Kokomo takes 82-79 loss at Maconaquah; Peckinpaugh ejected and suspended
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The Kokomo Wildkats and the Maconaquah Braves entered their boys’ varsity basketball contest as two of the top three scoring teams in the state. They may have left as two of the top fouling teams. But after the whistles finally stopped blowing, the Braves walked away with an 82-79 win on their home court on Jan. 18.
It had been 12 years since the two teams last met, and Kokomo tried to remind their opponents of the lopsided history that fell firmly on the side of the WIldkats. Kokomo opened the game on an 8-0 run, holding Maconaquah scoreless for the first three minutes of the game. The Braves’ scoring machine, Josiah Ball, finally ended the Braves' drought with a finger-roll layup with 5:07 left in the first.
The lead wouldn’t last. Maconaquah went on its own scoring run and tied the score at 18 with just seconds remaining in the quarter. But there was something taking place on the court besides scoring. In just six minutes of play, Kokomo point guard Korbyn Hammel was whistled three times for fouls. A minute later, center Max Feuerle picked up his third foul.
Some of the calls had the players and the crowd scratching their heads, but Maconaquah failed to fully capitalize on the whistling, hitting just 4 of the 10 free throws they attempted in the quarter.
The second quarter was a rough one for the Kats. Shots weren’t falling. Sophomore guard Erivon Burks was hapless from beyond the arc, missing the basket repeatedly. His ice-cold shooting was echoed by his teammates to a lesser degree. Coach John Peckinpaugh called a timeout with 5:14 to play in the second, hoping to rally the team as it trailed 28-22.
Whatever the coach conveyed, it seemed to work. The Kats performed better when play resumed, and they ate away at the Maconaquah lead. With 2:12 left in the second, star senior Zion Bellamy drained a three from the top of the key as he was fouled. He hit the free throw for a four-point play, giving the Wildkats at 36-34 lead.
The momentum had shifted, but as evidenced by Bellamy’s four-point play, the referees inserted themselves into the conversation. The whistles continued playing a familiar tune, and by the half, four of Kokomo’s five starters were in foul trouble, with at least three fouls each.
The score was 39-36 at the half in favor of Maconaquah, and they opened the third quarter by running the shoes off of Kokomo, breaking away for an 8-0 run. The Kats’ full-court press was defeated repeatedly, and the Braves rarely had to set an offense. The basket was open, and they found it.
And the fouls continued, very heavily weighted against the Kats. Many of them could easily be considered incidental or “ticky-tack.” And with 5:21 left in the third, a questionable offensive foul called on freshman forward D.J. Nash turned Coach Peckinpaugh's face as red as his crimson shirt.
Before the ball could be in-bounded from the previous call, the referee found his whistle again, calling junior guard Caleb Taflinger for a contact foul before the ball was put into play. Not satisfied with just one foul, Taflinger picked up another on the ensuing play. The fuse was lit.
On the Kats’ next possession, Hammel drove the lane following a missed Maconaquah free throw. He missed the shot. There was some contact with the Braves’ defender. In a typical game, the whistle might have remained silent. In this game, the foul seemed inevitable. But the referees held their breaths.
Peckinpaugh boiled over.
The coach entered the court and began screaming at the referee, picking up an immediate technical foul. Not satisfied with having fewer fouls than nearly all of his players, Peckinpaugh went after the two remaining referees. Clearly hearing a magic word or two, both refs racked up the second tech on Peckinpaugh, ejecting him from the game for unsportsmanlike conduct.
That didn't stop Peckinpaugh. He continued to rail at all three referees as he walked toward the locker room. It also didn’t stop Maconaquah from scoring. They sent Ball to the line for four shots, where he sank three of them, pushing the score to 51-36.
Fully realizing the rules of engagement at this point, the Kokomo bench changed tactics. They resolved to drive the lane directly at Maconaquah’s top scorers continually. The strategy paid off, as Ball picked up his fourth foul with 3:54 remaining in the third, and he spent the remainder of the quarter on the bench.
Of course, with less than a minute in the third, Bellamy picked up his third foul, heading to the bench as well. Maconaquah led by as much as 17 points in the third, but Kokomo scrapped its way back to just an eight-point deficit at the close of the period. And the crowd wondered if there would be enough players to finish the game.
The referee whistles gave Kokomo a glimmer of hope early in the fourth. Having just drained his 25th point on a baseline jumper, Ball picked up his fifth and final foul on the ensuing play defensively with 5:50 to play.
The Braves led by 10, and the Kats began to chip away. But the referees did not want to be forgotten. A clearly bad call against Maconaquah on a rebound was followed by a phantom foul against Kats’ junior guard Baris Moore, sending him to the bench for the rest of the game, just a minute after Ball was told to ride pine.
And on the ensuing play, the refs put Nash out of the game as he struggled on the ground with his opponent. Ninety seconds was all it took for three players to be benched by three refs.
Unfortunately, the referees continued to make the highlight reel in the closing minutes. They waved off a timeout from the Kokomo bench to whistle Maconaquah's Fuddy Kile for a scrambling foul on the ground; his fourth.
Kokomo eventually did take a timeout with 3:08 left in the game and trailing by eight, 76-68. The score remained unchanged for another minute as neither team could find the hoop. But the referees never misplaced their whistles, as they sent freshman Austin Moos home with his fifth foul with 2:14 to play.
With 1:50 left to play Burks hit a three -- just his second in 11 tries -- to close the score to 77-73. And with 1:25 to play, Kokomo had the ball trailing by four. It was time to do the traditional foul line dance that is almost unavoidable in basketball. But Kokomo’s dance card was nearly empty. They were forced to foul the Braves to save the clock, and the ploy was working as Maconaquah continued to struggle at the charity stripe.
When Bellamy found Burks for an easy layup with 43 seconds remaining, cutting the lead to 80-77, it looked like Kokomo could pull out a victory. They called time out to reset their strategy. Maconaquah threw away the ensuing inbounds attempt, but Bellamy missed a three on the ensuing possession.
Hammel picked up his final foul, but Maconaquah only managed one point on the foul shots. Bellamy again asserted control and hit a runner with 20 seconds to cut the margin to 81-79. It would be the last shot he took. He was whistled for his fifth foul on the Braves’ inbounds, and again Maconaquah just converted one foul shot.
The Kats grabbed the rebound and scampered downcourt with the clock fighting against them. Kokomo had two looks at the basket and missed both from three-point land. The ball finally went out of bounds with just four seconds left and the Kats with possession.
With Bellamy on the bench and Burks ice-cold, the Kats turned to senior A’Dayveon Young to hit the game winner. He had a final look at the basket but couldn't land the three with a pair of Braves in his face. And Maconaquah celebrated its victory.
The Braves used a balanced attack to dispatch the Kats, but it was the 29 free throws made on a whopping 49 attempts that truly made the difference. Ball led the charge with 25 points; 11 of them coming from the free throw line. He added seven rebounds. Seniors Kile and A.J. Kelly each dropped 17 points on their opponents, with a combined 15 points coming from the charity stripe. Kile had 13 rebounds in the winning effort.
Kokomo was led by Bellamy’s 21 points, including four baskets from three-point range on 13 attempts. Young was good for 11 points. Feuerle was a beast on the boards, hauling in 18 rebounds to go with 10 points. Moore added 10 points, and Burks finished with eight points after going 2-13 on three-point shots.
Now sitting at 10-4, Kokomo next travels to Muncie Central (6-9) on Jan. 24 – without their coach. Peckinpaugh will have to serve a two-game suspension for his outburst. Maconaquah will take its 8-2 record to Russiaville on Jan. 24 to face the Western Panthers (9-5).
See additional photos from this game, including galleries for both varsity teams, a gallery of shots from the junior varsity contest, and a gallery featuring the cheerleaders, the crowd, and the Maconaquah alumni band – all courtesy of Goad Sports Media – on the Lantern’s Facebook page or group.