2013 commits Davis, Hartman perform well in All-star scrimmage

In preparation of facing their counterparts from Kentucky, Indiana’s Junior and Senior All-Star teams suited up Wednesday in front of a near-capacity crowd at Pendleton Heights High School’s Arabian Arena in the second of two scrimmages, with the seniors winning 121-96.

Despite being on the losing end, two of Indiana University’s recruits for the 2013 class performed well.

Collin Hartman, a 6 foot 6 inch forward from Cathedral High School, scored 14 points in 17 minutes. He finished 4-of-8 from the field, including 3-6 from behind the arc, after a shaky 2-of-8 performance on Monday.

“The first game I came in kind of nervous and tried not to do to much and was out of my game, I was off,” Hartman said. “I went away from trying to score the ball and went into defensive mode.”

Senior All-Star team guard and 2012 IU commit Yogi Ferrell took note of Hartman.

“Collin is a lights out shooter,” Ferrell said. “He is defiantly one of those guys I would want to find to shoot the ball because I know … he can knock it down.”

After the seniors jumped out to a 9-0 lead, Hartman put the juniors on the board with three free throws when Indiana Mr. Basketball and Michigan State commit Gary Harris fouled him behind the three-point line.

“Normally I play offence and defense on both ends of the court,” Hartman said. “I am a threat on both sides. Tonight stuff started falling.”

The second IU commit on the junior team, Devin Davis, a 6-foot-7 forward from Warren Central, continued his solid play from Monday night.

“Devin is a force on the boards, he is physical and strong and can pretty much finish anything,” Ferrell said.

In 22 minutes, Davis scored 13 points on 5-12 shooting with seven rebounds and two blocks.

The juniors battled back from the early deficit to tie the game at 19 at the 10:47 mark of the first half. The seniors then outscored the juniors by 15 points and took a 58-43 lead into halftime.

Turnovers were a major contributor to the juniors’ first half deficit. 12 juniors turnovers led to 16 seniors points off turnovers, compared to just two points off two seniors turnovers for the juniors.  

“We settled down a little bit,” Ferrell said. “On Monday night I feel like we were rushing a lot. Tonight we picked our spots. We kept them of the offensive boards. We played good transition defense tonight.”

IU fans had a glimpse of what next year may hold when incoming freshmen Jeremy Hollowell, Ron Patterson and Ferrell were on the court together for 5:34 in the first half.

Much of that time was played at a fast-pace.

“I want to get up and down the court and get easy buckets,” the 6- foot-7 Hollowell said. “I like playing in transition.”

Ferrell had a game high eight assists, wowing the crowd several times with no-look and behind-the-back passes.

“I am most excited about how he (Ferrell) can create open shots for everybody,” Hartman said. “He is so quick that the defense always has to be concentrating on him.”

The juniors fought back in the second half to get as close as seven points but could not overcome large deficits in points in the paint (70-42), points off turnovers (29-5) and fast break points (44-26).

The seniors put the juniors away with an 18-0 run over the last 3:38 of the game that was capped off at the buzzer by a Patterson alley-oop pass to himself off the backboard.

Even in the loss, Davis took something from it to help him get better for the future.

“I have to get stronger, faster, quicker,” David said. “Some of the guys we are playing against are going to be high D-I people.

The senior roster consists of 13 student-athletes, all of which are committed to play for a Division-1 college. The Big Ten is represented well, with seven players committed to five different schools.

“That shows how great Indiana is,” Ferrell said. “I think Indiana has the best class in the country right now.”

The seniors will travel to Freedom Hall in Louisville, Ky. on Friday to play their counterparts from Kentucky. The girls tip-off at 5:30 p.m., with the boys to follow. The second game of the home-and-home series is Saturday at Bankers life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, with the girls tip-off at 5:00 p.m. and the boys to follow.

The junior teams will face each other for the first time in a home-and-home series. They will play in Indianapolis at Heritage Christian School on June 15 at 6:00 p.m. with the rematch on June 16 at 5:30 p.m. being played at North Oldham High School in Goshen, KY.