Gardner – Managing 21 fewer shot attempts than PikeView, Independence had to make up ground somewhere.
It came on the offensive end where the Patriots proved to be remarkable efficient.
Independence shot a blistering 62 percent (29 of 47) from the field Tuesday, holding off the Panthers for a 74-72 win in Gardner.
PikeView failed to get a 3-point attempt of before the buzzer, eliminating an opportunity for victory. It was unfortunately fitting for the Panthers who struggled from downtown all night, hitting on just 5 of 23 (22 percent) 3-point attempts.
“The first quarter was awful,” PikeView head coach Les Farmer said. “I mean, we had a good start, then we started shooting 3s and got out of our offense. They were open shots, but at the same time that’s not part of our offense. We like to drive, we like to kick and like try to get open looks and stuff like that and then when we do that, we get those looks and it’s in stride. 
But we’re not a team that’s gonna come down and shoot a transition 3.
“We’re not a team that’s gonna come and take a one-pass shot. We ain’t hit one of those shots all year long and that’s the comment we made during the two timeouts in the first quarter and at the end of the first quarter. 
I felt like we kind of got back in our DNA a little bit in the second quarter, but I don’t know. All night long, it was just out of sync.”
While PikeView fell in love with the outside shot, Independence hammered the paint all night. The Patriots attempted just six 3-pointers and nine shots outside of the paint in total.
“I’ve been harping on them all practice time that we’ve had and telling them,” Indy head coach Shawn Jenkins said. “We played a few games and we had open 3s and we didn’t make them that night. And they just kept throwing them up, you know what I mean? I said, ‘Just ’cause you’re open doesn’t mean you need to shoot it, you need a better shot selection. You need to get closer. 
You need to see one go down, go to the hole, get fouled, go shoot a foul shot. And then once we’re back in rhythm and back in our offense and it hits you, then you can step up and shoot it because you’ve seen one go down.’ I’ve been harping on it awful hard here and I’m glad to see that. I really am.”
Jenkins’ message was received loud and clear with his team taking a 15-10 lead into the second quarter, seeing it grow from there. A layup by Brock Green and a pair of layups from Ashton Arthur staked the visitors to a 21-12 lead. A 7-2 PVHS run featuring points from Bryson Bailey, Drew Damewood and Nate Vestal brought the Panthers back to within four before Green nailed another layup.
That was around the time Indy’s leading man took charge.
After netting nine points in the opening quarter, junior Sylas Nelson did one better in the second quarter, running off 10 points in the frame, starting with a three-point play.
Trailing 28-21, PikeView found a groove. Bryson Bailey led an 11-3 run that tied the game when Ryan Robinette nailed a 3.
Headed for a tie at the break, Nelson caped his 19-point half with a 3 before the buzzer to put Indy up 37-34.
In the third quarter Indy’s defense sputtered.
Led by Robinette’s 15 points in the frame, PikeView took its largest lead of the game at 59-50, threatening to pull away. But a steal by Kaden Bradbury, who stepped in the play before for an injured Brady Rose, led to a layup by Green, snapping a 10-0 PikeView run before the start of the fourth quarter.
Sticking to the approach that worked all night, the Patriots took charge, opening with a 9-2 run to trim the deficit to one. They attacked the paint, getting to the foul line 12 times in the fourth quarter, converting on seven attempts. They finished the frame shooting 6 of 7 from the field, taking a 69-67 lead on a Nelson 3 in the final two minutes.
Bailey knotted the game at 70 later before Ashton Arthur and Elijah Hall traded layups but Nelson and Arthur split a pair of free throws down the stretch for the decisive points.
Despite shooting 62 percent, Indy yielded 18 offensive rebounds in its zone defense but the tradeoff was worth it for Jenkins and Co.
“They’re a good basketball team and we changed it up a little bit and went zone there a little bit,” Jenkins said. “They were struggling shooting the ball a little bit in the first half, so that was one of the reasons why I thought, well, we’ll just go zone and see. Even though they made a few, it was still better for us because we had help in the paint, When they tried to drive, we had somebody there. So us moving to that zone, I think was a big thing. I think it was the zone helped us out a lot.
“We actually moved there at one time we moved (Landon) Riddle into the paint and moved Brock out onto the wing there a little bit. I think that helped us there in last few possessions. (Green’s) IQ is very high so he understood a path. I think that was huge, but I think the zone – really we haven’t played much zone. We’ve played man most of the year. I thought, we were gonna play man and no matter what, that’s what we’re playing. Sometimes you got to make adjustments even though you don’t want to. 
And I didn’t want to, I’ll be honest with you. I did not want to, but it’s what we had to do and I think that was a difference there.”
Nelson led all scorers with 26 points while Ashton Arthur netted 21.
Ryan Robinette led PikeView with 24 points in the loss.
I: 15 22 15 22 – 74
PV: 10 24 25 13 – 72
Independence
Ashton Arthur 21, Sylas Nelson 26, Landon Riddle 5, Brock Green 12, Reid Warden 6, Kaden Bradbury 3
PikeView
Drew Damewood 9, Elijah Hall 10, Bryson Bailey 12, Nate Vestal 11, Ryan Robinette 24, Zayden Farmer 6
