June 10 – INDIANAPOLIS – Gainbridge Fieldhouse hosted an intense doubleheader on Saturday night. One game featured a comeback where the team that trailed most of the game fought back at the end to win. The other was the opposite, where the team that built a big advantage saw its advantage decrease, but ended up beating an opponent in the game.
In both cases, it was the Indiana All-Stars who celebrated at the end.
To start the night, Carroll’s Alli Harness was part of the Indiana women’s team that fought back to beat Kentucky 66-64 and win the annual series after winning Friday night’s game in Lexington, Kentucky.
Then, to cap off Saturday night’s event, Kokomo’s Flory Bidunga and Karson Rogers and Wildkat coach John Peckinpaugh savored victory after the Indiana men’s team defeated the Kentucky All-Stars 92-89 to split the two-day series after losing Friday’s game at Kentucky.
BOYS GAME
Bidunga entered the annual rivalry series as Indiana’s Mr. Basketball and closed the night as the MVP of Saturday night’s men’s game. He had a game-high 31 points and 17 rebounds, along with four assists, one steal and five blocks.
A night after losing the game at Kentucky, where Bidunga fouled out on a debated decision with more than half of the second half remaining, the Indiana players were motivated to put in the effort and win on Saturday.
“We challenge guys to take this personally,” Peckinpaugh said. “Some things didn’t go there [Friday in Kentucky], it was out of our control. I didn’t do a good job dealing with that adversity and it kind of snowballed for our players.
“We challenged them to step up and try their best to defend some guys who made really tough shots, and I thought we did a good job of that. [Saturday] night for most of the game. They have some guys there that made some really tough shots — you saw that late — but overall, for 40 minutes, I thought we played really good basketball.”
Indiana set the tone early and took a 19-point halftime lead, 50-31. Bidunga scored 18 points in the first half and dunked six times. Forward Jack Benter had 13 points at halftime, including 3, and guard KJ Windham had 11 points.
“Obviously, like the coach said, we take it personally,” Bidunga said. “I wanted to support my teammates, encourage them and do our best and fight through the adversity that was happening.”
Behind the trio of Kentucky Mr. Basketball Travis Perry, wing Max Green and guard Quel’Ron House, the Bluegrass boys kept coming forward in the second half and closed the gap to just 3 points on a Quel-Ron House bucket with: 25 remaining. Kentucky got another possession with :19 left, but couldn’t get it right again and the Indiana All-Stars held on for the win.
“I think we came out with more energy,” Rogers said. “We really wanted to get revenge on them for the defeat they gave us at Lexington.”
Perry, Green and House combined for 20 points in the first half, then combined to score 46 more in the final half, but Indiana had enough answers to maintain the lead throughout the second half.
Indiana got more balance with Benter scoring 16, Windham 13, Micah Davis 11, Evan Haywood 10 and Keenan Garner nine.
Playing as a reserve, Rogers had one assist for Indiana, which had 21 assists on 36 buckets.
“It was a big deal,” Rogers said of the team’s response after Friday’s loss. “We were all thinking about this defeat, so we really wanted to bounce back. We knew we’d be back on our home court, and as Coach has been saying all week, we’re playing for more than just ourselves. for the entire state of Indiana We really wanted to play hard. [Saturday] night.”
Saturday’s victory capped off a short and intense week for the Indiana All-Stars, who met for practice earlier in the week and then played three games – one scrimmage against the Junior All-Stars and two to keep against Kentucky. Getting on the same page quickly was important.
“We’re from Indiana, we play against each other, we’re very friendly and we have a good relationship with each other,” Bidunga said. It was important to “just trust…let that connection grow.”
It worked as planned on Saturday night.
“It’s a great honor to be a part of this,” Peckinpaugh said. “Every kid who grows up playing high school basketball in Indiana dreams of being a part of that. Experiencing that this week was special for me. It’s something I’ve dreamed about my entire life. Getting to work with these guys this week has been a joy It was a fun group.
The memory will last far beyond the week the team was together.
“It’s an honor to spend it with a group of guys like this,” Rogers said of All-Star week. “They’re all great teammates, fun guys, great personalities. It’s been a lot of fun.”
GIRLS GAME
Kentucky held a 17-11 lead after one quarter, opened its biggest lead at 34-22 late in the first half and went into the locker room up 34-25. The Indiana All-Stars made just 5 of 29 shots from the field in the first half, but rallied in the third quarter to tie the game at 47-47.
The fourth quarter featured five lead changes and three ties before Indiana secured the victory. Miss Basketball Chloe Spreen scored the final seven points for the Indiana All-Stars, taking the lead for good with a 3-point play off a feed from Faith Wiseman.
“I think the first half was very difficult, but I think we put that out of our minds and played the second half like it was a new half and played with all our hearts, and I think we did really well. Harness said. “We got together and said if we really wanted to come out like this, we needed to play with heart and I think we did that in the second half. We played with a lot of heart.”
Spreen finished with 16 points, Juliann Woodard scored 15, Lauren Walsh 12 and Wiseman 10.
Both teams were short of players due to injuries. Kentucky was without Miss Basketball Trinity Rowe and Indiana was without starting point guard Jordyn Poole. Playing without Poole meant Indiana turned to its full guard rotation to do more.
“She creates a lot,” Harness said. “She creates a lot of passes and movement. It’s hard not to have her, but I’m happy we won.”
Harness got the steal, as Indiana’s defense played a big role. Indiana forced Kentucky into 25 turnovers to Indiana’s 13. She finishes her Indiana All-Star experience having contributed to a two-night series sweep.
“It’s been a really great experience that I’ve wanted since I was a little girl and I’ve been dreaming about it,” Harness said. “When I got the call, I was so ecstatic and so happy. I have been working very hard and I am very happy to be part of this team.
