LEXINGTON, Ky. – It was a struggle. A good play here. A turnover there.
It went like for the Indiana All-Stars for most of Friday’s game against the Kentucky All-Stars at Lexington Catholic High School. The Kentucky All-Stars led by six points as the clock ticked under eight minutes.
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Enter Michael Cooper.
The Jeffersonville senior guard drilled three consecutive 3-pointers, two on assists from Ben Davis guard Mark Zackery IV and other from Lawrence North’s Azavier Robinson, to help the Indiana All-Stars breathe a little easier on their way to a 98-89 victory.
“It’s just really being confident in the work I put in to just knock it down,” Cooper said.
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IndyStar Mr. Basketball Braylon Mullins also had a big second half, scoring 13 of his game-high 24 points to lead the Indiana All-Stars its 44th victory in the past 51 games in the series. Indiana leads the all-time series, which dates to 1940, by a count of 106-46.
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Cooper sparked a much-needed run for Indiana.
“He’s won a state championship, so he knows how to win,” Indiana All-Stars coach Marc Urban (Chesterton) said of Cooper. “I thought we made the extra pass on those shots where he was stepping in and shooting wide-open 3s. And he made big-time plays. That’s why he’s an Indiana All-Star and why he’s going to have a really successful career at Wright State.”
Indiana had its hands full with Kentucky’s highly touted Malachi Moreno, a 7-1 incoming Kentucky freshman who played AAU basketball with Mullins on Indiana Elite. Moreno, who will not play in the game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Saturday, finished with 22 points, 14 rebounds and four blocked shots and played all but 54 seconds.
“I’m usually seeing him in the same uniform as me,” said Mullins, who will leave for UConn on Monday. “But there’s nothing personal. We were going up the court and chatting and laughing like we were doing in AAU. I’m excited to see what he does at Kentucky, but tonight was fun going against him.”
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Mullins helped spark the second-half run with a transition 3-pointer, though it seemed like every time Indiana would make a move, Kentucky would have a counter. Vince Dawson, a Morehead State recruit who finished with 21 points on 5-for-7 shooting from the 3-point line, drilled a 3 put Kentucky up eight with 11 minutes left.
When Jeffersonville’s 6-9 Tre Singleton picked up his fourth foul with 10:26 left, it brought back memories of Mr. Basketball Flory Bidunga fouling out on a technical foul in last year’s loss at Kentucky. But Indiana got hot at the right time.
“We had a brutal loss on Wednesday night (against the Junior All-Stars),” Mullins said of the 117-114 loss on his home floor at Greenfield-Central. “But that run we had at the end of the game just sparked the bench, the players and coaches. We needed that. We made that run and we weren’t looking back.”
Cooper finished with 21 points on 6-for-8 shooting from the 3-point line. Singleton, his teammate on the Jeffersonville Class 4A state champions, went for 14 points and four rebounds, but was limited to 24 minutes because of foul trouble. His bucket with 3 minutes left pushed Indiana’s lead to 86-80 and Kentucky never got any closer.
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Ben Davis’ Zackery added 12 points, six assists, five rebounds and five steals. Fishers’ Justin Kirby had nine points and four rebounds and the Butler-bound Robinson had eight points, five rebounds and two assists.
Mullins finished 10-for-18 from the floor and had six rebounds and two assists.
“He’s incredibly talented, as a high IQ and he’s a great kid,” Urban said of Mullins. “It’s been fun to get to know him. I know he was frustrated missing those first couple but he just kept sticking with it and that one he hit in transition was big. He made Mr. Basketball plays. He demands so much attention and he opens things up for other people, but he’s still able to be efficient.”
Indiana played without Cathedral’s Brady Koehler. The Notre Dame recruit was on the bench but not in uniform.
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It was the first win in Kentucky since 2022 for Indiana, which lost 94-90 in Owensboro two years ago and 103-82 in Lexington last year.
“There’s nowhere else you’d rather do it than Gainbridge Fieldhouse,” Mullins said. “They are going to have a little bit different team without Malachi playing but we’re not going to take anything for granted. We’re going to come out and play like we did tonight and I think we’ll be good tomorrow.”
Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649. Get IndyStar’s high school coverage sent directly to your inbox with the High School Sports newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Braylon Mullins, Michael Cooper lead Indiana All-Stars to win vs Kentucky
