Jimtown High School

Varsity vs Culver Academies (65 - 74) Loss Jimmies fall short against resilient Culver squad By Red Williams Freelance Sportswriter ELKHART – It’s tough when a game plan works but it leaves open a few glitches. Using a full-court press, Jimtown’s Jimmies played Culver Military Academy to a near draw before falling, 74-65, in high school basketball Friday night (1.17.25). “We knew Culver excels in its half-court game,” related Jimmy Coach Tyler Leighton, “so we wanted to force them to play the whole court. “But we failed to get back soon enough when they broke the press,” he added. That glitch gave the Eagles a number of easy baskets under the rim. CMA moves its record to 6-4, according to Coach Mark Galloway, who explained that the boarding school gives the students a Christmas break of nearly three weeks, during which there is no practice. “This game was way too high scoring,” Galloway said, “and Jimtown did a good job of forcing the issue. We were able to make enough plays on both end of the court to pull it out.” “Culver is a strong, physical team with lots of veterans,” Leighton said. (There are six seniors on the crew.) “We wanted to make them a little uncomfortable.” After an even match-up (18-18) in the first quarter CMA’s Eagles held Jimtown to just eight in the second stanza to take a commanding 36-26 lead at the half. But the Jimmies put together their own rally in the third period and actually narrowed the lead to one possession, 47-44, in the waning seconds. Senior center Branden King ignited the fire with a 13-point outburst as the Jimmies outscored the Eagles 18-13. And the fourth quarter was a barn-burner. CMA capped off its victory with a 27-point onslaught, outmatching Jimtown’s 21. King (6-foot-7) finally met his match, lengthwise, in battling Culver’s Matas Piktuizis, a 6-11 tree from Lithuania. But King led all scorers with 36 points, even while playing on a sore ankle. Javen Jackson added a dozen for the Jimmies. The Baugo squad also was a man short, as second-leading scorer Dylan Fey was unable to play with an Achilles tendon problem. Andrew Oliver-Overmyer topped CMA with 31, many of them easy layups under the Jimmy goal. Leighton also felt the rebounding edge by Culver (43-24) hurt Jimtown’s efforts. He also noted some of his freshmen players are stepping up. The Jimmies now are 6-5 and are home again Saturday night to South Central. Score by quarters: Culver MA 18 18 13 27 = 74 Jimtown 18 8 18 21 = 65 Officials: Bruce Wirick (Granger), Jarin Bontrager (Goshen) and Louis Brown (Pierceton).