Indiana All-Stars narrowly edge Kentucky All-Stars in Louisville

Louisville, Ky.— With all 13 players on the Indiana Senior All-Star team committed to play basketball at a Division I school this fall, many fans figured the Indiana team would dominate the Kentucky All-Stars.

Someone forgot to tell the Kentucky seniors, who have just four Division I commits.

They gave the Indiana All-Stars all they could handle before Indiana pulled away late for a 90-85 victory Friday at Freedom Hall in game one of the annual home-and-home series.

“My hat’s off to Kentucky — they played a heck of a game,” Indiana Head Coach Craig Teagle said. “Their kids executed really well, and they played extremely hard.”

Future Hoosier point guard Yogi Ferrell scored 10 points and had six assists to four turnovers. It was his hustle down the stretch that put Indiana ahead for good.

With Indiana up 86-85 and 24.7 seconds left, RJ Hunter was fouled by Kentucky’s Twin Lancaster but missed both free throws.

Kentucky Mr. Basketball Nathan Dieudonne came away with the rebound and drove the length of the court before he was stripped of the ball near the basket by Ferrell.

As the ball headed out of bounds, Ferrell made an incredible save, leaping for the ball in desperation and tossing it to Indiana Mr. Basketball Gary Harris.

“They came up to the ball, so I knew he was definitely gonna pass that down,” Ferrell said. “He had no other options. I just ran down the floor as quick as I could, and I figured he was gonna pass it, so I just stole it.”

Harris drove the length of the court and set up Glen Robinson III for the transition dunk with a behind-the-back dish, giving Indiana an 88-85 lead they would not give up.

It was a tight game down the stretch, and Ferrell got his team going when he stripped Alan Stenzel off an inbounds play and made a tough and-one bucket as Stenzel fouled him.

He made the free throw to give Indiana an 86-81 lead with 2:10 to go.

With 33.9 seconds left, Kentucky’s Tamron Manning made two free throws to cut Indiana’s lead down to one, setting up Ferrell’s game-saving play.

With under 10 seconds remaining, Stenzel had an open look for three that could have tied it, but he air-balled the shot.

Hunter was fouled, and it was all over.

“They stuck it out; they fought to the very end,” Harris said. “It was a dog fight. We felt like we made it kinda tough on ourselves. But we came out with the win.”

Harris led Indiana with 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting, including 4-of-5 from long range.

IU commit for 2012 Ron Patterson scored nine points on 3-of-7 shooting, with three rebounds, two assists, one turnover and a block of a perimeter jumper with 10:33 left in the first half and Kentucky up 29-25.

“I’m so long I can just put my hand up,” Patterson said. “I can be a foot away from you and put my hand up and block the shot.”

He then corralled the loose ball and got it to a streaking Jeremy Hollowell, his future Hoosier teammate, for a transition dunk to cut Kentucky’s lead to two.

Hollowell struggled from the floor overall, though, scoring just two points on 1-of-6 shooting with six rebounds.

“Having a hard time getting into a rhythm,” Hollowell said. “I mean, with the minutes and the rotations, you never know how much you’re gonna play or when you’re gonna play. You just try to keep your composure and be a team player.”

It was a back-and-forth game for much of the first half before Indiana was able to play to its main strength — transition offense — to take a 16-point lead late in the first half.

Ferrell consistently pushed the ball down the court and beat the Kentucky full-court press. He finished the half with five assists and no turnovers.

Kentucky made a late first-half run to cut Indiana’s lead to seven and make it 54-47 Indiana at halftime.

“I think we definitely did let down,” Ferrell said. “I felt like we had a lot of great looks; they just didn’t fall for us. Then, at the other end they were setting screens, executing really well.

“We just weren’t playing defense the way I wanted to play D, and we’re definitely gonna have to step it up tomorrow.”

In the second half, Kentucky’s defense stymied the Indiana up-tempo attack.
Ferell had just one assist and committed four turnovers in the second half.

“They definitely did play a lot better defense, especially on the ball screens — they got out and hedged, and I just didn’t get opportunities to get guys the ball where I wanted to get it to them,” Ferrell said.

Kentucky’s Dieudonne led all scorers with 24 points on 9-of-19 shooting.