By RICHIE HALL
CARMEL – University’s reward for getting a big win Thursday was having to play one of its big rivals on Friday.
The Trailblazers, fresh off a victory over Class 2A No. 7 Covenant Christian, hosted Tindley at the U Center Friday night. The Tigers, who are knocking on the door of the 1A Top 10, jumped out to a big first-quarter lead over University, and never looked back, beating the ‘Blazers 63-36.
“I think there was no doubt we looked a little gassed,” said University coach Brandon Lafferman. “But to win a sectional, you’re going to have to be able to play Friday-Saturday night against two good teams and we told our guys that.”
The Trailblazers scored the first basket of the game, a layin by Mitchell Martin. Tindley took over after that, with Jayden Pinkston making back-to-back 3-pointers to put the Tigers in front, and they would stay there for the duration of the game.
Tindley led 8-2 before Larry Pierce ended the run with a basket. But the Tigers promptly went on a 13-0 run that stretched into the second quarter, taking a 21-4 lead within the first minute of the period. Tindley went on to lead 31-11 at halftime, scoring the final five points of the first half, then adding 10 more to start the second half, going up 41-11 midway through the third.
“I think Tindley gets a lot of credit,” said Lafferman. “They played harder. They made shots early. Part of our game plan was to not really allow dribble-drive penetration and that led to a lot of open 3s for them and they knocked them down.”
The Tigers allowed University only five points in the third quarter, and held their biggest lead of 31 points twice during that period, including a 47-16 advantage at the end of three. The ‘Blazers played hard to the end, however, scoring 20 points in the fourth. Camden Brown had seven points in that quarter, starting things off with a 3-pointer. Sabien Cain also hit a 3, and Pierce added four points.
Pierce was the leading scorer with 12 points, while Brown had nine and Martin scored seven.
University is 7-4 and is off until next Friday, when it travels to Muncie Burris for a Pioneer Conference game.
TINDLEY 63, UNIVERSITY 36
University FG FT TP PF
Sabien Cain 1 0-0 3 2
Matt Jones 1 0-0 3 1
Larry Pierce 5 2-2 12 1
Camden Brown 3 2-3 9 1
Mitchell Martin 2 3-4 7 1
Nate Jeffrey 0 0-0 0 1
Kasey Ash-Simpson 0 0-0 0 1
Kahmi Bracey 0 0-0 0 0
Adam Witzman 1 0-0 2 0
Totals 13 7-9 36 8
Score by Quarters
Tindley 16 15 16 16 – 63
University 4 7 5 20 – 36
University 3-pointers (3) Cain 1, Jones 1, Brown 1.