When the starting five raced through a tunnel made up of youth basketball players and high fived every tiny hand in
sight, the Southport Fieldhouse came to life.
The stands, clothed in red and white, erupted, and their enthusiasm soared through the roof.
This was only the start of an action-packed showdown between the Cards and the Center Grove Trojans on Friday, Jan. 9.
Even in spite of the hour and a half early jump due to the Indiana Hoosiers bowl game against the Oregon Ducks, the Cards conquered the night.
From the first bucket to the final dribble, the Cards had their eyes on one prize: getting the win. Through telepathy-like teamwork and consistent scoring, they managed to bounce back from their string of losses, with a final score of 69-61.
“We’ve been a little slim recently, so this (is) the first game we really played together, and we just came to play and we was ready to play from the jump,” senior Samuel Lloyd said.
After the ball peaked in the air for the tipoff, senior James Kalala clawed for it during its descent.
Then, Lloyd kicked off the night’s scoring with a layup, but the Trojans weren’t intimidated by the tipoff in the Card’s favor.
The Trojans played with hunger, diving for all loose balls, fighting to regain possession.
But the boys in white fought to match their energy, throwing passes to open shooters. But their aggression resulted in two quick fouls for Kalala, which put him on the bench.
So junior Chris Cruz stepped in to fill the gaps.
Cruz wasted no time on the court and immediately knocked down a three which set the tone for the rest of the night.
“We need different people to be able to step up, and Chris was the first one that did that,” head boys basketball coach Ben Rhoades said. “And then the other guys that came in did that also.”
In his night off the bench, Cruz scored 13 points for the Cards.
Still, the Cards fell short in matching Center Grove’s junior Klint South.
South, a key factor of the Trojan’s first quarter success, landed four threes, which ultimately slowed the Cards down.
Even though the score read 19-13 in the first quarter, the Cards were unbothered.
When the second set of eight minutes began, they rushed onto the court in the same uniforms. But this time, they played with a different approach.
They closed in the holes, and it all began with an agreement to step up their game.
“Together, as a group, they just decided they needed to have a little more energy and accountability for what had happened at the beginning of the game,” Rhoades said
This shift in their teamwork culminated in a commanding comeback.
In fact, they managed to scoop up seven points through their rebounds and shooting
in just three minutes.
They scored back-to-back buckets, with senior Malakai Bravard contributing heavily through threes and layups. Overall, Bravard bagged 20 points for his team, sinking four of both threes and twos.
With the heat rising, The Trojans had no luck in keeping up.
The home team finished the quarter off strong with 38 points whereas the Trojans trailed 13 points behind.
But when the third quarter hit, the narrative read a little differently.
The Trojans knew what was at stake, so they kicked it up a notch by launching a full-court press, hoping to cause turnovers.
After withstanding three turnovers, the Cards sprung back up on their feet and tallied up 18 more points.
To cap off the lead, a thunderous dunk thrown down by Lloyd and key free throws by Cruz nailed down the boys in red, closing off the quarter with a 56-40 advantage.
“So more than anything, even when they started to come back, we withstood that,” Rhoades said. “We made some mistakes, but we overcame the mistakes we made.”
Even though it looked like the Cards had it in the bag, the Trojans clapped back.
Fighting to clutch their last chance at victory, the Trojans dropped four threes and two twos in the span of eight minutes.
As their competition caught up, the Cards knew the pressure was on.
So when Lloyd was summoned to the free throw line, he laid everything out on the table to silence the Trojans, once and for all.
After sinking only one out of two free-throws, Lloyd found his way back to the line through a game-sealing offensive rebound.
With just 17 seconds left on the clock, Lloyd managed to rack up two more points for his team, marking the Card’s first win after three hits to their record.
In spite of their 69-61 win, Rhoades wishes that the team finished the game stronger. But overall, he’s found joy in the fact that the Cards have managed to rediscover their spark.
“It was fun to see the guys care and have fun with each other, and I think we’ve been missing that some,” Rhoades said.
With another win under their belt, the Cards are working to finish the second half of their season strong. On Jan. 21, they’ll battle the Beech Grove Hornets, hoping to bounce back from their Jan. 13 loss against the Franklin Central Flashes in the Marion County Tournament.
