By Stephen Copeland
PLAINFIELD — Lebanon’s boys’ basketball team made the third quarter look like an NBA game against Plainfield on Wednesday.
After scoring a mere 22 points in the first half, Lebanon exploded and put up 29 points in the third period en route to a 75-61 victory over Plainfield – the Quakers’ (3-5) third straight loss of the season.
“The difference in the game was their intensity compared to ours,” said Plainfield coach Clay Bolser. “They’re a good basketball team. Our lack of transition defense and their offensive rebounds killed us.”
Plainfield kept up with the Tigers’ (4-3) third quarter scoring for the first five minutes of the period and only trailed 34-36.
That’s when Lebanon mounted a 15-4 run in the final three minutes.
Lebanon’s Caleb Brannon made a difficult 3-point play with two minutes remaining to give the Tigers a 43-36 advantage. When Plainfield turned the ball over and got whistled for an intentional foul the following possession, the game slipped away from the Quakers. They trailed 38-51 entering the final period of play.
In the third quarter alone, Lebanon ’s Alex Prittie scored 10 of his 17 points, Trey Hendrix tallied nine of his 23 and Brannon put up nine of his 16 points.
“We weren’t making the effort to get back on defense like our kids are supposed to do,” Bolser said. “Lebanon came out, and they were the aggressor.”
Chris Page tried to give Plainfield a boost in the fourth quarter and scored eight of the Quakers’ first 10 points. The Quakers forced a Lebanon turnover at the 5:08 mark and Page made a critical three-point play on the fast break to cut Lebanon ’s lead to 10.
The Tigers, however, maintained a double figure lead until Plainfield cut it to nine points at the 3:17 mark and again at the 2:40 mark.
In the end, Lebanon torched Plainfield from the free throw line. The Quakers put Lebanon in the bonus late in the third quarter and were outscored 23-6 from the charity stripe in the second half. Hendrix took nearly twice as many free throws (15-for-20) in the second half as Plainfield’s entire team (6-for-11).
The first half was low-scoring and featured three ties and four lead changes. The Quakers had a 24-22 advantage at halftime.
Plainfield played without Garrett Hanna, who may be sidelined for the next month because of a broken nose. He had surgery on Dec. 23 and averages about seven points per game.
“Not having him hurts energy-wise and leadership-wise. He gives all the effort that he has,” Bolser said.
The Quakers will try to snap their three-game losing streak at the Hendricks County Tournament Jan. 5. Danville High School is the site of the tournament.
“Our team has to bond together,” Bolser said. “That’s what we talked about in the locker room (after the game). We are far enough along that the ‘new coach, new system’ can no longer be an excuse. These guys know what I expect out of them.”
