Strong finish for South Decatur

Andy Scheidler, Greensburg Daily News, Ind.
·2 min read

Mar. 1—KNIGHTSTOWN — Following a Jan. 23 lopsided loss to one of the top teams in the state, South Decatur stood at 5-5.

Since the 29-point drubbing by Linton-Stockton, the Cougars have won nine of 11 games. Included in that stretch were four wins over Mid-Hoosier Conference opponents, which allowed them to clinch a second straight unbeaten championship.

"We've played a lot of good competition, which I think just made us better," SD coach Kendall Wildey said. "It doesn't show with our overall record, but if we had played our normal season we might have two or three losses. We have seven, but I think we're better because of it."

The Cougars finished the regular season 14-7 after thumping Knightstown 88-50 on Friday.

After going 24-2 last year, which was cut short because of the pandemic, Wildey opted to play a much more difficult schedule this season. He added schools in higher classifications, such as Mississinewa, Columbus East and Columbus North, plus top 2A teams in Covenant Christian and Linton-Stockton.

South's final nonconference opponent, however, was in contrast to the difficult schedule mantra.

Knightstown dropped to 0-20.

The Cougars utilized their pressure to build a big lead early.

"We were able to play lot of people, make sure we got some kids out without any injures and work on things to help prepare us this week in sectional," Wildey said.

"Overall, it was a good night."

Hunter Johnson dropped 30 points in his second game back from injury.

Lane Lauderbaugh scored 22 and grabbed nine rebounds.

Also cracking double figures in scoring were Jacob Scruggs with 19 and Tyler Sporleder with 11.

Up next

The Cougars drew a bye in Sectional 44 at Milan. They'll play Friday night against Tuesday's winner between South Ripley and North Decatur.

"Our goals are to watch a lot of film and learn as much as we can through that; get conditioning in and get in shape for playing Friday and Saturday back to back; and polish some things we need to be able to execute," Wildey said.

Andy Scheidler may be contacted at 812-663-3111 ext. 217401 or andy.scheidler@greensburgdailynews.com.