Western Boone Jr. - Sr. High School

On Saturday night the Webo Boys Basketball team hosted the Gophers of Clinton Prairie and came away 1-1. The night started with the JV winning another close game 40-39. Scoring for the Stars was Tristyn Faulk 10, Bryce Kopriva 8, Drew Gott 6, Eli Mitchell 6, Gavin Hawkins 5, Jackson Grimes 3 and Carter Hanna 2. The Varsity Stars took an early lead 1st quarter lead then battled back and forth with the Gophers the rest of the evening to eventually lose 59-50. Scoring for the Stars was Kaden Bennington 18, Luke Barta 15, Marcus Stepp 10, Levi LeGrange 5, and Jaxson Gott 2. Vs, Lebanon - Article compliments of Will Willems During the first four games of the season, the Lebanon boys basketball team cruised past their opponents – winning by an average of more than 23 points. But Friday night against Western Boone, they found themselves in a dog fight. And while it wasn't their best effort of the season, the Class 3A No. 10 Tigers found a way to improve to 5-0 with a 56-49 win. "It is nice to get a win and you have to give Western Boone a lot of credit," Lebanon head coach Albert Hendrix said. "They played hard, they kept themselves in the game and that's a credit to them. It's a game that will help us in the long run." It was the first time all year that Lebanon trailed in the second half of a game. Hendrix said that while it wasn't his team's best performance of the year, it was good to see them overcome a little adversity and get a win. "It's really beneficial if our kids respond to it and take the lessons from today," Hendrix said. "Landon Fouts did a really good job of leading us tonight. I thought our guards panicked a little bit at times, and we can't do that in close games. Foul trouble hurt us too, but we have to live and learn from it. But at the end of the day, it's a win and we have to learn from that." It was the third-straight tough loss for the Stars, who had a lead or were within one possession in all three games. "I thought we executed our game pan really well and we fought the whole game," Western Boone head coach Dustin Oakley said. "We challenged our guys to be a better a defensive team, and I thought we did that except for a couple of possessions of limiting their possessions and limiting their easy buckets." Lebanon came into the game averaging 66.5 points a game, 49th best in the state and 13th best in Class 3A. It was just the second time all year the Tigers didn't score 60 points, and the previous one was a 17-point win over Crawfordsville. In their previous two home games, Lebanon had averaged nearly 75 points a game. "They play some good teams and on their home court, I thought we were able to make things a little chaotic," Oakley said. "We wanted to try and take a couple of their key guys away. We feel like a strength of ours is our size, and we haven't been able to get those key rebounds. That hurt us." Little separated the teams through three quarters. Neither team led by more than four points in the first half, with Western Boone going into the half with a 27-26 lead. Things continued that way into the third quarter. Western Boone led 32-28 after a 3-pointer by Blake Miller, but Kayden Sloggett responded immediately with a 3-pointer on the other end to get the Tigers within a point. Lebanon crept ahead 35-34 on a basket by Sloggett, but after a free throw by Levi LaGrange and a basket by Bennington, the Stars held a 37-35 lead. But the Tigers closed the third quarter well, with Jack Ferrell splitting a pair of throws, then getting a putback at the third quarter buzzer to the Tigers ahead by a point heading to the final quarter. The Tigers pulled away early in the fourth quarter behind the play of Landon Fouts. The senior had 10 of his 15 points early in the fourth to push the Tigers lead to 49-41. Western Boone got within 49-44 on a Levi LaGrange free throw with 1:45 to go, but could get no closer. "It was just his leadership stepping up," Hendrix said. "He just didn't quit. He battled and battled - and some of his shots didn't go in, but he was in there fighting for a rebound. Really the effort and hustle he brought out of everyone in that 3-4 minute stretch is what we needed the first 25 minutes." Jack Ferrell led the Tigers with 16 to go along with Fouts' output. Korbyn Sloggett added nine. Bennington led three Stars in double figures with 16. LaGrange had 11 and Marcus Stepp added 10. Western Boone is back in action Saturday night at home against Clinton Prairie. "We have to see if we can execute for 32 minutes and find guys that are going to make winning plays," Oakley said. "We want to see who wants the basketball and who is going to make a key shot or key pass in a key situation. Our guys don't play a ton of basketball, and it's hard from November to March to get everything in and get their basketball IQ up. But we will figure it out and we are getting better and improving every night." Lebanon will have a tough task on Saturday night, traveling to Class 4A No. 14 Kokomo. Hendrix said the Tigers have to be a little cleaner with the basketball on Saturday night. "We have to take care of the basketball a lot better than we did tonight," Hendrix said. "That hasn't been a problem for us before tonight. We had won some games handily before tonight, and we knew tonight was going to be a good game, because Western Boone is always going to be a battle. We needed a game like this, and we have to build on it." Will Willems is the Sports Editor of the Lebanon Reporter. Follow him on Twitter @Will_Willems.