1-1 9, Sean Richard 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 24 8-16 59

Three-point field goals:

Caston 5 (Spin 2, Paschen 2, Zeider),

Argos 3 (M. Richard 3)

Total fouls: Caston 14, Argos 11

Turnovers: Caston 7, Argos 11

Score by quarters

Caston 9 7 13 16 – 45

Argos 13 17 17 12 – 59