Pacers' Hibbert v. Warriors' Lee: UPDATE

-Allyson Burger-


It was announced on ESPN this morning that Roy Hibbert and David Lee will both be suspended for one game without pay. Other players involved in the small dispute, the Pacers' Lance Stephenson and Warriors' Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, were fined $35,000 for "escalating the altercation."

Lee will serve his suspension during the Warriors' game against the New York Knicks this coming Wednesday, while Hibbert will sit out the Pacers-Clippers game Thursday (tonight).

Hibbert's Head-to-Head

-Allyson Burger-

The Indiana Pacers hosted the Golden State Warriors Tuesday, coming out with a 108-97 win. But the score wasn't the only exciting thing that came from the fourth quarter.

The word "brawl" has been associated with the Pacers players often since the Pacers-Pistons game in 2004 when, at the end of a court brawl, a drink was thrown from the crowd at then-Pacers player Ron Artest, leading to a massive fight between players and the crowd.

Tuesday night during the final seven minutes of the game, Pacers center Roy Hibbert was ejected from the game after he and Warriors' David Lee started a fight over a missed shot. Hibbert's teammates joined in the dispute after, fellow player David West says, "they came after [Hibbert] too many times." The other Warriors players then followed.

Thankfully, this did not become another Detroit fiasco. The brawl spilled into the crowd, but this time around the spectators were wise enough to not get involved. The worst that may result from the small scuffle is a suspension for Hibbert for a few games.

On a lighter note, Tuesday was the first home game for Danny Granger this season. The Pacers' small forward played over 18 minutes and scored five points. Granger is slowly returning to his best after finally recovering from a knee injury.

A Young Leader

Cody Zeller: IU's Big Handsome
Hometown: Washington, Ind.
Position: F
Height/ Weight: 7-0/240

Cody Zeller's stats tonight against the Minnesota Golden Gophers didn't give justice to his contributions thus far this season. He scored 9 PTS.

In addition to those 9 points, he contributed:
7 REB
1 AST
1 BLK
3 STL

With that being stated, this game was not one for anyone to brag about with the Hoosiers falling to the Golden Gophers 77-73. This would be Minnesota's first time beating a #1 ranked team since 1989.

Zeller has been a stand-out player for the Hoosiers this year. Only a sophomore, Zeller leads the team in points and rebounds with:
16.6 PPG     .588 FG% (8th in the country)     .753 FT%
8.1 REB.

He has already surpassed 1,000 points - scoring 1,020 points so far - with 2 more years left at IU. Zeller has been named Big Ten Player of the Week twice this season and was also named a First Team Academic All-American.

Let's hope this sophomore continues to keep up the good work!

Honors for Ball State's Own, Scaife

-Allyson Burger-

Ball State senior guard, Jauwan Scaife, made national headlines after his performance at Southeast Missouri Saturday for the amazing buzzer-beater shot that gave the Cardinals the win.

Scaife sank a 3-pointer as time expired at the end of an exciting last minute, making the final score of the conference game 85-82. Including the final shot, Scaife scored a total 18 points, five assists and gained three rebounds for the Cards. He scored 7 of his 18 points in the final 1:33 of the game.

Following his exemplary performance Saturday, College Sports Madness selected Scaife as its Mid-American Conference Player of the Week Monday; a step up from previous title of Mid-American Conference West Division Player of the Week last week.

Scaife is averaging 21.4 points per game over his past seven games with the Cardinals, who will next host Central Michigan on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. tipoff at Ball State's Worthen Arena.

Semi-state heartbreak

Saturday, February 23 left a few teams in despair as the victors will be heading into the state basketball championship game this Saturday, March 2.

The Warsaw Tigers led Fort Wayne Southside until the start of the second half. As the game was nearing the end, only 3 points separated the teams. This is the first time since 1978 that Warsaw has had the opportunity to compete in the state championship game.

In the final 10 seconds of the game, Warsaw was down by 3 points. With an attempt at at a three-pointer, the buzzer the shrieked and the game ended with a Warsaw defeat. Fort Wayne Southside beat Warsaw 47-44.

Fort Wayne Southside will face Bedford North Lawrence in the state championship game Saturday, March 2.

For a video recap of the Warsaw vs. Fort Wayne Southside game, click here.

Granger is Back!

After sitting out the first 115 days of the Indiana Pacer's regular season due to a knee injury, Danny Granger was back on the court Saturday night as the team took on the Pistons. He entered the game at the end of the first quarter as Indiana basketball fans anxiously waited to see how he was going to play.

His statistics didn't look so hot:

Time in the game: 18 minutes
Shooting: 1-of-10
Total Points: 2

Coach Vogel said "rusty" was to be expected and Granger said he was just happy to be out there on the court.

"I knew I was going to hear it from the guys cause I had missed so many shots," Granger said. "I was 0-for-8 at that point. I just couldn't get it going. I was just happy to score at that point."

The Pacers are now #2 in the East, with a 35-21 record.

With Granger close to full recovery and seeing playing time again, will he help his team or throw off their rhythm? I guess only time will tell.

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