Totten propels Edinburgh to season-opening win at Southwestern

The most experienced player on the floor proved a big difference maker in Edinburgh’s season-opening 60-43 win Tuesday at Southwestern.

Senior point guard Bailey Totten scored a game-high 26 points and added five assists, four rebounds and three steals. And while Totten provided the offensive punch, six-foot, eight-inch sophomore center Max Dodson made life difficult for the Spartans around the rim.

Dodson scored 10 points, grabbed six rebounds, blocked six shots and influenced several more against a Southwestern program that had no one on the floor that averaged at least three points per game last season.

“It impacted a ton,” said Southwestern head coach Chris Ingels of Dodson’s presence in the paint. “Then they started making 3s early on and our guys felt like they had to stretch out a little bit more which took our help away from (Dodson) inside for quite a while. I think he had 10 points but he impacted the game a lot. “Some of our drives we got the ball in the paint, but guys weren’t wanting to shoot it because they were afraid it was going to get blocked.”

Totten hit three of Edinburgh’s four first-quarter 3s to propel the Lancers to an 18-12 lead. Dodson scored twice at the rim in the second quarter as part of a 9-0 run that extended the lead to 27-15.

“We lost Totten. He popped a couple of times and got wide open and got hot,” said Ingels. “We talked about your help off him is limited and everybody has to be helping toward him. A credit to him, he got some openings and got hot early and built the lead for them in the first quarter.”

Southwestern failed to string together offensive possessions – only twice in the game scored five consecutive points – and never got any closer than 31-28 midway through the third quarter.

It took nearly a full quarter before the Spartans scored again as the Lancers closed the third quarter on a 12-0 run.

Dusty Stevens led Southwestern with 18 points. Jay Utley hit four 3s for 12 points and Cecil Newton finished with 10.

Edinburgh won the junior varsity game, 47-28.

The Spartans scored 14 points in the second quarter to cut the lead to 24-16 at halftime but only totaled a combined 14 points in the other three quarters.

Mason Burton led Edinburgh with 12 points.

Jackson Guy topped Southwestern with 10 points. Chandler Holt finished with nine.

Tuesday’s game was the 135^th meeting between the neighboring programs, both members of the Mid-Hoosier Conference and part of Class A, Sectional 59. With the win, Edinburgh now holds a 68-67 advantage in the series, which will continue with a rematch on Jan. 23 at Edinburgh.

Edinburgh will face Indian Creek Saturday at Corteva Coliseum at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.

Southwestern is at Tri, another potential Sectional 59 opponent, Saturday.

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