BENNETT'S MINUTES: Neese to play in Hoosiers’ Reunion All-Star Classic

Monday, May 15, 2017
Cloverdale's Cooper Neese will play in an all-star game next month at the Historic Hickory Gym in Knightsville.

KNIGHTSTOWN — Cloverdale senior Cooper Neese will be one of seven members of the boys’ Indiana All-Star team to compete in the 12th annual Hoosiers’ Reunion All-Star Classic on June 2 at the Historic Hoosier Gym.

The girls’ game starts at 6 p.m., followed by the boys’ game follows at 8 p.m.

The Butler-bound Neese is being featured by game directors as one of the most prominent players in the game. Neese finished his career as the seventh-leading scorer in state history.

Other Indiana All-Stars are Jaylen Butz (Fort Wayne North/DePaul), Michael Ertel, (Mt. Vernon-Fortville/Louisiana Monroe), Jaylen Minnett, (Terre Haute South/IUPUI), Grant Smith (Connersville/ Indiana Wesleyan), Mack Smith (Warren Central/Eastern Illinois) and Jermaine Couisnard (East Chicago Central/undecided on college).

Three other featured players are two 2017 IHSAA State Champions— Nike Sibande (Miami of Ohio) of 3A Champion Indianapolis Crispus Attucks and Datrion Harper (IU-East) of 4A Champion Ben Davis — along with the state’s leading scorer, Courvoisier McCauley (27.7 ppg) of Indianapolis Manual.

Three other boys’ players are headed to NCAA Division I Colleges — Jalen Adaway of Logansport (Miami of Ohio), Jacob Redding of Carroll-Allen (Louisville) and Park Tudor’s Kobe Webster (Western Illinois).

One of Neese’s teammates will be state tournament nemesis Tyler Smith of Northeastern, whose team eliminated the Clovers from the regional the past two seasons.

The only other Western Indiana Conference player in the game will be Indian Creek’s Tim Abel, who will play collegiately at Cincinnati Christian.

The game will start off a hectic time period for Neese and the other All-Stars, who will have exhibition games on June 6 at New Albany and June 8 at Plainfield before the two-game series against Kentucky on June 10-11.

Ten girls’ Indiana All-Stars — including Miss Basketball Karissa McLaughlin (26 ppg) of 4A State champion Homestead — will be competing in the night’s first game.

Seating is limited, as only 665 spectators will be admitted.

To purchase tickets call (317) 925-8200 or send an e-mail to hoosierbbllmag@att.net.

• Several more coaching changes have been made at nearby schools and opponents of Putnam County teams.

Rockville athletic director/boys’ basketball coach Ryan Luce will be leaving to become an assistant principal at Terre Haute South, while Indian Creek now has openings for varsity coaches in both boys’ and girls’ basketball. West Vigo hired Terre Haute North assistant Jonathon Kirchoff as its new girls’ coach.

• Danville quarterback Christian Schabel, who threw the 99-yard touchdown pass to defeat Greencastle in football sectional action last fall, will play collegiately at East Stroudsburg State in Pennsylvania.

South Putnam grad Joe Masters is transferring from Marian to Purdue and retiring from football, while fellow 2016 Eagle grad Brandon Gierke is transferring from Purdue to DePauw and is returning to the gridiron this fall.

• The Western Indiana Conference will have its baseball crossover playoff games today.

The schedule:

1st/2nd — Indian Creek at Sullivan

3rd/4th — Edgewood at Northview

5th/6th — Cascade at West Vigo

7th/8th — Owen Valley at South Putnam

9th/10th — Cloverdale at North Putnam

11th/12th — Brown County at Greencastle.

Most of the softball crossover games took place last week, but the championship game will also be played tonight — and also features Indian Creek at Sullivan.

Northview won the WIC tennis championship last week by defeating Brown County 4-1 in the championship match.

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