By RICHIE HALL
SHERIDAN – Family and fun are the themes of this year’s Sheridan boys basketball team.
The Blackhawks were definitely having fun Tuesday night at Larry Hobbs Hall. Sheridan put on an offensive show and played solid defense while beating Faith Christian 86-53. It had been almost a decade since the ‘Hawks scored that many points; the last time Sheridan had scored 86 points in a game was on Dec. 21, 2013.
The Eagles led 4-0 to start the game, but the Blackhawks skipped off on a 20-1 run to lead 20-5. Caleb Wright scored eight points, while Trent DeCraene threw in two 3s, which was a preview of things to come.
“I think the difference between this year and last year is, we’re more connected,” said DeCraene. “Our motto this year, throughout the summer ball and just throughout the season so far has been ‘Family.’ I feel like this team has been more of a family and sharing the ball and having fun.”
Faith scored the last six points of the first quarter to cut the lead to 20-11. Sheridan began the second period with another big run, this one a 17-2 spurt. DeCraene poured in the first seven points of the quarter, then Damon Winston made back-to-back layins to put the Blackhawks up by 20 points for the first time, at 31-11. A Tyler Garner putback made it 33-11.
Caleb Wright
Sheridan coach Bill Bowen called his defense “pretty good.”
“We started man and it was okay,” said Bowen. “Then we got into some foul trouble, so we were rather small, so we felt we had to go to zone and it was very effective.” Bowen said once the Eagles began to handle the Blackhawks’ zone better in the third quarter, they went back to man and finished the game with that.
The ‘Hawks led 43-19 at halftime. Faith Christian put up a little resistance in the third quarter, but a 9-0 run got Sheridan ahead 57-32. Garner made another putback while being fouled, then made the free throw for an and-1. Garner hit two more free throws, then DeCraene made four consecutive foul shots in a 16-second span.
The Blackhawks led 65-37 going into the fourth, which began with a Garner 3, then Trey Page drained his second 3 of the game. Garner scored seven points in the fourth quarter, his last two being a two-handed dunk.
DeCraene finished with 30 points, scoring in every quarter, and dishing out six assists. Garner added 19 points, with Wright scoring 16. Damon Winston had a tremendous game, with 15 rebounds and three blocked shots to go with eight points. Wright and Page both handed out four assists.
Sheridan is 2-1 and travels to Clinton Central on Friday for a Hoosier Heartland Conference game.
SHERIDAN 86, FAITH CHRISTIAN 53
Sheridan FG FT TP PF
Trent DeCraene 10-16 7-11 30 1
Tyler Garner 7-11 3-3 19 5
Trey Page 2-11 0-0 6 1
Caleb Wright 5-12 4-5 16 5
Carson Wright 0-0 0-0 0 4
Evan Krupp 2-4 1-2 5 3
Damon Winston 3-5 2-7 8 1
Chance Spencer 1-2 0-0 2 1
Devon Hamilton 0-1 0-0 0 0
Nate Hinshaw 0-2 0-0 0 0
Ashton Medsker 0-1 0-0 0 0
Totals 30-65 17-28 86 21
Score by Quarters
Faith Christian 11 8 18 16 – 53
Sheridan 20 23 22 21 – 86
Sheridan 3-point shooting (9-25) DeCraene 3-6, Cal. Wright 2-7, Page 2-6, Garner 2-3, Winston 0-2, Hamilton 0-1.
Sheridan rebounds (40) Winston 15, Garner 8, Krupp 4, Car. Wright 4, Hamilton 4, Page 3, DeCraene 1, Cal. Wright 1.