An explosive fourth quarter from Anderson led to a final score that was not indicative of the competitiveness of their post-Thanksgiving visit to Lapel.
Damien King scored twice after Lapel pulled within three points in the third period and posted a career-high 34 points along with 10 rebounds as the Indians pulled away from a stubborn Bulldogs team for a 70-53 win Friday night.
Bulldogs coach Kevin Cherry was pleased with the way his team fought through adversity, both in the first half and in the second.
“The first quarter, we had 10 turnovers, and in the second quarter we only had two,” he said. “That’s the difference. If you give a team like Anderson, specifically Damien King, 10 extra possessions, he’s going to make you pay for those. I’m not disappointed with our effort, just some of our execution. Anderson is a very, very good team.”
Early in the third quarter, King scored in the paint for a 40-25 Anderson lead, but those were the final Indians points for quite a stretch.
Quinn Wilkins drilled a 3-point basket to begin a 12-point run for the Bulldogs (0-1). Devin Craig followed with a basket in the lane, and Brode Judge dunked off a steal. One free throw later, Bode Judge — who led Lapel with 18 points — scored from the baseline before Nick Witte cut the deficit to three points, the closest the Bulldogs had been since they trailed 2-0.
“We didn’t play the help-side defense, and (Lapel) was getting to the middle a lot,” Anderson coach Donnie Bowling said. “We’re a young team. We’ll watch the film, and we’ll get better. We just made some fundamental mistakes on the team defense.”
That’s when King took over once again.
He answered Witte’s basket with an elbow jumper to close out the third quarter and opened the fourth by putting back his own miss. Javon Warfield then scored six straight Anderson points, and the Indians (2-0) led again by nine at 50-41.
A Matt Carpenter dunk pulled Lapel back within seven, but Christian Townsend converted a three-point play to start a game-closing 20-7 Anderson run to close out the Bulldogs.
In addition to his scoring and rebounding double-double, King also had four steals and two assists.
“I think he was expecting a lot more that first game,” Bowling said, referring to Tuesday’s season-opening win against Pendleton Heights. “He only scored 13 points, and now this game tonight shows why he has six Division I offers. And I think he did it under control.”
Senior Spencer Proctor had 13 points and five rebounds for Anderson while Warfield fouled out after scoring 11 points.
“Spencer is like the X-factor. People don’t realize all the stuff he does for the team,” Bowling said. “He does the things most can’t see. He does the help-side defense, and he plays three different positions.”
“That’s my guy,” King said. “Every time coach gets on him, he takes it and corrects, never talks back. He’s my guy.”
Anderson roared out to a 12-0 lead and built a lead of 16 points in the first quarter before Lapel calmed down and battled back in the second quarter.
King scored four points, and Collin Lewis had five during the opening burst as King tallied 17 points in the first half alone. When Proctor scored a rebound basket at the buzzer, Anderson had a 20-5 advantage after one period.
Craig opened the second quarter with a 3-point shot for Lapel, but a Townsend basket in the lane for Anderson stretched the lead back to 24-10.
After King scored again for Anderson, Lapel outscored the Indians 9-5 the remainder of the half, led by a 3-point basket by Nick Witte and a 7-for-8 team free-throw performance down the stretch, trimming the deficit to nine at the break.
Lapel will return to the court Saturday as it visits rival Frankton (1-0) while Anderson will be home for a date with Indianapolis Homeschool on Dec. 1.
Lapel defeated Anderson 55-47 in the junior varsity game behind its high-scoring duo of Luke Jones and Tyler Cash. Jones led all players with 19 points while Cash added 18 for the Bulldogs, and Jaelan Jackson paced Anderson with 10 points.
This article appeared in The Herald Bulletin.