Coming into Saturday’s contest at Southport Fieldhouse, Center Grove sat at 3-2 while Warren Central came in at a winless 0-3.
Despite the slow start to the season for the Warriors, there was no slow start for their matchup against Center Grove. With all five starters scoring above four points in the opening half, the Warriors were able to flex their muscles to a 29-12 lead going into halftime.
Forward Will Spellman and guard Joey Schmitz were able to keep the Trojans afloat with six points each in the first half. Despite this, the rest of the Center Grove team combined for 0-8 from the field and turned it over a whopping 10 times in the opening half.
Starting the second half down 17, head coach Zach Hahn dialed up intense halfcourt pressure to disrupt a Warren Central offense that had drained four of seven three pointers attempted.
This pressure quickly went into effect, sparking a 10-0 run that saw the Warriors commit six third quarter turnovers and cut the deficit down to single digits.
Despite the improved third quarter play, junior guard Zeke Kirby would score 10 points in the quarter including two three point shots to keep the Warren Central lead at 45-31.
Down big once again at the beginning of the final stanza, Hahn was able to dial up the defensive pressure once again to cut the deficit.
The senior guard Schmitz would do a little bit of everything for the Trojans during their failed comeback attempts, but his 21 points and five rebounds would not be enough as Warren Central would pull out the 60-44 win.
Center Grove is a solid team and despite dropping to 3-3 on the year, this is their first double digit loss of the season. A close seven point loss to a really good Crispus Attucks team last week shows this loss is likely a fluke. They have scorers, but nobody was hitting their shots outside of Schmitz as they finished with an ugly performance of 15-43 shooting from the field.
For Warren Central, they secure their first win of the season and look as athletic as after. The combination of Kirby and junior forward Jevon Guess is capable of going bucket-for-bucket with just about anyone in the state.
Kirby finished with 18 points and five assists while Guess chipped in 12 points of his own. Do not be surprised if this win sparks a streak for the Warriors.