Kiante Enis
CENTERVILLE, Ind. – Kiante Enis had a pretty good day.
After signing a National Letter of Intent to play football at Indiana University on Wednesday morning, Enis made a contested 3-pointer at the final buzzer to give the Winchester boys basketball team a 53-50 victory over Centerville.
“It’s been a great day,” said Enis, who finished with 14 points. “It’s crazy how things happen.”
“I woke up this morning ready to become a Hoosier,” he continued. “I made that official and then to come down here and have the game-winning shot against a team that’s actually really good, that’s a way to cap off the day.”
As the buzzer sounded, the ball bounced off the rim and backboard before finally falling through the net.
Elias Gates
“Sometimes the bounce goes your way and sometimes it doesn’t,” Centerville Head Coach Seve Beach said. “I can’t complain about the shot that we forced.”
“He was looking to go by somebody and our guys stayed down and they came shoulder to shoulder and didn’t get split and made him shoot a heavily contested one,” Beach continued. “He rose up and hit it.”
Winchester Head Coach Matt Fine was pleased to be along for the ride in the Tri-Eastern Conference contest.
“He started off this morning with a very nice ceremony at our school for him and his accomplishments and he ends it with a game-winner,” Fine said. “A lot of ups and downs between there. Our first half was a pretty poor effort on our part on both ends of the floor.”
Arick Miller
The Falcons trailed 24-16 at the intermission as they looked for their sixth straight win.
“We talked about a few X and O things at halftime,” Fine said. “Credit to our kids for responding to some adversity.”
“Last year, we lost these games and this year, we’ve won a couple games like this,” Fine added. “It’s our kids growing up a little bit.”
The Bulldogs (3-11, 0-4) were able to maintain their advantage until the last tick of the clock in the third period.
“At that point, we hadn’t been even yet,” Fine said of the score. “We had many opportunities to do that in a 21-point quarter.”
As if he was practicing for the final basket of the game, Enis drilled a 3-pointer to tie the contest at 37-37 as time expired.
Alex Brandon
Early in the fourth period, the Falcons (11-5, 3-2) grabbed a small lead to force the Bulldogs to fight back.
“This may have been our most complete game of the year from start to finish,” Beach said.
Beach felt his team responded after falling at Shenandoah last weekend.
“We did so many good things, but we came up with so many empty possessions,” Beach said of the Shenandoah game. “We finished those tonight.”
One of those moments occurred as the Bulldogs trailed 50-48 when Beach called a timeout after Michael Brewer had pulled down an offensive rebound with 21.3 seconds remaining.
“They took away Alex (Brandon), which is what we were trying to get,” Beach said of the team’s strategy after the timeout.
Justin DuPree
After a missed shot, what the Bulldogs got was another offensive rebound by Justin DuPree, who was able to tie the affair at 50-50 with 17 seconds left.
“That’s what a grown competitor does,” Beach said. “He went and got the ball and stuck it back in for us.”
Fast Start
Both teams had small leads in the first frame, but the Bulldogs were on top 15-8 heading into the second period.
“Probably our best quarter of the year,” Beach said. “(We were) getting the ball to the middle and attacking. I was extremely proud of us in the first half.”
Elias Gates led the Falcons with 17 points and nine rebounds. Arick Miller added 14 points.
Brandon topped the Bulldogs with 13 points and seven rebounds, while DuPree had 10 points. Brewer and Ricky Torres tossed in eight points each.
Winchester won the JV game 71-49. Lukas Mills led the Falcons with 15 points, while teammate Trey Graft added 11 points.
Kody Witham had a game-high 25 points for the Bulldogs.
The Falcons don’t have a lot of time to celebrate or rest as they visit Monroe Central on Thursday.
Centerville is also on the road for its next contest on Saturday afternoon at Connersville.
Box Score
WINCHESTER (11-5, 3-2) – Kiante Enis 5 2-2 14, Michael Georgi 0 0-0 0, Austin Lawrence 2 0-0 4, Elias Gates 6 2-4 17, Arick Miller 7 0-0 14, Cullen Hall 2 0-0 4, Trestan Enis 0 0-0 0. Team – 22 4-6 53.
CENTERVILLE (3-11, 0-4) – Ricky Torres 2 4-4 8, Myles Cunningham 1 0-0 2, Matt Stamper 2 0-0 5, Dante Torres 0 0-1 0, Alex Brandon 6 1-2 13, Justin DuPree 3 3-5 10, Michale Brewer 4 0-0 8, Kody Witham 1 2-2 4. Team – 19 10-14 50.
Winchester 8 16 37 53
Centerville 15 24 37 50
3-pointers – Winchester 5 (Gates 3, K. Enis 2), Centerville 2 (Stamper, DuPree). Rebounds – Winchester 31 (Gates 9), Centerville 26 (Brandon 7). Turnovers – Winchester 14, Centerville 14. Fouls – Winchester 14, Centerville 9.