Lapel’s Brode Judge (23) goes up for a shot against Muncie Burris.
Brode Judge takes a shot against Muncie Burris.
Karen Branham | For The Times-Post
The Lapel bench celebrates during the Muncie Burris game.
Karen Branham | For The Times-Post
The Bulldogs’ bench reacts to a call during the Muncie Burris game.
Karen Branham | For The Times-Post
Lapel’s Brennan Stow takes a shot against Muncie Burris.
Karen Branham | For The Times-Post
LAPEL — Lapel’s Brode Judge wowed both the crowd and teammates with his performance in the Bulldogs 76-53 home win over Muncie Burris Dec. 11.
Judge put up 36 points in the win with 27 coming from 3-point range.
Coach Tod Windlin had a feeling the night would belong to Judge.
“Brode was a little flat in the first half and had a rough game on the road,” Windlan said. “I said he’s going to go off tonight. I’ve seen it coming, and he did.”
The aggressive Owls didn’t make it easy in the first half.
While Burris lacked in size compared to the Bulldogs, they made up for it in tenacity fighting for position, forcing turnovers and scoring.
Lapel held a 14-13 lead at the end of the first quarter and managed to stretch the margin to 28-20 by the end of the half, with Matt Carpenter putting up eight points in the first half and Judge getting two of his 3s.
“We told them they’re aggressive physical kids. We were up 18 on them last year and got beat,” Windlin said. “We talked about it at halftime — don’t be satisfied.”
In the second half, Judge went full throttle as his dropped splash after splash from all over the court in the third quarter.
At the end of three, the Bulldogs had blown the game open with a 55-36 lead with the help of Judge’s 18-point quarter.
“I thought once the dam kind of broke our intensity picked up,” Windlin said. “I think our depth really wore them down.”
Burris managed only six points in the final quarter.
While Judge topped all scorers and snagged nine rebounds, brother Bode finished the night with eight points, Carpenter with eight and Griffen Craig with seven, going five of six from the free-throw line.
“The thing I really enjoyed about the game was the full team was into the game playing very unselfish basketball, trying to get kids who don’t play in some games or not at all, trying to get them the ball.”
Senior Coleton Kadinger came in the final minutes and hit two of three from the line.
“We have a great bunch of kids, and he sparked us, and when he sparked us, we turned it up a notch,” Windlin said.
The Bulldogs are 4-2 after a 72-56 loss at Wapahani on Friday. Craig and Landon Bair led Bulldog scoring with 13 apiece.
Lapel travels to Monroe Central on Friday, Dec. 17, and plays host to Guerin on Dec. 21.