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BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Boys basketball
Delphi 45, Pioneer 33 (Dec. 20): Caleb Sweet scored 18 points, but Pioneer lost to Delphi in an Indiana Kitchen Classic consolation round game at Frankfort on Dec. 20.
Drew McKaig added nine, including seven in the first half.
Sweet scored eight points in the first quarter as the teams were tied 13-13. Delphi led 23-21 at halftime and 34-29 after three quarters before holding Pioneer to four points in the fourth quarter.
Walker Jones had 15 points, and Brock Burton added 11 for Delphi.
Delphi improved to 4-4. Delphi coach Austin Cowley was the Pioneer coach from 2013-20.
DELPHI (45) (4-4)
Burton 4 0-0 11, Jones 6 0-0 15, Nelson 2 2-2 6, Gasser 0 0-0 0, Almager 3 2-2 9, Ellison 1 0-0 2, Starbuck 1 0-0 2, Gleason 0 0-0 0, Watts 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 17 4-4 45
PIONEER (33) (1-7)
Drew McKaig 4 0-0 9, Brayden Erickson 2 0-0 5, Rylahn Toloza 0 1-2 1, Lucas Perry 0 0-0 0, Caleb Sweet 7 4-9 18, Micah Rans 0 0-0 0, Andrew Helton 0 0-0 0, Gage Harper 0 0-0 0, Noah Miller 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 13 5-11 33
Three-point field goals:
Delphi 7 (Burton 3, Jones 3, Almager),
Pioneer 2 (McKaig, Erickson)
Total fouls: Delphi 13, Pioneer 7
Score by quarters
Delphi 13 10 11 11 – 45
Pioneer 13 8 8 4 – 33
McKaig scores 21, Sweet adds 13, but Pioneer falls to Frankfort
Panthers take lead in 4th quarter, but Hot Dogs respond with 12-0 run
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
ROYAL CENTER — For the first 25 minutes of their home boys basketball game against Frankfort in the Indiana Kitchen Classic quarterfinals at the Pioneer auxiliary gym, the host Panthers were leading.
But in the last seven minutes, the deeper, more physical Hot Dogs wore down Pioneer, according to coach Darren McKaig, and notched a 60-49 win on Dec. 19.
Drew McKaig hit five 3-pointers and scored a game-high 21 points for Pioneer. Caleb Sweet added 13, including a bucket on a back door cut with 7:11 left that gave Pioneer a 41-40 lead.
Jayce Strode, Frankfort’s 6-5 big man, and Kye Kirby scored 12 points each to lead Frankfort, and Doug Wood added 11. Quentcy Perry had eight, including five in the fourth quarter, and Alex Farley scored all seven of his points in the fourth quarter.
Sweet’s basket wiped out what had been a 31-20 deficit in the second quarter and gave Pioneer their first lead of the second half.
Frankfort then answered with a 12-0 run to go back up 52-41. Farleuy began the run with a transition layup and then hit a 3.
Perry then had a layup on a press breaker and hit a 3, and Wood finished the run with a 12-foot banker.
Drew McKaig scored Pioneer’s final eight points, but they could not get the deficit under eight.
“We talked at halftime that they were rotating a lot of guys in and out,” coach McKaig said. “It seemed like we were in danger of them wearing us down. It’s happened before. We play a lot of guys a lot of minutes. Come the fourth quarter, I thought we looked slow and a little bit sluggish on the defensive end. Couldn’t quite get the rebounds we needed, couldn’t get out to cover the corners. … Just a step slow. Even our guards just looked like they were stuck a little bit.”
Frankfort, under first-year coach David McCullough, ran a man-to-man defense. Pioneer countered by getting several buckets off back door cuts.
“Well, we still have a lot of inexperienced guys, and I think passing is one of the toughest aspects of the game, and it’s going to take a full season to really be able to throw those back door passes. So it did work some, but we had a few turnovers too. It’s hard to catch in traffic and still finish the ball with as small as we are, but I thought they did a good job trying to execute it.”
FRANKFORT (60) (2-5)
Kye Kirby 4 3-4 12, Kristofer Russell 2 0-2 6, Doug Wood 5 1-5 11, Quentcy Perry 3 0-0 8, Jayce Strode 5 2-3 12, Cayden Jarman 2 0-0 4, Jayden Skinner 0 0-0 0, Alex Farley 2 2-2 7
TEAM: 23 8-16 60
PIONEER (49) (1-6)
Drew McKaig 7 2-3 21, Brayden Erickson 2 3-3 8, Rylahn Toloza 2 1-2 5, Lucas Perry 0 0-0 0, Caleb Sweet 6 0-0 13, Micah Rans 1 0-0 2, Andrew Helton 0 0-1 0, Gage Harper 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 18 6-9 49
Three-point field goals:
Frankfort 6 (Perry 2, Russell 2, Kirby, Farley),
Pioneer 7 (McKaig 5, Sweet, Erickson)
Total fouls: Frankfort 13, Pioneer 17
Turnovers: Frankfort 13, Pioneer 12
Score by quarters
Frankfort 15 16 9 20 – 60
Pioneer 17 10 10 12 – 49
McKaig hits 5 treys for Pioneer in loss to LaVille
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Boys basketball
LaVille 56, Pioneer 37 (Dec. 16): Drew McKaig knocked down five 3-pointers and scored 20 points, but the Pioneer boys basketball team suffered a Hoosier North road loss to LaVille on Dec. 16.
Brayden Erickson added two 3-pointers and eight points for the Panthers, who fell to 1-4, 0-2 Hoosier North.
Collin Czarnecki scored 25 points, and Michael Good added 14 for the Lancers (4-2, 2-0).
LaVille led 25-15 at halftime and extended the lead to 42-25 after three quarters.
Pioneer lost to LaVille for the seventh consecutive season.
PIONEER (37) (1-4, 0-2)
Drew McKaig 7 1-2 20, Brayden Erickson 3 0-0 8, Rylahn Toloza 0 0-0 0, Lucas Perry 0 0-0 0, Caleb Sweet 2 1-2 5, Lucas Blackman 0 0-0 0, Ryan Looker 0 0-0 0, Micah Rans 0 0-2 0, Andrew Helton 2 0-0 4, Gage Harper 0 0-0 0, Noah Miller 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 14 2-6 37
LAVILLE (56) (4-2, 2-0)
James 0 1-3 1, Smith 2 4-4 9, Wagoner 1 1-2 4, Collin Allen 1 1-2 3, Czarnecki 10 1-3 25, Good 5 3-3 14, Cody Allen 0 0-0 0, Garrett 0 0-0 0, Rush 0 0-0 0, Schultz 0 0-0 0, Foster 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 19 11-17 56
Three-point field goals:
Pioneer 7 (McKaig 5, Erickson 2),
LaVille 7 (Czarnecki 4, Smith, Wagoner, Good)
Total fouls: Pioneer 18, LaVille 15
Fouled out: James (LV)
Turnovers: Pioneer 16, LaVille 15
Score by quarters
Pioneer 8 7 10 12 – 37
LaVille 10 15 17 14 – 56
