Make it five wins in a row for Coach Josh Arey and his Peebles Indians as they remained unbeaten on Tuesday, Dec. 15 with an easy 73-37 win on their home court over the visiting West Union Dragons. The experience of the Indians versus the youth of the Dragons was evident as the Indians jumped to an early lead and never looked back in posting the Southern Hills Athletic Conference victory.

“West Union is such a young ball club but the thing I like about them is that they continue to play hard the entire game,” said Coach Arey after the game. “They have good things in store for them and they will improve throughout the year because they play hard.”

“We have a lot of balance on our team this year and we have to move the ball and get a lot of guys involved and we’ve done that so far this year.”

The Indians came out of the gate on Tuesday night like gangbusters, reeling off 12 straight points to start the game, beginning with Scout Kremin getting the old-fashioned three-point play in transition and ending with two Camron Gordley free throws, with a Tanner Arey three-pointer and baskets by Tyler Ryan and Ethan Parrett sandwiched in between.

The Dragons finally got on the board at the 3:55 mark of the first quarter on a basket by Garrett Vogler, which was followed by buckets from Andrew Weeks and Jared Fenton and West Union had quickly sliced the deficit in half, but that was to be the high point of the evening for the visitors. The Indians answered the Dragon burst with an 11-0 run, with Gordley scoring the first eight, and Peebles was now back in front comfortably 23-6. West Union closed the period with a basket by Elijah McCarty but the Dragons still stared at a 15-point margin after one quarter of action.

The second stanza began much as the first had with Peebles getting baskets from Gordley, Parrett, and Ryan to move in front 29-8. Though outmanned, the Dragons continued to scrap, getting scores from Vogler and Mason Fannin, but they were unable to make any kind of dent in the Peebles lead. A jumper from the free throw line extended by Parrett made it 34-14 and when Gordley closed out a big first half with a three from the corner, the Indians had a happy bunch of home fans as they went to halftime leading 39-16.

West Union’s Craig Horton scored on the first Dragon possession of the third quarter, but that just set the stage for another big Peebles run, another 12-0 spurt, highlighted by a perfectly executed screen and lob play to Kremin for a dunk that brought the Indian faithful to their feet. A bucket in the pain by Ryan capped the run and put the Indians on top 51-18.

After the Dragons regained some composure and got baskets from Horton and Vogler, the Indians took off again to close out the third period, scoring 12 in a row for the third time in the game. The high point of this run was the return to the floor of Peebles senior Tucker Schmitz, his first action of the season after coming back from knee surgery. After drawing a large ovation when he entered the game, Schmitz gave the home crowd what they wanted by scoring the final five points of the third quarter, finishing it off with a three-pointer from the top of the key that gave his team a 63-22 advantage as the game moved to the final quarter of play.

With the big lead, Coach Arey was able to substitute freely in the final eight minutes, beginning when Gordley scored the final of his 23 points on the night with six minutes to play. After that point, the Dragons showed a little spunk, going on a 9-0 run spurred by back-to-back threes by Vogler and Conner Campbell. Fannin would nail another trey late in the game and the final bucket of the night came from Peebles’ Blake Stivers as the Indians improved to 5-0, 3-0 in the SHAC, with the 73-37 win.

The winning Indians placed a pair of players in double figures, led by the aforementioned 23 points from Camron Gordley. Ethan Parrett also had a fine all-around game, adding 13 points, with Scout Kremin scoring 9 and Tyler Ryan 7.

“Camron has worked hard on his game, especially his three-point shooting,” said Coach Arey. “All of our kids get great shots and work hard and we have been lucky enough to have a different leading scorer nearly every game.”

West Union (1-6, 0-3 SHAC) was led by 11 points from sophomore guard Garrett Vogler, with Elijah McCarty adding 6 and Mason Fannin 5.

It won’t be too long before these two teams see each other again. After both play SHAC contests on Friday, Dec. 18, the Dragons hosting Lynchburg and the Indians traveling to Eastern Brown, the two will match up on Dec. 22 in the opening round of the 2015 McDonald’s Classic. That rematch will be played at North Adams High School with tip off scheduled for approximately 7:30 p.m.

Camron Gordley (44) of Peebles led all scorers with 23 points as the Indians downed West Union on Tuesday night, 73-37.
https://www.peoplesdefender.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_Gordley.jpgCamron Gordley (44) of Peebles led all scorers with 23 points as the Indians downed West Union on Tuesday night, 73-37. Mark Carpenter | People’s Defender

On a perfectly designed lob play, Peebles’ Scout Kremin goes high to slam one home over West Union’s Andrew Weeks (33) during action from the Dec. 15 varsity contest in Peebles, won by the Indians 73-37.
https://www.peoplesdefender.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_Kremin1.jpgOn a perfectly designed lob play, Peebles’ Scout Kremin goes high to slam one home over West Union’s Andrew Weeks (33) during action from the Dec. 15 varsity contest in Peebles, won by the Indians 73-37. Mark Carpenter | People’s Defender

After rehabbing from a serious knee injury, Peebles’ Tucker Schmitz made his first appearance of the 2015-16 season in Tuesday night’s game. Here, Schmitz goes over West Union defender Mason Fannin for two of his five points in the game.
https://www.peoplesdefender.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_Schmitz.jpgAfter rehabbing from a serious knee injury, Peebles’ Tucker Schmitz made his first appearance of the 2015-16 season in Tuesday night’s game. Here, Schmitz goes over West Union defender Mason Fannin for two of his five points in the game. Mark Carpenter | People’s Defender
Indians rout West Union 73-37

By Mark Carpenter

mcarpenter@civitasmedia.com

Peebles 73 West Union 37

1st 2nd 3rd 4th Total

WUHS 8 8 6 15 37

PHS 23 16 24 10 73

WUHS (37): Vogler 5 0-0 11, Fannin 2 0-0 5, McCarty 3 0-0 6, Kramer 0 1-2 1, Horton 2 0-0 4, Weeks 1 0-0 2, Campbell 1 1-2 4, Mullenix 1 0-0 2, FEnton 1 0-0 2, Team 16 2-4 37.

PHS (73): Schmitz 2 0-1 5, Arey 2 1-2 6, Parrett 6 1-1 13, Stivers 2 0-0 4, Kremin 4 1-1 9, L. Gordley 1 0-0 2, Evans 2 0-0 4, Ryan 3 1-2 7, C. Gordley 9 3-3 23, Team 31 7-10 73.

Three-Point Goals:

WUHS- Vogler 1, Fannin 1, Campbell 1

PHS- Schmitz 1, Arey 1, C. Gordley 2

JV Score: Peebles 61 West Union 44

Reach Mark Carpenter at 937-544-2391 or on Twitter @adamscosports.