Giants pull county double
January 17, 2023
What a weekend for the Ben Davis boys basketball team.
The Class 4A No. 1 ranked Giants handed Southport and Lawrence North losses to claim the school’s first boys basketball county championship since 1995. Coupled with the girls county championship in December, it marks the first time in school history that Ben Davis holds both the girls and boys Marion County titles.
The two wins moves the Giants to 18-0 with eight regular season games left in the season. Senior Zane Doughty also collected 23 rebounds in the two wins to bring his rebounding total to 186 for the season. Add in the 193 rebounds he had sophomore year and the single-season record 319 he collected last year, and his 698 career rebounds makes him the all-time career rebounding leader at Ben Davis.
“We have put a lot of time and effort into helping Zane, but he deserves the credit,” coach Don Carlisle said. “Rebounding is 90% effort and 10% technique. He has worked in the weight room and on the court, we are proud to be a part of his progress, but it’s him that had to go out and do it.”
The Giants host Decatur Central tonight and Gary West Saturday. Doughty will be recognized during tonight’s game.
In the county tourney games. the Giants won with full court defensive pressure and turned close games into routes with strong third quarters.
“It is a part of our identity,” Carlisle said of the full court pressure. “We will go as far as our defense takes us.”
The Giants have now won the Hall of Fame championship and the county title. They can win the conference title outright with a home win Feb. 10 over Lawrence North and then turn their attention to the state tournament.
“We must guard against complacency and try to make sure we are the Ben Davis we can be,” Carlisle said. “We lost last year when we were clearly the best team so that was a motivating factor in our preparation.”
Carlisle says the team still can play better.
“My expectation is to just get better and play our best basketball in March,” he said.
