— The last time the Batesville High School boys basketball team played New Castle it did not end well for the Bulldogs.

The Trojans needed overtime to defeat Batesville in the 1996-97 regional championship by a score of 61-58.

Not near as much was on the line Saturday, but it was an important non conference game for the Bulldogs.

This time the Bulldogs came out on the winning end.

Sophomore Bryan Hoeing scored a game-high 26 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Bulldogs past the visiting Trojans by a score of 67-58.

“This was a good win for us heading into a break,” BHS coach Aaron Garrett commented. “They played well against a quality opponent ... seeing their hard work pay off is nice.”

The Bulldogs got off to a good start and scored 15 points in the first quarter. The Trojans kept pace as the BHS lead was only one at the first break.

New Castle forged ahead early in the second and took a 23-19 lead on a pair of free throws by Korey Ryan. The Bulldogs answered with field goals by Nathan Longstreth and Blake Walsman to knot the score at 23-23 with 3:07 to play in the half.

Mike Hoeing sparked the Bulldogs at the close of the half with the team’s final four points. The end result was a 28-25 Batesville lead.

After extending the lead to 44-37 by the end of the third quarter, it was now up to the Bulldogs to finish.

The Trojans were able to get within one point midway through the fourth quarter and soon after tied the game at 53-53.

Batesville answered with a 9-0 run, capped by a pair of Kassidy Kase free throws. The Trojans did not score again until a field goal by Austin Orr with :34 to play in the game.

Kase and Mike Hoeing each hit free throws down the stretch, but it was a long inbounds pass from Mike Hoeing to Bryan Hoeing in the closing seconds which resulted in a lay-up that sealed the deal.

In addition to Bryan Hoeing’s 26 points, the Bulldogs had two others score in double figures. Kase had 12 followed by Mike Hoeing with 11.

Mike  Hoeing also had five rebounds and five assists. Longstreth was solid in the paint with five rebounds and three blocked shots, while Quinn Grimsley added four assists.

The Bulldogs improved to 6-1 on the season, while New Castle fell to 5-3.

The Batesville junior varsity improved to 4-3 on the season with a 35-33 victory over the Trojans.

The Bulldogs led 23-18 at the end of the third quarter, but needed some late free throws to get the win.

The Bulldogs were led in scoring by junior Bo Gowan with 11 points and freshman Matt Moorman with 10.

Varsity Scoring

Batesville (67) - Grimsley 0-1-0-0-3; McKinney 1-1-0-0-5; B. Hoeing 7-2-6-8-26; Kase 1-2-4-5-12; Walsman 1-1-0-0-5; Taylor 0-0-0-0-0; M. Hoeing 4-0-3-4-11; Longstreth 1-1-0-0-5; Dennis 0-0-0-0-0; Totals 15-8-13-17-67.

New Castle (58) - Bumbalough 0-0-0-0-0; Bennett 2-4-7-7-23; Ryan 6-1-7-7-22; Haler 0-2-0-0-6; Perdue 0-0-0-0-0; Goolsby 1-0-0-0-2; Totals 11-7-15-16-58.

Junior Varsity Scoring

Batesville (35) - Prickel 0, Moorman 10, Meyer 2, Gowan 11, Vogelsang 6, Nobbe 2, Blanken 0, C. Reer 4.

New Castle (33) - McGinnis 10, Garrett 10, Jones 2, Engle 3, Davis 3, Vonderheide 2, Renner 3.