University’s boys basketball season came to an end Tuesday night in a 62-45 Class 2A Sectional 42 loss to host Heritage Christian.
The host Eagles put together a 16-0 run over a five-minute stretch spanning the first and second quarters to turn a 4-4 tie in to a 20-4 lead that University could not overcome.
Senior Camden Brown had 14 points in his final game to lead University as he battled foul trouble on the night. Junior Larry Pierce had 12 points and senior Matt Jones had nine on a trio of three-pointers.
Kasey Ash-Simpson had five points and handed out a team-high five assists.
The normally staunch University defense had a rough night as they allowed more than 60 points for just the third time this season and only the seventh time in the last four seasons (97 games). Heritage Christian blistered the nets for 62 percent on 24 of 39 shooting.
University coach Brandon Lafferman tipped his cap to the victorious Eagles. “Congratulations to Heritage Christian. They played really good team ball tonight and made a lot more plays than we were able to make on either end of the floor.”
“I’m proud of my teams, especially the seniors (Camden Brown, Larry Pierce and Adam Witzman), on completing this Covid ridden season. We had ups and downs, and it definitely ended with a rough performance.”
University battled back late in the second quarter to trail just 28-18 at halftime and got within nine early in the third quarter, but the Eagles made 9 of 10 field goal attempts in the period and University committed six turnovers to put the game out of reach, 49-28 after the third quarter.
Heritage Christian improved to 11-8 and will play Irvington Prep Academy on Friday night.
The Trailblazers finish the season at 14-7. Despite returning just one starter, University won their fourth consecutive Pioneer Academic Athletic Conference championship and recorded wins over Class 2A No. 7 and Circle City Conference champion Covenant Christian and over the co-champions of the Indiana Crossroads Conference (Cardinal Ritter) and the Hoosier Heartland Conference (Eastern). This was the program’s 10th consecutive winning season.
HERITAGE CHRISTIAN 62, UNIVERSITY 45
University FG FT TP PF
Kasey Ash-Simpson 2-3 0-1 5 2
Nate Jeffrey 1-1 0-0 2 0
Kahmi Bracey 0-0 0-0 0 0
Zach Witham 0-0 0-0 0 0
Sabien Cain 0-5 0-0 0 2
Matt Jones 3-5 0-0 9 0
Larry Pierce 5-7 2-3 12 2
Camden Brown 5-11 2-5 14 4
Seth Hogg 0-0 0-0 0 0
Adam Witzman 0-0 0-0 0 0
Mitchell Martin 1-3 0-0 3 1
Totals 17-35 4-9 45 11
Score by Quarters
University 4 14 10 17 – 45
Heritage 13 15 21 13 – 62
University 3-point shooting (7-17) Jones 3-5, Brown 2-6, Martin 1-2, Ash-Simpson 1-1, Cain 0-2, Pierce 0-1.
University rebounds (11) Brown 4, Cain 2, Pierce 2, Ash-Simpson 1, Jeffrey 1, Martin 1.