ELWOOD — Terry Martin’s name may sound very familiar to those with a mind toward the history of basketball in the area. After all, he’s the same coach who won 216 games in 16 seasons at Madison-Grant High School.
Martin will finally be back on the sidelines this season as a varsity coach, and even in the Central Indiana Conference. His task this season, however, will be very different — guiding an extremely young Elwood squad, a team that lost virtually all of its varsity experience from an 8-15 campaign last year.
“Essentially, we have a JV team that’s going to play varsity basketball,” Martin said. “This year, I’m looking for improvement.”
Many may be prompted to say that Martin has his eyes on the future. With Elwood relying heavily on a core of sophomores — Joel Moser, Korbin Buster, Brandon Leisure and Kurtis Hussong — they’d be right.
“As they get older, they’ll get stronger,” Martin said. “I hope they’ll grow a little bit and become varsity players. It’s just going to take some time.”
With much of the focus on the underclassmen, senior Lance Smith will look to provide leadership that may not necessarily pay off in terms of wins and losses this season. As he explained, he’s looking to help build a foundation for success in the coming years.
“My main focus is to make them better, because Coach made me realize that coming back in a couple years when they’re a strong team, I can say I helped them reach their goals,” Smith said. “I’m optimistic about this team and the future. If we work hard, we can do some damage.”
Martin will look to Smith and Hussong to share duties running the offense, while Buster and Leisure will join that duo on the outside. Moser is slated to see plenty of time in the post, along with junior Derek Wells, who returns after taking a year off from basketball. Freshman Tyler Shannon should also see some varsity time in the backcourt, according to Martin.
“We’re going to have to work at every phase of the game,” Martin said. “We’ll look, first of all, to play at the speed and tempo of varsity basketball. We’re going to play a lot of young kids a lot of minutes.
“We’re just looking to try to get better. A lot of these kids will be around three or four years, so we have a lot of time to improve with this group.”
High School Sports
Elwood looking for a new beginning
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Bearcats upend AHS
Often basketball is a simple game, and it was certainly true for the Anderson boys basketball team here Thursday night. “We had too many turnovers — that’s the game,” said AHS coach Joe Nadaline after the Indians lost to Muncie Central 54-46 for their eighth straight defeat.
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Bulldogs topple Raiders, win 9th in a row
The Bulldogs keep on rolling. Lapel (16-3) led from start to finish as it beat visiting Shenandoah 69-47 Thursday night to push its winning streak to nine games.
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PHHS shoots down Fishers
It can be easy to take Kellen Dunham for granted. But the Pendleton Heights senior reminded everyone why he is a Mr. Basketball candidate with a furious fourth quarter Thursday night against Fishers. Dunham scored 15 of his game-high 32 points in the final eight minutes, connected on all 10 of his free-throw attempts during the period and drained a 3-pointer from the top of the key early in the frame that sent the fifth-ranked Arabians on their way to a 53-42 victory.
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Frankton subdues Liberty
Youth was on display Thursday night in Frankton as the host Eagles squared off against the Liberty Christian Lions boys basketball team. Neither team had a senior start the game, and Frankton proved to be the more seasoned team in a 68-59 win.
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Indians fall to Bearcats 54-46
Photos from Anderson as the Indians hosted the Muncie Central Bearcats.
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Five for fighting
Like other coaches, Alexandria wrestling coach Jack Grimaldi sometimes has to worry about how to motivate his charges as they head into their matches. That shouldn’t be an issue for him with his five Tigers heading into Saturday’s individual semistate at New Castle.
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Red-hot Lapel limiting miscues
Like any basketball coach, Jimmie Howell knows how important it is for a team to be playing its best basketball as the state tournament draws near.
But what’s going on in Lapel might be redefining that theory.
With a 60-42 win on the road over Class 3A No. 6 Guerin Catholic on Saturday, the Bulldogs pushed their winning streak to eight games. Over the 32-minute course of the game against the Golden Eagles, Lapel committed a microscopic four turnovers. -
PH moves on
On the roster of every successful team is a player or two who will do the unpleasant work. The ones who actually find satisfaction in this pursuit are worth their weight in wins to any coach. Pendleton Heights sophomore Kiawna Cottrell was just that player Tuesday as the Arabians advanced to the second round of sectional play with a 55-45 victory over Greenfield-Central.
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Indians slay Spartans
The last time these two girls basketball teams met on Jan. 17, Anderson defeated Connersville 83-74 in overtime. Lady Tribe coach Chad Cook knew the Spartans would come out with a chip on their shoulder ready for revenge in Tuesday’s opening round of the Class 4A sectional.
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Eagles eke by Raiders
Back in November, the Frankton girls basketball team handled Shenandoah by 29 points. Tuesday’s sectional opener at Shenandoah wasn’t as easy, but the end result was the same as Frankton moved on with a 44-43 win over the host Shenandoah Raiders.
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