BOYS’ HOOPS: Red Devils drop second in a row, fall to Castle 73-52

By KEVIN HARRIS

kevinharris1972@gmail.com

NEWBURGH – Jeffersonville suffered its second consecutive loss Friday night at Class 4A No. 8 Castle 73-52. It was the regular-season finale for both teams.

For the second game in a row, the Red Devils (14-10) could not give head coach Joe Luce his 300^th career victory. Prior to the two-game skid, Jeff had won six contests in a row.

Trailing 12-11 with 1:59 left in the first quarter, the Knights (20-3) concluded the period with 12 straight points to go up 23-12.

Castle outscored the Devils 21-15 in the second to take a 44-27 halftime lead. The Knights proceeded to outscore Jeff 29-25 in the second half.

Six-foot-six junior forward Gerrin Moore was the Red Devils’ top scorer with 17 points, nailing four 3-pointers. Freshman guard Jacob Jones had 12 and Jeff senior Mike Minton scored eight. Castle held junior Bailey Falkenstein, Jeff’s leading scorer, to seven points.

Knight senior center Jack Nunge tallied a game-high 30 points, while teammate Payton Mills had 16.

“They are a very good team,” Luce said on his Saturday morning radio show on WXVW-1450 AM. “To be honest with you, we were not in that game much at all. We played well in the first quarter until about the last minute. We tried to limit possessions and we were not able to sustain that. We turned the ball over. We played poorly to be honest with you.

“We came around in the second half and played some decent basketball. But it was not an outstanding performance by us by any stretch.”

The Red Devils will face Seymour (8-14) in the first round of the Class 4A Seymour Sectional at 6 p.m. Tuesday. Jeff beat the Owls in Hoosier Hills Conference play Dec. 9 at Johnson Arena 63-46.

“We need to get some guys healthy and get back to where we can have a full team ready to go on Tuesday. I think we’ll have a good shot at getting back on track,” Luce said.

CASTLE 73, JEFFERSONVILLE 52

Jeff             12 15 16   9-52

Castle        23 21 19 10-73

Jeff (14-10): Gerrin Moore 17, Jacob Jones 12, Mike Minton 8, Bailey Falkenstein 7, Tre Coleman 3, Antonio Thompson 3, Joe LaGrange 2, Jailen Ernest 0, Gabe Gallahar 0, Cam Northern 0, Taj Sanders 0, Drew Taylor 0.

Castle (20-3): Jack Nunge 30, Payton Mills 16, Alex Hemenway 7, Jace Stieler 7, Brandon Eades 4, Shawn Young Jr. 4, Jordan Baker 3, Triston Wilkinson 2, Freddie Coudret 0, Zach Messinger 0, Bricem Thompson 0.

3-point field goals: Jeff 6 (Moore 4, Minton 2); Castle 5 (Nunge 2, Eades 1, Hemenway 1, Stieler 1).