Mike McGraw
Hoosier Authority
They say the
best thing about freshmen is that they become sophomores. The folks at
Pendleton Heights aren’t likely to argue that wisdom right about now. They
might, however, add a second piece of their own. Nothing goes better with
sophomores than a classy, versatile senior who has been through the wars. The
Arabians’ talented sophomores and senior leader Nathan Hendershot combined to
blast Delta Friday night, 58-35.
The victory
moved Pendleton Heights to 2-0 on the campaign. It was the opener for the Eagles.
That fact goes a long way in describing this contest. For most of the night,
the Arabians looked like a team that had a much better idea of what it wanted
to accomplish than did Delta.
Pendleton
began the game is a solid man-to-man defense that made it difficult for Delta
to get clean looks at the basket. The Eagles compounded the problem by not
shooting well and by the end of the first period the Arabians had bolted to a
15-4 cushion. That lead grew to 27-12 at intermission. The guard tandem of sophomore
Kendall Waters and Hendershot did most of the offensive damage. That stayed
consistent through the entire evening as Waters finished with a game high 17
points and Hendershot added 13 markers.
It is never
going to be easy when you play a Paul Keller coached basketball team and the
veteran Delta mentor wove his magic at halftime. Delta opened the third quarter
far more aggressive defensively and driving the ball more on offense. The
strategies worked and the Eagles dominated play in the period. However, they
could not shake the bugaboo of cold shooting and the change in momentum went
mostly for naught. Despite holding Pendleton Heights to just five points in the
first six minutes of the quarter, Delta could close no closer than 32-21. When
Hendershot closed the stanza with a buzzer beating three pointer, the Arabians
had withstood the charge and led 40-24.
The
fourth quarter was time to experiment with lineups on both sides as the verdict
never came into doubt. Pendleton Heights’ coach Brian Hahn wanted to see
improvement defensively after not being impressed with his team’s effort on
that end in the opener. He spoke with Hoosier Authority after the game and
acknowledged they made strides. Meanwhile, Keller took the defeat in stride. He
said the Eagles will be a work in progress as they rebuild after heavy
graduation losse
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