Galloway, Culver Survive Frantic Finish to Win 4A-3 Sectional

LaPORTE, Ind. — March is all about surviving and advancing in the Indiana state high school basketball tournament — and barely surviving really doesn't matter.

It's the advancing that counts.

Indiana signee Trey Galloway and his Culver Academy teammates experienced that the hard way Saturday night in the Class 4A-3 sectional final. They had to fight off a furious South Bend Adams rally, hanging on to win 44-43 to advance to next Saturday's regional in Michigan City.

"It feels great to battle through it. We all had each other's backs,'' Galloway said as he waited his turn to cut down the nets at LaPorte High School. "We knew they were going to get after us, and we had to play through some physical play, but we did it.''

Culver, which is 18-4 now with all four losses coming while Galloway was out with a wrist injury, had all they could handle from Adams (22-4). Their frantic full-court press made it a game down the stretch.

It wasn't that way early is something of a weird first half. South Bend Adams couldn't figure out Culver's defense and scored only 12 points through the first two quarters. They had far more turnovers (11) than shots made (6), and Culver had a comfortable nine-point lead at the half at 21-12.

What was most surprising was that Galloway was 0-for-7 in the first half and didn't even score. But his teammates had his back, and he contributed in many other ways, especially defensively.

"The game's not all about scoring, there are other things you can do to help win a basketball game,'' said Galloway, who finished with only four points, also trying to maneuver through foul trouble in the fourth quarter.

Galloway hit a three-pointer midway through the third quarter to give Culver a 16-point lead at 28-12, But a few minutes later, Galloway was called for two charging fouls in less than a minute and Adams started to rally with him on the bench. They cut the the Culver lead to nine, and then when Galloway picked up his fourth foul with 4:42 to go, the lead was only six.

Culver turned the ball over five times in the fourth quarter before they got their first basket. Halfway through the period, they started to have some success breaking the press and then getting the ball inside. They were back up by nine, but then Adams hit consecutive three-pointers in the final minute to make it 43-41. And when Culver's Deonte Craig made 1-of-2 two free throws with 15.4 seconds to, Adams had a chance to tie.

Inexplicably, they went for a quick two-pointer and got it, but the clock ticked down while Galloway waited to inbound the ball. By the time he finally did, the clock ran out.''

Survive indeed. But advance as well.

"But it just shows how tight we are and the how much the legacy we want to leave at Culver really matters to all of us. We want to keep going, and we're going to do whatever it takes to keep moving along.''

"I'll be honest, I probably went to our spread a little too early. I wanted the fouls to add up on them, but they were forcing turnovers without fouling,'' said Culver coach Mark Galloway, Trey's father. "Once we started attacking the basket again, we were able to score and hold them off a little bit.''

The elder Galloway had no problem with Trey only scoring four points.

"He did a great job of running that game for us, especially in the first half. He was finding shooters, and he was a great leader out there,'' Mark said. "His defense was great. Those charging calls really hurt because they were real bang-bang plays and you know I'm not going to agree with them.

"We had to really manage his minutes again, but when he was out there, he kept everyone calm. They all did a great job of keeping their composure and handling all that physicality We got through it and we move on.''

That's the goal. Culver will play Northridge, a 60-38 winner over Warsaw, next Saturday in the regional at Michigan City,

Other Indiana players

CLASS 4A-14: Indiana signee Anthony Leal and Bloomington South easily advanced past East Central, winning 74-48. The No. 1-ranked Panthers claimed their sixth straight sectional title and it was their 26th win of the year, tying a school record. Bloomington South will play Floyd Central next Saturday in the regional at Seymour.
CLASS 4A-16: Indiana commit Khristian Lander scored 16 points to help Evansville Reitz win its sectional, beating Castle 69-61. Lander and Reitz are in the Seymour regional as well, and will play Greenwood in the other morning semifinal.

Class 4A pairings around the state

Class 4A-1 at East Chicago Central

FRIDAY'S RESULTS
Merrillville 63, Munster 53
Lake Central 52, East Chicago Central 34
SATURDAY'S FINAL
Merrillville 45, Lake Central 42

Class 4A-2 at Valparaiso

FRIDAY'S RESULTS
Valparaiso 69, Portage 51
Chesterton 63, Crown Point 52
SATURDAY'S FINAL
Valparaiso 53, Chesterton 52

Class 4A-3 at LaPorte

FRIDAY'S RESULTS
Culver Academy 66, Plymouth 24
South Bend Adams 56, Michigan City 52
SATURDAY'S FINAL
Culver Academy 44, South Bend Adams 43

Class 4A-4 at Elkhart

FRIDAY'S RESULTS
Northridge 70, Elkhart Memorial 51
Warsaw 58, Penn 54
SATURDAY'S FINAL
Northridge 60, Warsaw 38

Class 4A-5 at Fort Wayne Carroll

FRIDAY'S RESULTS
Fort Wayne Northrup 44, Fort Wayne Carroll 30
Fort Wayne Snider 66, East Noble 52
SATURDAY'S FINAL
Fort Wayne Snider 59, Fort Wayne Snider Northrup 56

Class 4A-6 at Huntington North

FRIDAY'S RESULTS
New Haven 68, Huntington North 51
Homestead 84, Fort Wayne South 63
SATURDAY'S FINAL
New Haven 46, Homestead 44

Class 4A-7 at Lafayette Jeff

FRIDAY'S RESULTS
Marion 63, Logansport 47
Harrison 51, Lafayette Jeff 48
SATURDAY'S FINAL
Marion 63, Harrison 62

Class 4A-8 at Noblesville

FRIDAY'S RESULTS
Westfield 32, Zionsville 31
Carmel 39, Noblesville 37
SATURDAY'S FINAL
Carmel 54, Westfield 41

Class 4A-9 at Muncie Central

FRIDAY'S RESULTS
New Palestine 59, Mount Vernon 40
Muncie Central 60, Richmond 54
SATURDAY'S FINAL
New Palestine 54, Muncie Central 53

Class 4A-10 at Lawrence Central

FRIDAY'S RESULTS
Warren Central 77, North Central 69
Lawrence North 76, Indianapolis Attucks 73
SATURDAY'S FINAL
Lawrence North 61, Warren Central 59

Class 4A-11 at Southport

FRIDAY'S RESULTS
Pike 55, Perry Meridian 46
Decatur Central 68, Southport 56
SATURDAY'S FINAL
Pike 62, Decatur Central 60 OT

Class 4A-12 at Mooresville

FRIDAY'S RESULTS
Brownsburg 44, Terre Haute South 29
Plainfield 46, Mooresville 34
SATURDAY'S FINAL
Brownsburg 52, Plainfield 47

Class 4A-13 at Shelbyville

FRIDAY'S RESULTS
Greenwood 43, Shelbyville 23
Center Grove 42, Franklin 32
SATURDAY'S FINAL
Greenwood 43, Center Grove 30

Class 4A-14 at Columbus North

FRIDAY'S RESULTS
East Central 67, Bloomington North 55
Bloomington South 59, Columbus North 49
SATURDAY'S FINAL
Bloomington South 74, East Central 48

Class 4A-15 at Seymour

FRIDAY'S RESULTS
Floyd Central 61, Jeffersonville 47
Jennings County 44, Bedford North Lawrence 43
SATURDAY'S FINAL
Floyd Central 70, Jennings County 33

Class 4A-16 at Evansville North

FRIDAY'S RESULTS
Evansville Reitz 84, Evansville Harrison 67
Castle 57, Evansville North 52
SATURDAY'S FINAL
Evansville Reitz 69, Castle 61

Related Items on Indiana Basketball

- NEXT GENERATION: Meet Culver's Trey Galloway, the first commit in Indiana's Class of 2020. CLICK HERE
- NEXT GENERATION: Meet Bloomington South's Anthony Leal, leader of the No. 1-ranked team in the state and an Indiana commit . CLICK HERE
- HUGE COMMITMENT: Evansville's Khristian Lander, the No. 1-ranked player in the Class of 2021, commits to Indiana. CLICK HERE
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