DELPHI — North Montgomery’s Alex Wallace ignited a fire, and the Chargers lit up Rossville 65-47 in the Indiana Kitchen Holiday Classic Final at Delphi on Saturday.
“I thought Alex running the point was spectacular,” Chargers coach Chad Arnold said. “He’s a player, and tonight was his night.”
The senior sparked a 9-0 North Montgomery (5-4) run with six-straight points to start the game, and led all scorers with 17 in the blowout win.
North Montgomery’s 17-5 lead after a quarter proved the Chargers were firing on all cylinders.
“We just challenged the guys, and they stepped up,” Arnold said. “Told these seniors that it was time to step up to the challenge, and they did it. And they defended very well and played with a lot of energy.”
The Chargers held the Hornets (6-4) to just 4-of-20 shooting in the first half, while they connected on 12-of-24 to take a 31-15 advantage into the break.
“I feel like when you’re engaged — engaged on the bench and engaged in the game and have excellent concentration, then you’re going to do great things out there,” Arnold added.
Jaron Bradford added 11 points for the Chargers, including a pair of 3-pointers, but it was a duo of bench players that helped make sure North Montgomery kept its foot on the gas on both ends of the floor.
Junior Zak Searle reached double-figures for the second-straight night with 11 points, while Keifer Carmean added nine off the bench, and created havoc on the defensive end.
“Keifer blocked a lot of shots,” Arnold said of the senior. “I’m going to have to call him Matt Haarms now. I’m proud of him. He brought energy, and when Keifer does that he’s such an athlete, and when he’s running the floor we are a hard team to guard.”
Bradford and Wallace were both named to the all-tournament team with Rensselaer Central’s Alex Gall, Delphi’s Elijah Hudson, and Rossville’s Dirk Shaw.
Shaw led the Hornets with 14 points, while Reid Douglas added 13.
North Montgomery is off until Tuesday, Jan. 7 when they travel to Sheridan, before the Sugar Creek Classic that following weekend.
“Hopefully it shows these guys how good they are,” Arnold said.
North Montgomery 65, Rossville 47
NM 17 14 18 16 — 65
R 5 10 18 14 — 47
NM (5-4): Logan Kelly 1-5 0-0 3, Jaron Bradford 6-12 1-1 15, Zak Searle 4-7 3-5 11, Kade Kobel 1-4 3-4 5, Preston Shaw 1-2 3-4 5, Alex Wallace 5-6 4-4 17, Jack Thompson 0-1 0-0 0, Keifer Carmean 3-6 3-5 9; Totals 21-43 17-23 65.
R (6-4): Damon Shaw 1-11 0-0 3, Jayden Brown 1-2 0-0 2, Luke Meek 2-8 0-0 4, Dirk Shaw 4-12 6-10 14, Reid Douglas 3-5 6-7 13, Jesse Cornell 3-7 0-0 8, Evan Price 1-2 0-0 2, Griffin Williams 0-0 1-2 1; Totals 15-47 13-19 47.
3-Point Shooting: NM 6-12 (Wallace 3, Bradford 2, Kelly). R 4-16 (Cornell 2, Douglas, Damon Shaw).
Rebounds: NM 32, R 30
Turnovers: NM 13, R 12
