Bigger, more physical Red Devils pull away from Panthers

KNIGHTSTOWN, Ind. – This winter has been one of frustration for the Chaffee High School varsity boy’s basketball program.

The Red Devils have often played their competition tough, only to falter late in tight contests.

On Saturday, Chaffee made sure that wasn’t an issue, as it gained its eighth victory in easily pulling away from Meadow Heights over the final three periods to win 69-51 at the famed “Hoosier Gym” in Knightstown, Indiana. The facility had served as the fictional home of the Hickory Huskers in the iconic film “Hoosiers.”

“We were really hurt at times,” second-year Meadow Heights coach Mitch Nanney said following the loss. “(Chaffee) is physical. They are a big, physical team and when you’re smaller than the other team, that can hurt you a little bit.”

The two teams battled to a 16-16 knot early in the second quarter. However, the Red Devils owned that period and were never seriously threatened again.

Chaffee got single baskets from eight different players in the second quarter, as it outscored the Panthers 17-10 and took a 33-26 lead into halftime.

“They did what they had to do to beat us on the boards,” Nanney continued, ‘and they beat us around the basket.”

Meadow Heights matched Chaffee’s five 3-pointers made, as senior Kaden Cook and junior Braeden Hays each drained a couple of long shots. It even held its own at the free throw line, as both teams misfired on seven free throws, with Chaffee (8 of 15) holding a slight advantage over the Panthers (6 of 13). However, the Red Devils took care of the basketball much better and that resulted in them getting 23 makes as compared to Meadow Heights’ 15.

“We need to make less turnovers,” Panther senior Ransom Grindstaff said. “We have to take better care of the ball.”

The physicality of Chaffee began to show in the second half, particularly in the third period, as it bullied its way to the free throw line seven times while Meadow Heights could only do so once. To be fair, both teams were trying to empty their benches in the second half, so play did get a tad sloppy at times.

“I wanted to get all of the bodies in,” Nanney said. “I wanted to give everybody a chance after making this trip. There were some weird combinations at times. There was stuff that we don’t necessarily always do.

“But the expectation is always to go play hard and do your best.”

Meadow Heights used 10 players following halftime while Chaffee coach Josh Govreau went even deeper with 13 players taking the floor.

Chaffee took a 50-39 advantage into the final period and held on behind eight points from post player Blake Yarbro in that quarter.

Yarbro finished with 12 points, as did senior Levi McKinnie while freshman Rolen Reischman (10 points), senior Shelton Simmons (nine), and freshman Nolan Fowler (11 points) also contributed.

Hays totaled 21 points in the loss while sophomore Mason Mayfield (12 points) and Cook (seven points) were also productive.

“I thought there were a lot of open looks for us,” Nanney said. “We tried to move the ball. I thought that we played pretty hard and tried to get after it and work together.”

The Panthers will host Marquand-Zion (7-12) on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

Chaffee will travel to Delta (6-16) on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.