BATESVILLE — The No. 6 ranked team in Class 3A entered Friday night in quest of its 14th win of the season and 12th in a row.

The Batesville High School varsity basketball team achieved just that with a 72-37 victory over the South Dearborn Knights.

The Bulldogs set the tone early with a sound effort on the defensive end. Batesville held the Knights to just five points in the first quarter and led by nine at the first break.

“We have worked on some things defensively over the past week and I felt it showed on the floor,” BHS head coach Aaron Garrett commented. “I was also impressed with our effort offensively knowing we spent a lot of time this week without a ball in our hands.”

The Bulldogs continued to gradually extend the lead through the second quarter. Five different players scored for BHS as the lead grew to 34-15 by halftime.

The third quarter was not as efficient on the offensive end for the Bulldogs. Six turnovers led to additional South Dearborn possessions. They capitalized by scoring 13 points in the quarter, but still lost ground.

Bryan Hoeing, who finished with a team high 29 points, scored Batesville’s first eight points of the third to help build the lead to 42-19. A pair of Hoeing 3-pointers and a field goal by Nathan Longstreth closed out the scoring with Batesville in front 55-28.

“We did not do the best job taking care of the basketball in the third quarter,” Garrett commented. “We cannot afford to commit that many turnovers in such a short span of time.

“But I was happy with the way we bounced back after a miscue and was able to counter on our offensive end,” he added.

The Bulldogs continued their solid play over the final eight minutes to preserve the victory.

Batesville improved to 14-1 on the season and 8-1 in the Eastern Indiana Athletic Conference. The Bulldogs will play at Rushville on Thursday and close out the conference portion of their schedule on Saturday at East Central. The Saturday game is slated for a 1 p.m. junior varsity tip.

Junior varsity tops Knights

The Batesville junior varsity team got off to a sluggish start, but bounced back to knock off the visiting Knights by a score of 38-35.

The Bulldogs trailed 12-5 at the end of the first quarter and later 20-13 at halftime.

Coach Jay Gerkin’s crew overcame that deficit and tied the score at 22-22 entering the final six minutes.

The Bulldogs had three players score in double figures. Bo Gowan led the way with 15 points followed by Matt Moorman (12) and Jacob Vogelsang (11).

Varsity Scoring

Batesville (72)

Player 2FG-3FG-FT-TP; Grimsley 0-0-0-0-0; McKinney 0-3-1-2-10; B. Hoeing 6-4-5-7-29; Kase 2-1-0-0-7; Walsman 1-1-0-0-5; Taylor 0-0-0-0-0; M. Hoeing 1-1-0-0-5; Longstreth 4-1-0-0-11; Dennis 2-0-0-0-4; Nobbe 0-0-1-2-1; Moorman 0-0-0-0-0; Vogelsang 0-0-0-0-0; Gowan 0-0-0-0-0; Totals 16-11-7-11-72.

South Dearborn (37)

Player 2FG-3FG-FT-TP; Rutzell 0-0-0-0-0; Wohlfram 0-0-0-0-0; Bailey 1-2-0-0-8; Moorhead 1-0-0-0-2; Faller 1-0-0-0-2; Taylor 2-2-1-2-11; Harves 2-0-0-0-4; Holtegel 4-0-2-2-10; Miller 0-0-0-0-0; Jefferson 0-0-0-0-0; Totals 11-4-3-6-37.

Junior Varsity Scoring

Batesville (38): Prickel 0, Moorman 12, Meyer 0, Gowan 15, Koehne 0, Vogelsang 11, Nobbe 0, C. Reer 0, J. Reer 0.

South Dearborn (35): Wolfram 6, McAllister 3, Kirkey 9, Howell 2, McGhee 2, Rutzel 4, Harves 9.