Central led by five points at the end of the third quarter of its boys basketball game Friday against Anderson at Anderson. But the Indians made a late surge to claim the 58-51 victory.
The Bearcats struggled shooting the ball, going 19-for-51 (37 percent) from the field for the game. That included 5-for-20 (25 percent) shooting from behind the arc.
The Bearcats (2-4) were led offensively by Phillip Corthen, who finished the game with 14 points. Marcus Dukes was close behind his fellow junior guard with 13 points. They were the only two Central players to finish the game with more than six points. Post player Casey Thompson scored six points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.
Friday’s game was Central’s second in North Central Conference play, and the loss evens the Bearcats’ conference record at 1-1 after an earlier win against Huntington North. Central returns to Muncie Fieldhouse Saturday for a non-conference game against Delta.
• Monroe Central 69, Union 40: The Golden Bears pulled away in the second half after leading by just three points at the break. Monroe Central coach Justin Ullom said he didn’t unleash a fiery halftime talk, as his team understood its effort needed to improve. He said he was pleased with the increased effort and better ball movement in the second half.
Three different Golden Bears finished the game with double-figure point totals, with Beau Combs leading the way with 13 points. Israel Nash and Cole Woolf each scored 10 points. Dustin Brown led the Golden Bears (4-2, 3-0 Mid-Eastern Conference) with 14 rebounds.
• Blue River 58, Daleville 36: The Vikings pulled away in the third quarter in the 22-point win.
Noah Madison led the way for the Vikings, scoring 17 points. He was the only Blue River (4-2, 2-0 Mid-Eastern Conference) player to score in double-figures. D.J. Acton grabbed 12 rebounds for the Vikings, and Jonah Madison was right behind him with 11 boards.
Keaton Shipley scored 11 points to lead Daleville, and Bryce Stephens added nine.
Blue River led by nine points at the end of the first quarter, but that lead slipped to five points at halftime. The Vikings outscored the Broncos 22-8 in the third quarter to build a secure advantage.
• Greenfield-Central 37, Yorktown 33: The Tigers limited the Cougars to nine second-half points, but were unable to make up for a 15-point halftime deficit. No Yorktown (3-3, 1-1 Hoosier Heritage Conference) player hit double-figures in the low-scoring affair, with Caleb Morey leading the way with nine points. Riley Neal grabbed 11 rebounds.
• Union County 55, Winchester 54: One-win Union County stunned previously unbeaten and seventh-ranked Winchester 55-54 at Union County.
The upset improved the host to just 2-5 on the season, but 1-1 in the Tri-Eastern Conference, while the Falcons have the same conference mark, and now stand 5-1 overall.
Winchester’s Alan Brutchen had a putback to make the deficit 55-54, with 7.9 seconds left. Brutchen finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds for Winchester, while Kiante Enis led the team with 13 points.
Union County was fouled with 4.7 seconds left, and a miss on the first charity toss was rebounded by Enis, and a timeout was called with 4.0 seconds left.
On the resumption of play, Enis took an inbound pass at about halfcourt, drove into the offensive end of the court and rose up for a potential game-winning trey, under pressure. The shot bounded off the board, no good, and Union County had its upset win.
—Ron Greeson (for The Palladium-Item) contributed to this report.