1997-1998 Paoli Rams P.L.A.C. Champions Class 2A Final Four

P.L.A.C All-Conference:
Shawn Buchanan
Kyle Nichols


Team Members *Pictured Above

Middle Row L-R: Garth Kimmel, Luke Kimmel, Dusty Cole, Michael Harmon, Mark Easterday, Gabe Thomas, David McDonald


Top Row L-R: Joby Stephenson, Derek VanEmon, Trsitan Vance, Michael Charles, Shawn Buchanan, Kyle Nichols, Head Coach Mike Brown


1997-1998 Game Results:
vs. Orleans W 89-64
at. Scottsburg L 70-59
vs. Mitchell L 56-55
at. North Harrison W 59-57
vs. West Washington W 68-59
at. Eastern (Pekin) W 79-40
at. Austin L 90-78
vs. Eastern (Greene) W 57-43
at. Mitchell W 61-60
vs. Shoals W 81-70
vs. Northeast Dubois W 75-63
at. Forest Park W 60-50
vs. Springs Valley W 70-44
at. White River Valley L 46-43
vs. Corydon W 63-57
at. Orleans W 71-52
vs. Salem W 67-34
vs. Perry Central W 55-54
at. Crawford County W 72-54
at. Silver Creek L 50-49


Paoli Sectional
vs. Mitchell W 53-43
vs. South Knox W 57-38


Southridge Regional
vs. South Spencer W 68-62


Indianapolis (Hinkle Field House) Semi-State
vs. Winchester W 67-54
vs. Southwestern (Hanover) L 47-45

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GAME RECAPS:


****PAOLI DEFEATS SOUTH SPENCER 68-62 TO CLAIM ANOTHER REGIONAL TITLE***

HUNTINGBURG - Mike Brown had the master plan pictured perfectly in his mind heading into Friday's Class 2A Southridge Regional.

All he needed was some artists to turn it into a masterpiece on the only canvas that mattered, the hardwood at Huntinburg. Brown's Paoli players painted it to perfection as the Rams brushed aside South Spencer, 68-62, to claim the fifth regional crown in

Brown's 10 seasons at the helm.

Brown insisted all week that his bench would be the key because South Spencer was hesitant to go beyond its very talented starting five. It worked out precisely that way as Paoli's reserves, led by the 10 points and six rebounds of junior Tristan Vance,

outscored the Rebels' reserves, 16-0. Just as importantly, Vance, Michael Harmon, Mark Easterday, and Luke Kimmel provided much-needed minutes of rest for the starters and it proved vital when the Rams pulled away down the stretch.

"We saw on the tapes that they did not want to sub, and I can understand why because of how good their starters are,'' said Brown. "But we knew that would be a big advantage for us because we've played nine and 10 people all year.

"Tristan Vance was unbelievable, just great, and Luke and Mark both hit big 3-pointers. But they all gave us good minutes and let our other people rest. It finally got to South Spencer late in the second quarter and in the fourth quarter. They wore down.

''

Brown's starters were certainly no slouches as three of them reached double figures, led by Shawn Buchanan's 20 points and 12 rebounds. Gabe Thomas added 11 points and two huge baskets late, and Dusty Cole had 10 points, with a pair of pivotal 3-pointers

. Kyle Nichols supplied defense on Rebel star Brad Ayer that helped limit him to seven second-half points, and Mike Charles nailed two big free throws and a breakaway dunk in the waning moments.

Through it all, the Rams shot a tick under 50 percent from the field, committed just eight turnovers, and grabbed 12 offensive rebounds.

"It's not often as a coach that you stand in awe of your team and how it's playing, but there were times when I just stood back and enjoyed them tonight,'' said Brown. "We took care of the ball, ran the offenses well, took good shots, got some huge baske

ts off rebounds, and played pretty good defense.

"The best thing about it is that it wasn't just one or two players; it was everybody contributing and that's the way you want it. When you win like this you want it to be everybody.''

Paoli answered every charge the Rebels made. South Spencer drew within 35-33 two minutes into the third period, but Cole stepped up and drilled his second 3-pointer.

"I was just taking the shots as they came,'' said Cole. "They were packing it in pretty tight around Shawn, so I was open.''

A 3-pointer by Bob Sarver again brought the Rebels within two, but Vance slipped free for a layup that sparked a 6-2 quarter-closing run, capped by his steal and three-quarter length run to a layin that gave Paoli a 48-42 edge going to the fourth quarter

.

"I just knocked it away and then I was thinking 'dunk, dunk', all the way,'' said the 6-5 Vance. "A guy caught me and I didn't get the dunk, but I got the basket.''

Vance and Buchanan had key rebound baskets to keep the Rebels at bay early in the final period, setting the stage for the breakaway stretch. With South Spencer weary from Paoli's game-long fullcourt pressure and relentless assault on the boards, the Rams

pounced. Thomas chased down a loose ball, dribbled into the lane, and pump-faked his way to a spinning five-footer. A minute later, following a Rebel miss, Thomas paused at the key, then whirled down the lane for a twisting layup that made it 56-47, the

largest lead of the game.

"I knew they were getting tired,'' Thomas said. "In fact, (Justin) Fischer told me he was getting tired, which probably wasn't the right thing to tell me because I knew I was going to take it to him then.''

The outburst forced South Spencer to a timeout and the Rebels attempted to press after the break, but their legs were linguini by then and there was little pressure applied. The Rams nailed just enough free throws to preserve the lead.

"I knew they didn't have any legs left to press us with,'' said Brown. "Their kids played hard and they're tough, but you eventually wear down. Rick Pitino always says that the body goes first and then everything else goes. It finally went on them."

Both teams brought out their big guns early and they were smoking during a torrid first half. Ayer reached half his average with 10 first-period points and Fischer added seven, while Buchanan dominated inside with six points and Vance provided four point

s and four rebounds as the first quarter ended in a 17-17 standoff.

The stars kept firing as Fisher went on to score 12 first-half points and Buchanan had 10 points and seven rebounds, but Paoli shifted to a zone and held Ayer scoreless while receiving some offensive fuel from unexpected sources. Cole hit all three of hi

s shots en route to seven points and Easterday and Kimmel drilled threes as the Rams scooted to a 34-29 halftime lead. Paoli shot 6 for 9 in the second stanza and 14 for 26 overall in the initial 16 minutes.

Fischer nailed 9 of 11 field goals en route to a game-high 21 points, while Sarver and Ayer finished with 17 each for the Rebels (17-7).

Paoli (18-5) meets Winchester Saturday in the first game of the Class 2A Indianapolis Semistate at Hinkle Fieldhouse. Southwestern and Western Boone play in the second game.
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1st 2nd 3rd 4th
SOUTHWESTERN (HANOVER) 7 15 13 12 47
PAOLI 14 7 16 8 45




PAOLI 45

Kyle Nichols F 13 points (2 2-PT FG) (2 3-pointers) 3-5 Free Throws
Shawn Buchanan F 16 points (6 2-PT FG) 4-5 Free Throws
Michael Charles C 6 points (2 2-PT FG) 2-2 Free Throws
Dusty Cole G 2 points (1 2-PT FG)
Gabe Thomas G 2 3-pointers 6 points
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Tristan Vance C 1 2-PT FG 2 points
Michael Harmon PG played but did not score
Mark Easterday SG played but did not score
Luke Kimmel SF played but did not score

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Paoli 15 11 15 16 57
South Knox 7 10 10 11 38

Paoli Rams Scoring: Dusty Cole 6 points, Gabe Thomas 13 points, Kyle Nichols 12 points, Shawn Buchanan  18 points and 16 rebounds, Michael Charles 4 points, Luke Kimmel 3 points, Tristan Vance 1 point


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****PAOLI MOVES INTO SECTIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME DEFEAT MITCHELL 53-43****

PAOLI - When it was over, it finally got warm and fuzzy, with Paoli's Kyle Nichols and Mitchell's Billy Hutslar hugging in a respectful embrace.

Before that, it was wicked, the way the WWF is wicked. This, however, was real, though terms like hulk, macho, and savage certainly applied.

Bodies banged and flew as Paoli and Mitchell engaged in a cage match to the death Friday night. The Rams were stronger and they survived, 53-43, to advance to tonight's Paoli Sectional championship game.

Paoli, with its tag team of Shawn Buchanan (14 points and 14 rebounds) and Kyle Nichols (15 points, 9 of 10 free throws, and one back-breaking dunk), wanted a wrestling match.

"It was a war,'' said Paoli coach Mike Brown. "We knew it would be. There were a lot of bodies flying, not a lot of things called, and it was rough. It was called the same way when we played them last year in the sectional and it worked against us becaus

e we had no answer for (Zach) Beasley, (Jason) Powell, and (T.J.) Todd, but tonight the tables were turned. It's not that they're weak inside, but we felt we were a little stronger, so we wanted a physical game. Buchanan loves that type of game. He was s

olid.''

Mitchell coach Gary Sims knew his team was in trouble in a no-holds-barred battle.

"It was a very, very physical game and I thought they got away with some things inside that they didn't get away with the first two times we played them,'' he said. "I thought the sectional might be a more closely called game, but they let them play toni

ght. That's not a knock on the officiating because some refs call it close and some don't. Give Paoli credit. They took advantage of their strength inside.''

It was a defensive standoff most of the way, and the Rams received the first big break when Mitchell's standout sophomore center, Tony Sanders, was whistled for his fourth foul with 6:25 remaining and the score knotted, 38-38. Buchanan sank the subsequen

t free throws to ignite an 8-2 run. The Jackets drew within 46-42 on Michael Thomas's 17-footer, but Gabe Thomas hit one free throw, Dusty Cole added two, and Nichols broke away for his two-handed dunk that made it 51-42 and sealed it with 37 seconds sho

wing.

"I think that dunk by Kyle finally broke their backs,'' said Brown. "He can do that. He's an exceptional athlete.''

Sims felt it got away much sooner than that. The Bluejackets buried themselves with 33 percent (17 of 51) field goal shooting, 59 percent (7 of 12) free throw accuracy, a 34-24 deficit on the boards, and a memory lapse on offense. They too often forgot a

bout Sanders, who was unstoppable inside, but got just six shot attempts. He hit five of them while scoring 11 points.

"We didn't play smart,'' Sims said. "We made poor decisions in transition and took some bad shots. We didn't run any offense, never got any flow, and did way too much one-on-one stuff. I think Paoli played terrific defense, mixed it up well, and we never

got any rhythm.''

The Rams mixed their defenses between fullcourt pressure while falling back into man-to-man or zone, and a box-and-one with a chaser on Thomas. It frustrated Thomas into 4 of 14 firing, while Ron McClendon went 1 for 10.

"I think we had Thomas frustrated and that kind of defense can sometimes make a guy try to do things to maybe get himself going, but they end up helping you,'' Brown said. "If he's on, he's as dangerous with the ball as anybody we play. I felt like he go

t the ball too easily the first two times we played, so we played our basic 2-3 zone, but put a chaser on him.''

Paoli pulled out to a 13-10 lead after a quarter as Mitchell went 4 for 16 from the field and center Mike Charles scored five quick points and Buchanan had four as the lead pushed to 22-16. But the Bluejackets got a big boost off the bench from Billy Hut

slar, who scored six points, grabbed four rebounds, and dished a couple of nice assists to help draw Mitchell within 26-24 at the break.

"Hutslar played another fantastic game,'' said Sims. "He penetrated, made passes, got on the boards, and played decent defense.''

The Rams used a 7-0 spurt to take a 38-31 lead with 1:22 left in the third quarter, but a rash of turnovers helped Mitchell recover to within 38-35 at the final break, and Kyle Blackwell's three free throws to start the fourth quarter knotted it.

"We had a nice little run to get the seven-point lead, but then we made some bonehead plays and got greedy,'' Brown noted. "We wasted that lead.''

Soon after, however, Sanders picked up his fourth foul jostling inside and went to the bench for three minutes. Paoli pounced as Buchanan muscled inside for four points.

"That was huge,'' Sims said of the fourth foul on his big man. "He's a big part of our offense. We only scored five points after he went out.''

Mitchell went just 1 of 8 from the field and got no second-chance opportunities as Paoli piled up an 11-3 bulge on the boards in the fourth quarter and 17-5 overall in the second half.

"You're going to have bad shooting nights and things, but the one thing you can always determine is how well you rebound,'' said Brown. "We wanted every ball that came off the rim.''

Thomas added 11 points for Mitchell, which wound up 11-10.

Paoli (16-5) will meet South Knox in tonight's title game

PAOLI RAMS (53)

FG FT Reb. FT Points

34 Shawn Buchanan, f 6-9 2-4 14 0 14

32 Kyle Nichols, f 3-12 9-10 4 2 15

44 Michael Charles, c 3-4 1-4 5 4 7

14 Dusty Cole, g 1-3 2-6 5 2 5

30 Gabe Thomas, g 1-3 0-0 1 1 3

50 Luke Kimmel 1-3 0-0 2 0 3

52 Tristan Vance 3-4 0-0 0 3 6

20 Mark Easterday 0-1 0-0 1 1 0

12 Michael Harmon 0-0 0-0 1 1 0

40 Garth Kimmel 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

24 Joby Stephenson 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

3-Point Goals - Paoli 1-8 (L. Kimmel 1-3, Nichols 0-2, Cole 0-1, Thomas 0-1, Easterday 0-1);

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****PAOLI DOMINATES SPRINGS VALLEY 70-44****

PAOLI - As carpenters go, Class 2A's fifth-ranked Paoli Rams probably wouldn't cut it. They simply beat and bang their boards to death. As basketball players go, however, that makes them pretty good rebounders. And it makes them pretty tough to beat.

Paoli parlayed 47-22 dominance of the boards into a 70-44 battering of Springs Valley's Blackhawks in PLAC action Friday night at D.E. Chambers Gymnasium.

Paoli senior Shawn Buchanan led the way with 24 points and 14 rebounds, and senior forward Kyle Nichols added 14 points, while senior reserve Tristan Vance contributed nine boards.

Meanwhile, Valley's all-JH frontline of Jeremiah Helton, Jeremy Hall, and Josh Harris was jolted. Valley hoped the JH stood for Just Hit - Just Hit a shot, Just Hit the boards, Just Hit something. Unfortunately, they Just Hit more Paoli players than anyt

hing else, posting more fouls (15) than rebounds (10) while scoring just 22 points on a combined 10 for 28 shooting.

By the end, they were waiting to Just Hit the showers, all three fouling out early in the fourth quarter. It would've been even worse if not for Helton's 14 points on relatively-toasty 7 of 16 shooting,

Can you say mismatch?

"They were just too strong for us inside,'' said Valley coach Gary Holland. "They're strong and they're good players, and that made it tough on us.''

The other deciding factor was depth. Valley withstood a withering Paoli pace that created 16-6 lead midway through the first quarter, and fought back to lead, 20-19, early in the second quarter as Hall hit two 3-pointers and Helton found a hole in the mi

ddle of Paoli's zone for 10 points.

The well went dry from there, however, as the Hawks ran out of gas and were outscored 51-24 the rest of the way. Holland didn't make his first substitution until the 1:43 mark of the second stanza.

"I didn't even realize it was that long until I actually made the substitution,'' said Holland. "It is a long time to go, but we don't have a lot of depth and the kids who were in there were keeping us in the game. I think our kids are in good enough sha

pe, but I think they got their heads down a little after they went back behind at halftime.''

Paoli powered back behind four points from senior center Michael Charles to take a 30-22 lead at the intermission. The Rams broke it open at the outset of the second half.

Buchanan, who had been bottled up by Valley's gimmick defense (with Harris swatting three of hits shots) and his own foul difficulties in the first half, exploded out of the gate in the third quarter. He moved outside, taking the 6-9 Harris with him, and

drove for three baskets, while luring Harris into serious foul trouble. With Buchanan pouring in 10 points, the Rams rattled off a 20-11 run to take firm command, 50-33, heading into the fourth quarter.

Buchanan registered 20 points and eight rebounds in the second half.

"Buck did just about anything he wanted in the second half,'' said Paoli coach Mike Brown. "We moved him out to the high post in the second half so he could get away from the double teams and use his quickness. He had a lot of energy because we sat him m

ost of the first half after he got his second foul. It was a conference game and his last chance to play against a big rival, so we wanted him around in the second half.

"He showed what he's made of in the second half. He plays hard each and every game.''

Holland had hoped to stay in the zone, but Gabe Thomas drilled two 3-pointers in the first period to draw them out to a man-to-man.

"We started in a diamond-and-one so we could keep a guy in front of Buchanan, and we did a pretty good job early,'' Holland noted. "But they hit some big outside shots that hurt us and we had to do some other things.''

The Rams went to basket relentlessly in the second half, drawing foul after foul on the flailing Hawks. Paoli converted 21 of 26 attempts (Buchanan hit all nine of his in the fourth quarter) in the last two periods to alleviate a 1 for 9 showing in the s

econd stanza. Again, depth was the biggest factor, with the worn-down Hawks forced to reach rather than move their feet.

"I think toward the end of the first quarter we already had them worn down, and we just tried to keep going after them,'' said Brown. "Dusty Cole did a great job of getting out on the break and making some good things happen in the third quarter. He made

some great passes and really pushed things up a notch.

"We wore them down, got them into foul trouble, and pretty soon the game was ours.''

PAOLI RAMS (70)

FG FT Reb. FT Points

34 Shawn Buchanan, f 7-15 10-12 14 3 24

32 Kyle Nichols, f 3-6 7-8 2 0 14

44 Michael Charles, c 2-2 2-2 2 1 6

14 Dusty Cole, g 2-5 2-2 2 0 6

30 Gabe Thomas, g 3-7 1-4 7 0 9

52 Tristan Vance 0-2 3-11 9 0 3

12 Michael Harmon 0-1 1-2 3 2 1

20 Mark Easterday 1-4 0-0 2 2 2

50 Luke Kimmel 2-4 0-0 2 0 5

40 Garth Kimmel 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

24 Joby Stephenson 0-0 0-0 1 0 0

10 Derek VanEmon 0-0 0-0 0 2 0

3-Point Goals  Paoli 4-15 (Nichols 1-2, Buchanan 0-1, Cole 0-1, Thomas 2-4, Harmon 0-1, Easterday 0-2, L. Kimmel 1-3, Cole 0-1).