Central pulls away from Starfires, lands in finals with Luers

By Clint Anderson
Berne Tri-Weekly News
BLUFFTON – There are no more diaper bags in the Adams Central equipment room.
Adams Central’s young basketball team showed its maturity Friday night, never wavering through two and a half quarters of nip and tuck play with South Adams. Then, when the Starfires lost their edge midway through the third period, the Jets pounced and rode a 14-point run to a convincing 62-42 victory in the semi-final round of the Bluffton Class 2A boys sectional.
The win vaults the Jets (9-12) into a championship contest with Bishop Luers Monday night at 7:00. The Knights dismantled once-beaten Bluffton in the late semi-final game 66-33, and look poised to make a strong run at their third consecutive Class 2A state title.
Central stands in their way, and while the odds may be stacked against the Jets don’t look for them to shy away from the challenge. They haven’t done that yet this year.
“Even though a lot of these guys are young, a lot of our wins this year have come through critical situations,” said Central coach Aaron McClure. “It’s the end of the year and hopefully by now these kids have matured and I think they’ve done that.”
The Jets got another huge night from freshman Dalton Combs, who has poured it on over the last five games. Combs is averaging seven points per game for the season, but has scored twice that amount over the last five, and finished Friday’s game with 15.
Combs scored on a Ben Mishler assists with 3:19 left in the third quarter to help Central break a 30-30 tie. The Jets then forced a Starfire turnover and converted that into another Combs basket. Combs was fouled on the shot and buried the ensuing free throw to give AC a 35-30 lead.
Nathanael Fiechter followed by stealing the ball from Nick Teeter and got the ball to Maverick Baumer for a 7-point Jet lead. South Adams turned the ball over a fourth straight possession and Combs scored again to raise his team’s lead to 39-30.
Combs was fouled once again on the attempt and sank his bonus shot, giving the Jets a 10-point lead. South Adams lost yet another possession on a turnover and Central got a 3-pointer from Ben Mishler with 1:08 left in the period to go ahead 43-30.
South Adams (1-19) had just six turnovers through the first half, but committed six in the final 3:30 of the third quarter and fell way behind as a result.
“You can only battle back so many times,” said Starfire coach Ryan Biegel. “When we needed to take care of the ball we didn’t do it, and a lot of times they were constant turnovers.”
South Adams finally broke its five-plus-minute scoring drought in the fourth quarter when Teeter scored off a steal, but Adams Central answered with a quick 5-point run to raise its lead to 49-32.
In their previous meeting, Adams Central attempted to slow the game down with a double-digit lead, but with its season on the line it kept attacking. That paid off as the lead never dipped below 14-points the rest of the game, and with some solid free throw shooting down the stretch it grew to its largest of the night (20) with 29 seconds remaining.
“It was a little more comfortable, and you can make sure you take a high percentage shot,” said McClure. “If we didn’t score and they came down and scored we’d still be up 13. There’s always a fine line, but it’s nice when you can put five kids on the floor at the end and you’re confident that no matter who they foul they’re going to step up and knock down their free throws.”
The Jets, after allowing Teeter to score 37 in their regular season meeting, held the county’s scoring leader to just 19 points. He was 6-of-19 from the field and 5-of-5 at the foul line, finishing his career with 1,100 points – good for sixth place on the all-time list at South Adams. Teeter’s 517 points this season ranks as the third highest single-season total in South Adams history.
“Tim Sipe and Nathanael Fiechter spent the majority of the game on him. We challenged them to step up and guard him,” said McClure. “The last game we tried to double him a little bit, and we decided we weren’t going to do that tonight. We didn’t do a real good job of helping (on Teeter) in the first half, in the second half I thought we did a much better job stepping over.”
The Starfires used strong defense early to keep the game close, but when it started to get away they could not shoot their way back. South Adams was just 7-of-28 from the field in the second half, including 3-of-12 from 3-point range.
“When you rely so much on outside shooting, and from one player, things like this can happen,” said Biegel. “Last time Nick had 37, and tonight he had 19, there’s the separation right there. They did a good job of taking him out and we didn’t have anyone else step up.”
Central loaded up late on free throws, converting 15-of-20 fourth quarter attempts, and finished the game 23-of-32 at the foul stripe.
The Jets had two player reach double digits scoring besides Combs. Maverick Baumer had a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds (he also blocked four shots). Ben Mishler dropped in 11 points to go along with his three steals and three assists.
Adams Central snapped a seven-game sectional losing streak with its win over South Adams. The Jets’ last sectional victory came in 2004 when it beat Heritage. Central has not played in a sectional championship since 2003 when it lost to Bluffton 44-42.
South Adams finished the season on an 18-game skid, and has lost its last two sectional contests.

IHSAA Class 2A Bluffton Boys Basketball Sectional
Semi-finals
Adams Central (9-12) 62
South Adams (1-19) 42
At Bluffton
CENTRAL – Kam Fiechter 0-0 1-2 1, Ben Mishler 5-10 0-0 11, Nathan Busse 1-3 7-8 9, Tim Sipe 0-2 0-0 0, Evan Timmons 0-0 1-2 1, Nathanael Fiechter 0-2 0-0 0, Maverick Baumer 2-8 8-10 13, Isaac Luginbill 1-4 3-5 5, Ben Snider 2-5 0-1 4, Kyle Fawcett 1-1 0-0 3, Dalton Combs 6-10 3-4 15, Blaze Brooks 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-45 23-32 62.
SOUTH ADAMS – Dustin Wanner 2-4 0-0 4, Matt Alig 0-0 0-0 0, Chase Ingle 0-0 0-0 0, Trevor White 2-4 2-4 6, Scott Hoeppner 2-8 0-0 6, Nick Teeter 6-19 5-5 19, Nick Munger 0-2 1-2 1, Taylor LeFever 1-5 1-4 3, Ben Meshberger 1-2 0-0 2, Mark Muselman 0-2 0-0 0, Tyler Taing 0-2 0-0 0, Jesse Bollenbacher 0-3 1-2 1. Totals 14-51 10-17 42.
Central 14 12 17 19 – 62
South Adams 11 10 9 12 – 42
Three-point shooting – Central 3-14 (Fawcett 1-1, Baumer 1-4, Mishler 1-3, Busse 0-2, Sipe 0-1, Luginbill 0-2, Combs 0-1), South Adams 4-20 (Hoeppner 2-6, Teeter 2-11, Wanner 0-2, LeFever 0-1). Rebounds – Central 37 (Baumer 13, Combs 7), South Adams 33 (White 9). Steals – Central 10 (Mishler 3, N. Fiechter 3), South Adams 8 (Wanner 2, Teeter 2, LeFever 2). Assists – Central 4 (Mishler 3), South Adams 5 (Wanner 2). Blocks – Central 6 (Baumer 4), South Adams none. Turnovers – Central 13, South Adams 16. Fouls – Central 13, South Adams 25. Fouled out – Wanner. Technicals – none.
Officials – Kevin Roth, Jerry Steglitz, Steve Godfroy.

Weight room equipment drive starting for Starfires

With a sparkling new weight room at its disposal, a group of stakeholders in the South Adams athletic programs has banded together and is about to embark upon an ambitious fund-raising drive to equip the room with new, updated and safer equipment.
The group, consisting of athletic department staff, sports boosters, parents, coaches, alumni and other community members has set a goal of raising $60,000 to fill the new room with state-of-the-art weight training and fitness equipment.
The room came about during the recent construction and renovation project that saw the erection of a new K-8 school and a reconfiguration of several areas in the high school. The old kitchen area of the high school was completely revamped into the new weight room, with the old weight room on the upper level of the Stardome being converted into a new wrestling room.
Currently the room is in use by weight training classes, student-athletes and patrons of the South Adams Fitness Center, but is filled with the old equipment from the upstairs facility, some of which dates back more than 20 years ago and is fairly inadequate by today’s standards. A portion of the room has been filled with the Universal and cardiovascular equipment from the old lower level fitness facility that was converted into the athletic department wing of the high school administrative offices.
The Sports Booster-driven fund-raising drive is set to begin soon with a goal of having the new equipment in place by June 1. Donors up to $99 will be recognized in the fall and winter sports programs during the next school year, those contributing $100 or more will be recognized on permanent plaques to be displayed at the weight room, and those donating $1,000 or more will receive recognition on a special display. Any anonymous donations will be respected.
Anyone wanting to donate should contact a member of the South Adams Sports Boosters, the South Adams athletic office (589-8231), or one of the following point persons: Jim Buckingham, Ron Dull, Toby Sprunger, Joe Lahr, Craig McKean, Brad Buckingham, Jeff Lehman, Kyle White, Kevin Ingle, Mike Pries or Herb Resler.
More information and donation forms can also be obtained by visiting the South Adams Schools website (www.southadams.k12.in.us) and clicking on the “Athletics” link.