HUNTINGBURG — A slow start Friday night quickly saw Southridge (5-5, 2-1) turn-up the heat inside Huntingburg Memorial Gymnasium for a convincing Pocket Conference win against the visiting Tecumseh Braves (3-6,1-3), 62-48.
The two teams struggled to find the twine in the opening frame, as the Braves closed out the first eight minutes of play with a 5-4 edge. A big second quarter from Southridge sophomore Brock Thacker featured the forward scoring 10 of the Raiders’ 18 points in the frame to capture a 22-20 halftime lead. A three from Thacker tied the game at 10-10 at the 4:40 mark, before a pair of drives to the basket and another trey gave Southridge a 19-11 lead with 2:11 to go in the first half. The Braves, though, wouldn’t go quietly, mounting a comeback to enter the break down just two, 22-20.
Southridge pushed its lead to 26-20 to open the third quarter. The Raiders outscored Tecumseh 17-11 in the frame, thanks in large part to seven points from sophomore guard Tate Whitehead and six from senior forward Mick Uebelhor to take a 39-31 lead into the fourth quarter.
A balanced offensive attack in the final frame saw six more from Thacker for his team-high 18, five from Whitehead at the free throw line to tally his 16 points and six-of-12 points from senior forward Collin Tooley helped close out a 23-point fourth quarter.
“It was a good win from the standpoint that we found a way to make enough plays to win the game on a night that maybe we didn’t play our best,” Southridge Head Coach Tim LaGrange said. “We weren’t maybe as mentally into it as we have been throughout the season. So, I’m proud we found a way to get the job done. Brock had a nice second quarter. Brock is a guy who can score in spirts, he’s kind of had a breakout. He had a heck of holiday tournament, made the all-tournament team and averaged 20-points per game in the tournament, then had a nice night tonight. It’s nice to have another offensive threat.”
The Raiders are scheduled for an 8 p.m. varsity tip-off today at home against county rival Northeast Dubois. Homecoming festivities will be celebrated by Southridge between the junior varsity and varsity contests.
“It’s a long season, our guys are young and they have to learn there are not nights off, you have to be ready to compete every night. So, I think what we do is take care of our bodies, get some rest, we’ll meet in the morning and talk about Dubois,” LaGrange noted. “It’s a county rivalry, and Dubois County is a really cool place for high school sports and high school basketball. So, it will be two county rivals who I’m sure will be ready to work.”
Southridge 62, Tecumseh 48
Southridge: Thacker 6-4-18, Whitehead 3-8-16, Uebelhor 5-3-13, Tooley 6-0-12, Neukam 1-0-2, Wright 0-1-1
Tecumseh: Dr. DuPont 6-13-25, Bailey 3-2-8, Julian 3-0-8, Weisgerber 2-0-4, Nelson 1-0-2, DT. DuPont 0-1-1
3-Point Field Goals: Southridge 4 (Whitehead 2, Thacker 2), Tecumseh 2 (Julian)
Free Throws: Southridge 16-24 (Whitehead 8-12, Thacker 4-5, Uebelhor 3-3, Wright 1-4); Tecumseh 16-21 (Dr. DuPont 13-14, Bailey 2-4, DT. DuPont 1-2)
Team Fouls: Southridge 16, Tecumseh 20
Southridge 37, Tecumseh 29
Southridge: Steckler 4-3-11, Buse 4-0-11, Schwartz 2-6-10, Leathers 2-1-5
Tecumseh: Keller 2-2-7, Cardarelle 1-2-4, Long 1-1-3, Arnold 1-0-2, Jackson 0-2-2, Schaefer 0-1-1
