Blazers beat Shortridge for third place in PAAC

The REPORTER

University defeated Indianapolis Shortridge 56-47 Friday night in the Pioneer Academic Athletic Conference third-place game.

Blake Gray had 18 points and Max McComb 14 as University led the entire second half, building a 14 point fourth quarter lead before withstanding a late Shortridge rally.

University raced to an early 8-3 lead behind a three pointer from Gray and five points from McComb, but the Blue Devils rallied to tie the score at 11 after the first period. The Blue Devils led 16-14 in the second quarter behind 13 consecutive Shortridge points from Eli Wilson. Gray scored five quick points for the Blazers but Shortridge came back to knot the score at 21.

Peter Morales hit two three pointers in the last 70 seconds of the first half to put University on top to stay and the Blazers led 27-24 at the break. Morales finished with nine points, all in the second quarter.

A pair of three pointers from Gray and a three-point play from McComb helped University to a 36-28 lead midway through the third quarter. The Blazers maintained the eight point lead at the end of third at 40-32 after a Noah Cortez basket and two foul shots from Cooper Cammack.

After the Blue Devils scored the first basket of the fourth quarter, University held Shortridge scoreless over the next 4:15 to build a 48-34 lead. The Blazers had three straight assisted baskets to build the lead. McComb scored off a Cortez assist, Cammack had a layin off a McComb pass and DJ Willis finished the run off another McComb assist.

Shortridge narrowed the lead to 50-45 with 40 seconds left but Faisal Mohamud made two foul shots and Gray scored twice on deep inbound passes from Mohamud to put the game away.

Cammack had a team-high 11 rebounds for University.

University improved to 12-7 on the season while Shortridge falls to 9-12.

The Trailblazers are next in action Tuesday night at Westfield in an all-county matchup with the Shamrocks who are ranked in the top six of all the Indiana high school polls.