Hauser’s Stryker Gill drives against Noth Decatur’s Lance Nobbe Friday at Hauser High School.
Tommy Walker | For The Republic
HOPE — Lance Nobbe couldn’t be stopped inside all night.
The 6-foot-5 North Decatur senior used his size to make his presence felt inside and poured in a game-high 25 points to give host Hauser a 58-45 loss in a Mid-Hoosier Conference boys basketball game.
“All credit to North Decatur, Nobbe is a fantastic player. We talked all week about him. We knew what he was capable of, and we knew he had a lot of size on us. He showed why he was an All-Conference player,” Hauser coach Trent Moorhead said. “Coach (PJ) Metz does a great job with that group. They’re a really talented team.”
Even if it wasn’t the result Moorhead had hoped for, he was still proud of his team’s effort.
“We’re a young group with a lot of freshmen and sophomores. One thing I’m always preaching to them is, ‘Compete and play hard,’ and we showed that tonight,” Moorhead said. “I’m proud of the way we battled with them. We didn’t give up, we didn’t quit and stayed in the ballgame with them. There’s a lot of positives to take out of the loss tonight. We’ll keep working, and we’ll keep waiting to turn that corner.”
The Chargers (7-3, 2-0) went out to a very quick 9-0 lead in the first two minutes, 15 seconds of the game. The Jets (4-6, 1-1) did manage a 7-0 run to keep themselves trailing only 13-8 after one quarter.
Both teams committed turnovers in the second quarter that would lead to points. North Decatur was able to convert more points off those turnovers to pull ahead of the Jets 29-16 at the half.
In the third quarter, the Chargers grew the lead to 39-21. With North Decatur denying the paint, Hauser settled for many 3-point attempts that didn’t fall. Ledger Gelfius converted a 3-point play for the Jets to cut the deficit to 43-27 heading into the fourth quarter.
Hauser cut it to within 12 on a couple occasions in the fourth, but couldn’t get any closer.
“It’s a learning process for us,” Moorhead said. “We haven’t seen a team like that in a long time. Some of the freshmen have never seen teams like that with that length and that size and strength. A learning process and a lot of positives, even though it’s a loss tonight. We’re going to get better and come back stronger.”
For the Jets, Taeshaun Tungate finished with 14 points, and Gelfius added 12.
Following Nobbe’s 25 points, Kaden Muckerheide finished with 15 for the Chargers.
Hauser has another tough matchup tonight when they travel to take on Class 2A No. 8 Southwestern (Hanover).
North Decatur 58, Hauser 45
North Decatur;13;16;14;15;—;58
Hauser;8;8;11;18;—;45
North Decatur (7-3, 2-0): Parmer 2 0-0 5, Muckerheide 5 3-4 15, Spears 3 0-0 7, Linkmeyer 2 0-0 4, Nobbe 11 3-4 25, Youngman 0 2-2 2. Totals: 23 8-10 58.
Hauser (4-6, 1-1): Alex Cord 0 2-3 2, Ledger Gelfius 5 1-1 12, Stryker Gill 0 0-0 0, Kameron Blair 4 0-0 8, Jake Barriger 4 0-0 9, Taeshaun Tungate 3 8-13 14, Owen McIntyre 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 11-17 45.
3-point goals: North Decatur 3 (Muckerheide 2, Spears); Hauser 2 (Barriger, Gelfius).
