Brownsburg basketball falls to new low

The Brownsburg boys basketball team played a good half of basketball in each of their two games this weekend, however they could not put a good second half together and lost to both Hamilton SE and Manual.

On Friday night, the Dogs were tied at the half and were down only 7 at the end of three quarters, but struggled down the stretch in a 60-46 defeat. Senior Jacob Eldridge led the team with 16 points. Sophomore Tyler Whetstone added 12 and Junior Torrey Nibbs scored 10.

On Saturday afternoon, BBurg hosted Manual, a team that was 2-7 coming into the game. Once again, the Bulldogs kept it close at the half, only down one point and that was due to a three-pointer by Manual at the buzzer. Just like Friday, a slow start to the second half did Brownsburg in, leading to a 55-46 defeat. Senior Kurtis Runyon scored 19 points for the Bulldogs while Tyler Whetstone added 7.

I was impressed with one player on each team this weekend. Hamilton SE sophomore guard Gary Harris starts on a team that has 7 seniors, which tells you how good he is. He has offers from Xavier and IUPUI already and is being recruited by the likes of Cincinnati, Illinois, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Syracuse, and West Virginia. He scored 14 points against Brownsburg on Friday night and leads the team in scoring (16 ppg), rebounding (5 rpg), and steals (3 spg). On Saturday afternoon Manual guard and Butler commit Chrishawn Hopkins stole the show with an alley-oop dunk to start the game, followed by a sweet three-pointer to get the Redskins off to a good start. He finished the game with 31 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 blocks. He is averaging 23 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, and 3 blocks per game this year. He has accomplished this while being double-teamed all year. Butler could use him as he has great quickness, yet is very smooth and has a good shooting touch. It will be interesting to see him play somewhat close to home next year.

You may ask, how has Brownsburg fallen to a new low this year? The Dogs are 3-10, which is by far their worst start since the early 90's and that is only because I can't find any records that go back farther than that. The previous bad start was the 1996 team that started 5-8 and finished 8-13. That team's schedule was a little weak at the end of the season, including games with 2A schools Tri-West and North Montgomery. This season's remaining schedule includes Noblesville, Lafayette Jeff, and North Central, all of which we are projected to lose by 20 points or more. The senior class accounts for 63% of the points on this team. That can be either good or bad. Maybe the team does not have the right chemistry, or maybe they do have the right pieces of the puzzle and are going to be even worse next year. Either way, I will still be in the bleachers watching. GO DOGS!!!