Powered by scoring from three freshmen, Eminence beat Houston 70-59 in a high school boys basketball game Tuesday in Tiger Fieldhouse.
The visiting Redwings got 23 points apiece from freshman forward Mason Foster and freshman guard Jeff Spurgin, along with 10 from freshman guard Brendan Barnes.
Houston senior guard DJ Riley also scored 23 points in the contest (going 8-for-10 from the free throw line), while freshman forward Karson McCain went 4-for-8 from 3-point range and had 18.
Neither team scored until Spurgin sank a driving layup with 5:30 left in the first quarter. After the two teams exchanged leads a few times, Riley drained a trey at the buzzer and the Tigers led 13-12 at the end of the period.
But that was the only lead Houston would enjoy, as Spurgin nailed a 3-pointer at the outset of the second quarter and the Redwings never trailed again. Eminence extended the margin to double-digits late in the first half and held a 34-25 advantage at the break.
The Tigers staged a comeback in the third period and were down 36-34 when McCain sank a trey at the 3:25 mark. But the Redwings regained the momentum and led 48-42 going into the fourth quarter.
With Barnes scoring all 10 of his points in the final period, Eminence went ahead by as much as 13 points on the way to the road victory.
The Redwings controlled the boards in the game and outrebounded Houston 35-18.
The Tigers turned the ball over only 8 times, resulting in no points for Eminence, while the Redwings had 15 turnovers resulting in 9 points for Houston.
The Tigers’ defense had a different look during much of the game.
“We changed a few things up,” said HHS head coach Dan Narancich. “We didn’t press the whole game or play man the whole game like we normally do. We went with a half-court defense that was a 2-3 zone. The boys felt like that was a good fit and so did I.”
Houston recorded 8 steals and 10 deflections in the contest, while Eminence had 3 steals and 4 deflections.
“The boys were able to get their hands on a lot of balls,” Narancich said.
Senior guard Caden Guerra and junior guard Dillon Shelton scored 5 points apiece for the Tigers, while senior center Gavyn Daily and junior guard Hudson Volk each added 4.
Senior guard Morgan Ipock added 8 points for the Redwings (1-1).
Next week, Houston (0-2) is scheduled to travel to Seymour on Tuesday and host Winona on Friday.
“We are still struggling offensively, but that will come with time,” Narancich said. “We will continue to work in practice and get better as the boys will start to be more comfortable playing and shooting. I don’t think we have really seen what the boys are capable of yet and for many of these boys it is their first time playing high school basketball, and varsity basketball at that.”
