ALEXANDRIA, Ind. —
If Alexandria’s non-conference matchup with Eastern Hancock was relatively meaningless, someone forgot to tell just about everyone involved.
The two teams turned a sleepy weeknight crowd electric Tuesday night with a wild, high-flying affair that ended with a 92-91 Royals victory, new individual scoring records for both schools and a home crowd that remained standing in proud applause long after the final buzzer.
“I thought that was a great game to watch,” Alexandria coach Steve Brunes said. “We played so hard. That was a great game considering our situation.”
The situation was an illness that struck both the varsity and junior varsity teams early Tuesday morning. Brunes speculated that the illness may have been the result of food poisoning from a team dinner the night before.
Whatever the case, the Tigers were minus two key players in Drake Cone and Braden Warren when the game tipped off. Then, in the beginning of the second quarter, Alexandria lost one half of its dynamic scoring duo when Landon Breese collapsed to the floor with an apparent ankle injury.
Breese would not return, forcing the Tigers to go deep into their bench and putting much of the scoring burden on Mitch Yeagy.
“At one point I looked out on the floor and there was Mitch and four freshman out there,” Brunes said. “Those kids gave a tremendous effort.”
Both offenses started hot, racing out to a 24-all tie at the end of the first quarter. Alexandria appeared to seize momentum early in the second quarter, going on a 9-4 run to open up a 10-point lead.
However, the Tigers’ offense dried up to open the second half as the Royals went on a 13-0 spree. Alexandria fought back near the end of the third quarter with a 6-0 run courtesy of Blaize Kelly and Jordan Allen, but the quarter ended with back-to-back threes from Royals guard Victor Vincz. Vincz tormented the Tigers all game, keeping defenders off balance with a mix of dribble drives and jump shots in the paint.
Vincz was especially key in the game’s final minutes, hitting 8-for-8 on free-throw opportunities to keep a rallying Alexandria team at bay. He finished with 52 points to break the Eastern Hancock school record.
“I’m not surprised by that,” Brunes said. “He is a tremendous player.”
Vincz was nearly matched by Yeagy, who turned 51 points, an Alexandria record.
“Mitch deserves that record,” Brunes said. “The shots he made tonight were not easy. I’m really proud of him and happy for him.”
Alexandria’s chances at the end of the game were fittingly in Yeagy’s hands. Down 88-83 in the final 30 seconds, the senior hit two free throws and a three-pointer less than 10 seconds later to make it 92-88.
Yeagy stole the inbounds pass on the final Eastern Hancock possession and again found net from beyond the three-point line, but even as the crowd rose in applause the buzzer sounded to end the game.
Brunes took issue with the officials, saying that he felt they allowed the game to get out of hand physically. Three Royals players fouled out in what became a rough-and-tumble game inside. Kelly left the game with a headache after an apparent elbow to the head.
“That wasn’t the first elbow No. 55 (Royals center Corey Clark) threw in that game,” Brunes said. “I didn’t see a lot of consistency from the officials tonight. They let it become a bloodbath. Considering their size versus ours, that kind of game is not to our advantage.”
Alexandria is now 9-10 overall on the season and will play Frankton on Friday night with conference implications. The Tigers currently lead the Central Indiana Conference at 5-1, while Frankton is 4-2.
Brunes said hoped to have Breese back for the end of the week, but could not speculate on his ankle injury except to say that it was not believed to be a fracture.
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Related Photos
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Alexandria's Mitch Yeagy drives the baseline as he is guarded by Eastern Hancock's Shane McCormick. Don Knight
Discussion
Royals edge out Tigers
Alex's Mitch Yeagy sets a school record with 51 points
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