Tipton downs Culver Academy 66-47
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By MICHELLE GARMON
Tipton County Tribune
TIPTON — Jackson Money lived up to his last name for the Tipton High School boys basketball team in Friday night’s game against Culver Military Academy at the Inferno. The sophomore guard put together a 7-0 run in the third quarter to break a 34-34 tie and give the Blue Devils a 41-34 lead.
Nolan Swan then drained three 3-pointers and four free throws to help Tipton continue to pull away from the Eagles on its way to a 66-47 victory. The Blue Devils outscored the Eagles 38-17 in the second half, including 16-6 in the third quarter.
Swan finished with a game-high 21 points, seven assists, five rebounds and three steals. Nate Powell also had a big night for the Blue Devils (12-4), scoring 20 points on perfect 10-of-10 shooting from the field. The 6-foot-4 senior also had seven rebounds. Money, meanwhile, added 13 points on 5-of-6 firing from the field and 2-of-2 work at the charity stripe. He also had three rebounds and three assists.
As a team, the Blue Devils sizzled the nets at a 61% (25 of 41) clip from the field and meshed 11 of 12 free throws. They were 5 of 14 from 3-point range and won the rebound battle 27-18. Tipton’s only sign of the long layoff between games was the six first-quarter turnovers. After that first quarter, the Blue Devils had just five more turnovers for the game.
“I thought all-in-all, it was a great win,” Tipton coach Cliff Hawkins said. “I thought Nate and Nolan played unbelievable. We work hard on our free throws and tonight we continued to hit those – 11 out of 12 – well. This is a quality win for us and (especially) not having played in two weeks.”
Both teams shot the ball well in the first quarter. Powell scored eight points in the first quarter, but Cooper Farrall had six points and Thomas Collins five as Culver Academy led 17-15 after it was over. Grady Carpenter’s basket at the 6:09 mark of the second period evened the score at 19-all. The Eagles then went on a 10-2 run with back-to-back 3s by Collins, giving Culver Academy a 29-21 lead with 2:25 left to play in the first half. Tipton, however, ended the half on a 7-1 run and Grady Carpenter’s 16-footer just before the buzzer pulled the Blue Devils to within 30-28 at intermission.
Powell scored Tipton’s first six points of the second half and helped the hosts to a 34-32 lead. The Eagles knotted the score at 24-all at the 3:07 mark of the third quarter. Money then scored seven straight points, starting with a 3-pointer from the baseline and ending with a layup off an assist from Carpenter to give Tipton that 41-34 lead.
“You could kind of sense it this week,” Hawkins said. “He (Money) was having a good week. Our young players are hungry, they’re ready to play. They don’t care who comes in, it’s our homecourt and we’re going to defend it and play for 32 minutes.”
The Blue Devils never surrendered the momentum again. Swan’s 3-pointer gave Tipton a 44-36 lead entering the fourth quarter. Farrall scooped in a layup to get Culver Academy within 46-40 with 7:04 remaining. Money knocked down a 15-foot jumper, Swan hit back-to-back treys and the lead ballooned to 54-40. Culver cut it to 12 once before Tipton stretched the lead to 64-44 on Powell’s basket with less than a minute remaining in the game.
In addition to the three players in double figures, the Blue Devils got eight points, four rebounds and three assists from Carpenter and four points and three rebounds from Aden Tolle.
Collins scored 14 points and Farrall added 13 points and had five rebounds to lead the Eagles, who shot just 19 of 47 (40%) from the field, including a dismal 4 of 22 (18%) from beyond the arc.
Tipton hosts Taylor tonight, and it will be senior night.