BOYS BB: Kings repeat as county champions

Dec. 3—Lewis Cass repeated as the Logansport Savings Bank Cass County Tournament champions with a 52-35 win over Logansport Friday night in the Berry Bowl.

It was a thorough win for the Kings (3-1), who overcame a strong start by the Berries (1-2) to win their second county championship in a row and third in four years.

Tyson Good had 13 points, three rebounds, four assists and three steals and was named the tournament MVP for a second straight year to lead a balanced Kings effort.

L.J. Hillis added 11 points and seven boards. Keaton Lewellen had 10 points and five rebounds. Luke Chambers battled through a high ankle sprain and had nine points, three boards and three assists. Haden McClain added six points, three boards, four assists and two steals. McClain and Chambers were named to the all-tournament team.

The Berries came out slugging and it was a back-and-forth first quarter. Logan took a 14-13 lead a minute into the second quarter on a Jacob Taylor basket.

But the Kings utilized their size, athleticism and depth from there to slowly pull away. They ended the second quarter with a 9-0 run to take a 22-14 lead at halftime.

The Kings continued to pull away in the second half. It was a 24-18 game when McClain hit a 3 to spark a run to end the third quarter. Owen Lowe ended the frame with a 3 for the Kings to give them a 40-23 lead entering the fourth. The closest it got the rest of the way was 13 as the Kings pulled away late.

The Berries did a good job of making it a low-scoring halfcourt game but it might have been to the detriment of their offense.

"I thought we played very well probably the first 12 minutes of the game. We got a little stagnant," Logan coach Matt Lange said. "That's probably a little bit my fault because we were shooting for a little bit longer possessions and if we do that we get a little bit stagnant on the offensive end. We started missing a few shots."

Overall Lange was happy with what he saw overall from his group against a tall and athletic Lewis Cass team.

"You know what, that is a completely different team that we saw in Week 1 [against Peru], we saw just the other day really [against Pioneer]. It's just a completely different team," Lange said. "Yeah, a great team like Lewis Cass is going to pull away from us coming down the stretch because we're short-benched right now. We can go six, seven partially, so we're really riding those guys hard, so when a team can really rotate through it really hurts our legs. And you can see that as the game progressed a little bit longer, shots were short, we weren't getting to rebounds, we weren't able to be as aggressive as we possibly were. Hopefully as guys get a little bit more healthy we can improve that short bench situation."

Taylor led the Berries with 18 points and four boards. He was 7 of 14 shooting including 2 of 4 from 3 against the Kings' stingy man-to-man defense.

Isaac Russell added seven points for Logansport. Cooper Smith and Chrisanthony Del Valle had four apiece. Amare Summers chipped in two. Izak Mock pulled down seven rebounds. Taylor and Russell were named to the all-tournament team.

"I thought Logansport did a great job starting off and put some pressure on us and they hit some big shots," Johnson said. "I thought Taylor did a great job hitting shots early. It's just we had to grind it out. We've got to remember, this still is the Berry Bowl and this still is Logan's home floor. We didn't do everything right. But I just really like how I see the team and the communication coming together. I think Tyson Good did a really good job out there really talking a ton because Luke was hurting still on his ankle. So it was a fun game, a fun way to finish out this tournament."

Lange thought depth was a big factor. The Berries are without Grayson Long, a 6-foot-3 senior who has the size and athleticism to match up with the Kings. Long recently signed to play football at Marian University on a fullride scholarship.

Initial reports were that Long will be out until February as he recently had surgery to repair a torn meniscus. Lange is hoping to get him back sooner.

"He goes to the doctor Monday. We're going to see what happens. Hopefully he'll let him jog on it, do the stuff, but I really don't know. The one thing I do know is I care about him, so I always tell him, 'Grayson, it's your timeline, I'm not going to force you to do anything. When you're comfortable, we'll bring you back out. I'm happy to have you as a senior leader whether he's on the floor or sitting on the bench cheering everybody on.' So we'll see. We'll know a lot more on Monday when he gets a report from his doctor."

Chambers gutted out a high ankle sprain for the Kings. He was averaging 17 points and 12 rebounds through the first three games and was held to nine points and three boards Friday.

"Like I said before, we need Luke to be successful, we need everybody," Johnson said. "We had three guys in double figures and I think that's how you win ballgames. I thought Keaton Lewellen was really big for us today. I've been trying to get him over the hump of three rebounds and he definitely had more than three rebounds today. The seniors wanted this one pretty bad and they made it happen so I'm pretty excited for them."

The Berries' 2-3 zone and patient offense kept the game close most of the way. Lange commended his team.

"We were matching Isaac Russell up against a 6-6 kid in the Lewellen kid and also we're putting Cooper Smith who's just barely 6-foot on a really, really big post player in Luke Chambers and asking them to do a lot," he said. "I'll tell you what, they did an absolutely fabulous job on what we asked them to do."

Logan hosts Muncie Central Friday and Rochester Saturday next weekend. Cass travels to Hamilton Heights Friday and hosts Michigan City Marquette Saturday.

Tuesday's Pharos-Tribune will feature Good and Chamber's reactions to Friday night's win over Logansport.