by Aaron Gray

Junior guard Karl Nelson fell victim to a stingy box-and-one defense but it just opened up scoring opportunities for the other players on the Park School boys basketball team.

Senior Tony DeMarco had a game-high 16 points to go along with 11 rebounds and four steals, while senior Anthony Kinslow added 15 points and eight rebounds as the Bruins took over after halftime and rolled to a 47-26 victory over host Indian Creek in an MIAA C Conference game Tuesday night.

"They did a good job of shutting Karl down but we have plenty of other guys that can score. We proved it wasn't a risk worth taking on their part," said Park coach Josh Wolf, whose team improved to 7-8 overall, 4-2 in the conference. "Tony is a sparkplug and Anthony did a great job of going to the middle, catching and turning. He's very slippery."

Nelson, the team's leading scorer, saw constant man pressure from Aaron Han of the Eagles (1-6, 1-6) and finished with five points. It was the first time in five games -- and second time all season -- he was held to single-digit scoring.

"That first half was our best effort all year," said Indian Creek coach Will Bartz, whose team got eight first-half points from senior center Mike Hanley and trailed by only two at the break. "We just need to take it to the next level and put together two halves."

Eagles' starting guard Miles Ripley (seven points) converted a 3-pointer to get things started but picked up four quick fouls in the first quarter so the Indian Creek backcourt looked to Manley. The 6-foot-4, 290-pounder scored eight of his team's first 14 points.

The Bruins made some adjustments at halftime, however, and it proved to be the difference in the game.

"We really wanted to have our guards double-down on (Manley) because he killed us in the first quarter," DeMarco said. "Stopping him in the second half was a big help."

The Bruins' defense didn't stop there. In the second half, they forced Indian Creek into 10 turnovers and held Manley scoreless. The Eagles managed only two field goals after the intermisson and their 26 total points were the fewest allowed by Park in a game this season.

"We stopped pressing in the second half and I think that calmed us down," Wolf said.

A strong effort on defense sparked an offensive explosion. Park opened the second half on a 6-0 run and ended the period on a 10-0 surge. The two scoring spurts gave the Bruins a 39-23 lead entering the final quarter.

"We've had a couple of close losses in overtime so our main goal is to always finish games strong," said Kinslow, who scored eight points during the decisive third period.

It was such a physical game that both teams were in the double-bonus midway through the second and fourth quarters. Park shot 59 percent (16-for-27) from the free-throw line, which didn't irk its coach but didn't have him smiling, either.

"We're not a great free-throw shooting team and that's something we practice every day," Wolf said. "But I think the boys got the job done and we're going to get better at it."

Junior Kyle Ottenheimer had four points for the Bruins and junior Sean Boone added two points and five rebounds.

Senior T.J. Barber finished with six points for Indian Creek.

Park 47, Indian Creek 26
Park                14    9       16      8   -   47
Indian Creek   14    7        2       3   -   26

Park: Boone 1 0-0 2, Levin 0 1-3 1, Ottenheimer 1 2-3 4, Winder 1 0-0 2, Kinslow 5(1) 4-7 15, DeMarco 5 6-9 16, Hettleman 1 0-0 2, Nelson 1 3-4 5. TOTALS: 15(1) 16-27 47.
Indian Creek: Ripley 2(1) 2-3 7, Han 0 1-2 1, Barber 2 2-2 6, Hanley 4 0-6 8, Breman 0 4-8 4, Papavasilakis 0 0-3 0. TOTALS: 9(1) 7-24 26.
Half: Park, 23-21.