Hollowell leads Indiana All-Stars during 30-5 second half run to beat Kentucky All-Stars

INDIANAPOLIS — Crashing the boards, controlling the paint and running the break, Jeremy Hollowell did a little bit of everything in the finale of the 2012 Indiana-Kentucky All-Star Series on Saturday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Hollowell scored nine points and finished with nine rebounds, three assists and two blocks in 16 minutes.

He energized the crowd with his defensive effort and transition baskets during a 30-5 Indiana run in the second half that put away Kentucky for an 83-73 Indiana victory and fourth straight Series sweep.

“As a group we struggled with rebounding all week, and we just wanted to get out and run,” Hollowell said. “I just wanted to get in and help down low with rebounding ... and push the ball in transition, where we were at our best.”

None of Hollowell’s plays were more electrifying than the two he made during a six-second sequence with 6:14 left in the game.

Hollowell blocked an attempted Kentucky layup down low and immediately tossed it up the court to RJ Hunter.

With Hollowell sprinting down the court, Hunter rewarded his trailing big man with a feed in the middle of the lane that Hollowell emphatically slammed home, making it 73-59 Indiana with 6:08 left.

“He was just relentless on the boards,” Hunter said. “He would get the boards, help kick it out and he would run the court, so we fed him and he got some easy baskets.”

Hollowell exited the game with 4:54 remaining and received a standing ovation from the crowd of 5,938, the vast majority of which supported the Indiana All-Stars.

“It’s gonna be my last time playing in the city,” Hollowell said. “A lot of friends and family in the crowd supporting me for my last game, so it was a real good feeling.”

Indiana’s defense helped fuel its high-powered transition offense. Indiana outscored Kentucky 18-6 on fast break points, forced 14 steals and 22 turnovers and blocked 10 shots.

“We were down five, and I remember I looked at Yogi (Ferrell) and said, ‘We can’t lose this game at home — we just can’t,’” Indiana Mr. Basketball Gary Harris said.

Harris led all scorers with 17 points and had a game-high five steals.

“Offensively we always had those spurts where we just looked outstanding, getting out in (transition), pushing the ball,” Indiana Head Coach Craig Teagle said. “But I kept trying to get them to buy into the defensive end, that, ‘Guys, you’re so athletic, you’re so intelligent. You’re long — you could just be a shutdown team.’”

Ferrell, a 2012 IU commit, felt the same way.

“We were getting those easy buckets — we thought it was a lot of fun playing defense,” Ferrell said. “We wanted to play defense the entire time because we knew we were gonna get the ball and get steals and get easy buckets.”

Ferrell finished with six points and tied for the team lead with four assists. He helped
Indiana reclaim the lead for good when he found Hunter for a corner three that put Indiana up 56-55 and drew a Kentucky timeout with 11:25 left in the game.

On the next Indiana possession, Hunter returned the favor when he rifled a pass to a cutting Ferrell, who knocked down a floater in the lane for a 58-55 lead.

From there, the rout was on.

Hollowell converted an and-one with 10:42 remaining when he corralled an offensive rebound, spun baseline and got the lay-in to go, making it 60-55 Indiana.

Hunter found Hollowell for a three 30 seconds later. Ferrell then stole the ball with 9:46 to go and quickly got it ahead to Hunter, who went coast-to-coast for the transition jam to make it 66-57 Indiana.

But before the fun really started for Indiana, the team suffered from another lackadaisical first half and entered the locker room down 41-40.

For the first half, Kentucky outshot Indiana 41.9 percent to 35.7 percent and was 11-of-13 from the line compared to 5-of-9 for Indiana.

Jay Johnson led Kentucky with 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting, and Jeril Taylor scored 12 points by hitting 4-of-7 threes, all of them in a back-and-forth first half.

The game featured nine ties and eight lead changes, seven of which came in the first half.

While Indiana struggled to get into a rhythm in the first half, 2012 IU commit Ron Patterson provided a spark off the bench.

He finished with 14 points on 7-of-12 shooting, regularly slashing to the basket from all angles.

During a two-on-one with 8:21 left in the first half, Hollowell made a beautiful wrap-around pass to Patterson for a transition dunk that made it 30-22 Indiana.

But it was Patterson’s defense that Teagle was most impressed with.

“Let me tell you something: Ron Patterson — if he decides that he wants to be a great college defender, he’s gonna be,” Teagle said. “He always wants to match up with the best perimeter player. That’s his mindset.

"If I’m the college coach, I’m lovin’ that. I’ve got a kid that wants the best player on the other team, wants to shut him down. I thought he did an outstanding job.”