Rebels’ slide continues

Shots fell for South Central in the first four minutes of its home contest against visiting Evansville Day.
However, once Evansville Day began to knock down its field-goal attempts, the Eagles stormed away on the scoreboard. A 16-3 rush of points to end the first quarter helped Evansville Day make the return trip home with a 68-41 victory Thursday night.
‘Zero effort turns into routing,’ South Central coach Ryan Crick said.
Crick said the Rebels, who fell to 1-19 on the season, lacked effort and the observation wasn’t only coming from the coaching staff. In recent narrow defeats to Crothersville and Shawe Memorial, Crick said the all-out hustle was distinguishable.
‘Our trainer and a gentleman at halftime commented on the zero effort,’ Crick said. ‘We feel like we are a great team when we are on top. We’re on top of the world. We started out the game great and then, when a team takes a lead, we crumble. Against Madison Shawe and Crothersville, we fought and gave effort. There are moments of effort, but it’s in few spurts.’
Patience on the offensive end helped build a modest South Central lead. Henry Hentrup and Cody Baelz assisted a pair of field goals put in by Joe Logsdon and Hentrup.
Crashing the offensive glass, Logsdon had a follow up bucket. A Hentrup triple then a Baelz jumper put the Rebels up 11-7.
Then came the onslaught of Evansville Day points.
Guard Humaad Khan buried 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to give Evansville Day its first lead at 13-11.
The final three minutes of the opening quarter was dominated by the hot-shooting Eagles. Levi Willis had a pair of break-away field goals. In the post, Patrick Cinelli scored twice, including a last-second put-back while drawing a foul.
The made free throw gave Evansville Day a 23-14 lead.
Austin Schoen provided a bit of offense in the second quarter for the Rebels. He had a steal-and-score then a put-back on the offensive end. Between his makes, however, Evansville Day made a pair of long balls.
The Eagles shot nearly 70 percent from the field in the first half, taking a 42-25 advantage to the break.
‘Our scouting report was they all shoot the basketball,’ Crick said. ‘Their best player is no longer on the team. They were centered around him … In practice, it was all about guarding the 3-point line and defending their overload set. We wanted to take those away but, what we worked on in practice, we didn’t attempt.’
Khan went on to go 5 of 8 from beyond the arc. As a team, the Eagles hit half their 3-pointer attempts (8 of 16).
Similar to the start, South Central had the upper-hand over the first four minutes of the third quarter. Scores by Cory Ray, Logan May and Hentrup cut the deficit to 11, 42-31.
From there, Evansville Day benefited from a pair of Khan triples and another by Trey Waller to a 20-2 run to end the third and start the fourth.
Khan and Cinelli paced the Evansville Day scoring with 17 points apiece, while Waller added 14.
Nine different Rebels scored, led by Austin Schoen and Hentrup with nine points each. Ray tallied seven points and four rebounds.
Evansville Day (9-9) shot 59 percent from the field while South Central put in 36 percent of its tries.
‘We had a few positive games in a row, then these last two we allowed good shooters to get open,’ Crick said. ‘We are too inconsistent.’
South Central will travel to Southern Athletic Conference-leader New Washington on Friday at 7:30 p.m. The Mustangs are 4-0 in league play. The Rebels also will hit the road Saturday to face Springs Valley at 7:30 p.m. before returning home Tuesday to face Corydon Central at the same start time.

Evansville Day 23 19 16 10 ‘ 68
South Central 14 11 8 8 ‘ 41
Evansville Day (9-9) ‘ Khan 17, Cinelli 17, Waller 14, Willis 12, Rodgers 4, Lowery 4.
South Central (1-19) ‘ A. Schoen 9, Hentrup 9, Ray 7, Logsdon 4, Baelz 4, Basham 3, C. Schoen 2, May 2, Boyd 1.
3-point goals ‘ Evansville Day 8 (Khan 5, Waller 2, Willis); South Central 4 (A. Schoen, Hentrup, Ray, Basham).