The 100th version of the boys Ripley County Tournament concluded Saturday night with the host Batesville Bulldogs brandishing the trophy following a 52-47 win over South Ripley. Junior Cade Kaiser finished an excellent tourney by dropping in 23 points on the Raiders, who made it interesting in the final few minutes before falling by five.

The Raiders came charging out of the gate to lead 10-1 through the first five minutes thanks to six points from 6-foot-7 Cole Henry. Batesville's initial field goal didn't come until the 2:30 mark of the opening quarter, a three appropriately scored by Kaiser off an assist from senior Sam Johnson. Kaiser had a string of seven straight points before Johnson found classmate Jack Grunkemeyer for the tying basket with a minute to go. As the clock wound down, Kaiser added his eighth and ninth points of the frame and dished to Brayden Maple for a last-second deuce; BHS had weathered the storm to claim the 14-10 lead.

The Bulldog run eventually reached a wicked 21-2 as Kaiser hit from behind the arc again and, after an offensive foul called on SR, spotted Maple for three more. South's deficit then went from 22-12 to 29-17 by the halftime break. Kaiser maneuvered in from the left side for two; a couple minutes later, Gus Prickel scored to make it 26-15. Henry answered that bucket at 2:07, with the only other offense being Johnson's buzzer-beating 3 to move the spread to a dozen. 

Kaiser, after getting 14 in the first half, opened the second half with a triple after an extended possession. On the next trip, he found Johnson open in the corner for a trey. The lead ballooned to 16. Then, another possession and again it was Johnson – this time from the left wing to make it 38-21. Staring at an 18-point deficit late in the stanza, South got a spark with an 8-0 run highlighted by Blaine Ward's deep 3 and another much (much!) longer - one-handed 80-foot heave at the buzzer that improbably banked in off the window.

Baskets by Trenten Luers and Kaiser kept the BHS advantage at 12 early in the fourth quarter. Seven in a row by the Raiders, however, had coach Aaron Garrett calling timeout with 3:38 on the clock and his team up 46-41. Two foul shots by Henry made it a one-possession game with 2:30 still left to play. Batesville got a fortuitous bucket when Kaiser chased down a miss on the end line and passed to an open Johnson for two. An 0-2 trip to the line by Henry also went in BHS' favor. A long three by Ward cut it to 50-47 with 6.3 seconds left but Kaiser capped the scoring with two charities.

Johnson had 10 of his 13 points in the second half with Maple and Grunkemeyer totaling 5 each, Luers 4 and Prickel 2. Henry led SR with 21 and Ward had 9.

This was Batesville's second straight title, defeating the Raiders both times. The Bulldogs won for a record 33rd time after falling to Versailles 28-14 in the inaugural tourney of 1922. (There was no tournament between 1927-29.)

Bulldogs 56, Eagles 38

Kaiser led seven Bulldogs in the scoring column last Wednesday as his 20 points through the first three quarters propelled BHS into the title game, defeating Jac-Cen-Del 56-38. Johnson's third 3-pointer of the contest gave him 16 and put the Dogs up 53-31 early in the fourth quarter, Batesville adding just three points in the final six minutes of play.

The hosts gained separation in the second period, hoping to duplicate a rout of JCD in the season opener last November. The Eagles scored first in the frame but baskets by Grunkemeyer and Johnson (3) made it 18-9 and caused a timeout call by JCD coach Clint Bohman. The Eagle mentor had to stop play again at 1:55 of the half due to Kaiser putting in three consecutive buckets, one off a Grunkemeyer pass as he was drifting out of bounds.

JCD regained some composure to get the next five points; free throws by Prickel gave BHS a 26-14 advantage at the break.

The Eagles also got the first points when play picked up again to trim the deficit to 10. However, Batesville went on a 7-3 run behind a traditional 3-point play by Kaiser, a short jumper for Johnson and a dish to Kaiser cutting down the lane.

Another 5-0 spurt for Jac had the visitors nursing some hope as the lead was cut to 33-24. Kaiser then rolled in a triple to continue a pivotal 20-7 run that lasted into the fourth. Grunk had two goals over the span, Johnson a pair of threes and a make near the elbow, Kaiser another driving layup and Maple a reverse to beat the third-quarter horn off Luers' assist.

In the early going, Johnson had ended a starting drought with a successful and-one at the 5:36 mark of the first. Kaiser scored four straight to make it 7-0. After five tallies for JCD, Luers knocked in a kickout trey and Maple echoed that from the corner for a 13-7 BHS lead through eight minutes.

Grunkemeyer added 7 points, Maple 6, Luers 3 and James Hughes and Prickel 2 each.