Irvin leads HSE Royals past Zionsville at VYPE Game of the Week

By Jason Haddix

For VYPE Magazine (Central Indiana)

ZIONSVILLE—When Hamilton Southeastern’s Zak Irvin takes the court, he is expected to put up big numbers.

During the VYPE Game of the Week Friday night, he and his fellow Royals scored a massive win against the Zionsville Eagles in a Hoosier Crossroads clash, 66-59

“This is a huge one, especially from a conference standpoint,” Royals coach Brian Satterfield said. “Our conference is pretty strong this year. It was a big win against these guys, especially coming on the road.”

Irvin lived up to expectations as he poured in 30 points on 11-of-19 shooting.

“It is a long day to try and keep in front and out of the paint,” Zionsville coach Shaun Busick said. “One step for him is like five steps for one of our guys. He just knows how to play basketball, and I think he’s going to start at Michigan as a freshman and they are one of the top five teams in the country.”

The 6-foot-8 University of Michigan commit entered the game shooting 34.8 percent from beyond the arc and was held to just 14.3 percent (1 for 7) against the Eagles.

“My shot was not falling from the outside,” Irvin said. “I kept telling myself to get to the free-throw line, where it did.”

Irving, VYPE GOW MVP, hit 7-of-9 from the charity stripe, including 3 for 3 in the fourth quarter.

Irvin is one of the top-rated high school players in Indiana. With that honor comes heavy interest by multiple colleges. That recruiting process can add pressure to a student-athlete. Irvin admitted he is happy to have that behind him.

“It is a huge relief (to have recruiting over with),” Irvin said. “I am able to go out there and have fun and enjoy my senior year with my teammates.”

Two of those teammates, juniors Tyler Jenkins and Eric Davidson had 12 and 10 points, respectively. Davidson came up big in the fourth quarter when he hit a 3-pointer with just over five minutes left in the game to give the Royals a 49-46 lead

“We’re a deep team,” Irvin said. “We’re able to have other scorers and threats on the floor, which is able to take pressure off me.”

Irvin said because Zionsville is a good team; he knew they were capable of putting together a run to get back into the game.

That’s exactly what the Eagles did to open the third quarter. Down 34-24, they went on a 14-4 run to tie it up at 38 with just over two minutes left in the quarter.

“They came out fired up and got off to a good start,” Satterfield said. “We were in control, but they made a great run … when they took that lead there wasn’t any panic in our guys.”

Zionsville carried that momentum into the fourth quarter. They held a 44-42 lead when Braden Hall hit a 3-pointer at 7:43.

But, that was the last lead they held as the Royals outscored the Eagles 24-18 over the final eight minutes.

“We need to hold on and learn to win a game against an elite team,” Busick said. “They are not the No. 10 team in the state, they are top-five. We have to comeback and beat a team like that to give ourselves the confidence we can beat anybody.”

During the final four minutes, Hamilton Southeastern slowed down their offensive attack.

“We wanted to try and see if they would extend a little bit and see if we could find some openings,” Satterfield said. “The first procession we did it, they extended a little bit but not everywhere. We were able to find a little seam in the middle and dump it down there for a layup.

“I thought that was patients and good intelligence on our part on the offensive end.”

Senior Andrew Dakich led Zionsville with a season-high 23 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field, including 4 for 7 from 3-point range.

“I was more focused,” Dakich said of his performance. “I was ticked off about last week because I didn’t play like I should have.”

During Zionsville’s four-point overtime loss to Brownsburg on Dec 7, Dakich was held to just six points.

He said he has been in the gym with his dad working on some flaws in his game.

Dakich is the son of former Indiana University player and coach and current sports radio talk show host Dan Dakich.

Andrew admits the pressure of having a well-known father and hearing the comparisons can be bothersome at times.

“It [pressure] has and it hasn’t (bothered me),” he said. “Sometimes it gets to me and sometimes it doesn’t.”

The Royals held the Eagles leading scorer Dalton Judd to just three points off the bench. Dakich said Judd was battling a toe injury and was in his mind only 50 percent.

“I felt like we had some crucial mistakes in the first half that cost us this basketball game,” Busick said. “I thought the intensity, the effort (and) the focus of our guys were outstanding in a losing effort. I thought we took a step forward tonight.”