Tyler Smith, the first-year varsity basketball coach at Victory College Prep (Indianapolis), brought his team to Fountain City on Saturday, Jan. 4, to a warm reception. Smith, the most prolific scorer in Northeastern history, a three-time TEC player of the year and an Indiana Junior All-Star, was honored before the game.
Smith never lost a Wayne County tournament game, conference game or sectional game during his four-year playing career at Northeastern. In a pregame ceremony, Northeastern head coach Brent Ross presented Smith with his Northeastern jersey, No. 2, which had been previously retired.
Once the game began the Knights quickly took control, building a 24-10 lead after the first quarter and eventually taking a 77-45 win to improve to 11-0 on the season.
The Knights played 14 players, nine of whom scored. Noah Payne led the Knights with a game-high 23 points. Sam White scored 18 points, and Landon Scarrette added 14 points and 7 assists.
Northeastern (11-0) 24 21 14 18 77
Payne 23, Kaleb Moore 0, Logan Seal 4, Ian Webb 0, Gavin Platt 0, Scarrette 14, Marshall Phillips 3, Matthew Truitt 2, Kyler Phillips 2, Brody Ross 2, White 18, Nic Markward 0, Cooper Cline 0 Tre Vanlandingham 9 — Total 77
Victory College Prep (3-10) 10 14 14 7 45
A version of this article appeared in the January 8 2025 print edition of the Western Wayne News.