Today’s Local Sports Headlines are brought to us by . . .

Indiana Men’s Basketball Overcomes Slow Start to Beat Merrimack 81-49
Indiana Men’s Basketball was up by 6 at halftime and controlled the 2nd half and cruised to an 81-49 victory over Merrimack College Sunday afternoon at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The Hoosiers got off to a slow start as the Warriors started the game hitting 3 three pointers and lead 11-9 with 15:16 left to go in the first half. Xavier Johnson hit a jumper inside the paint tied the game 11-11 with 15:15 left in the first half as the Hoosiers never trailed again. Indiana outscored the Warriors 45-19 in the 2nd half after the Hoosiers led 36-30 at half.
The Hoosiers were led in scoring by Trayce Jackson-Davis with 16 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks. Race Thompson scored 14 points and pulled down 7 rebounds and Jordan Geronimo scored 13 points and pulled down 13 rebounds off the bench for his first double-double of his career. The Hoosiers scored 34 points off the bench as 10 of the 12 Hoosiers that played in the game scored. The Hoosiers were 27-52 from the field for 52 percent, 5-16 from three-point range for 31 percent and 22-32 from the free throw line for 68 percent. Indiana pulled down 54 rebounds, 16 assists, 7 blocks, 4 steals, and committed 17 turnovers.
Merrimack who came off a Thursday night road loss at Gonzaga 80-55, The Warriors were led by Jordan Minor with 13 points, Ziggy Reid and Malik Edmead added 11 points each. The Warriors are 4-8 and play in the Northeast Conference. Merrimack only pulled down 16 rebounds getting dominated on the glass by the Hoosiers. The Warriors had 10 steals, 9 assists, 2 blocks, and committed just 10 turnovers. The Warriors did not show fear in the beginning of the game coming into Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in their first ever trip and game with the Hoosiers. The Warriors are located in North Andover Massachusetts.
Indiana improves to 8-2 on the season. The Hoosiers will focus on their end of semester exams this week and will play Norte Dame in the Crossroads Classic at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis Saturday at 2:30 PM will be broadcast on FOX. The Irish is 4-4 on the season and knocked off 10th ranked Kentucky 66-62 in South Bend Saturday evening. Purdue and Butler will play in the first game of the Crossroads Classic doubleheader and that game will be shown on FOX.
10th Ranked Indiana Women’s Basketball Beats 20th Ranked Ohio State in Columbus
10th Ranked Indiana Women’s Basketball beat 20th Ranked Ohio State 86-66 Sunday Evening in Columbus. It’s the second straight year that the Hoosiers have won in Columbus, prior to last season Indiana had not won there since 2002. Indiana is 8-2 overall and 2-0 in the Big Ten while the Buckeyes fall to 7-2 and 1-1 in the Big Ten Conference.
Indiana started the game on a 10-0 run and never looked back. The Hoosiers led 43-29 at half. Indiana got a career high 30 points from Mackenzie Holmes who remains hard to stop inside and dominates in the paint when she touches the ball. Grace Berger scored 21 points, and Nicole Cardano-Hillary added 17 points and added 7 rebounds, 4 assists along with 2 steals. Indiana was 36-62 from the field for 58 percent 4-9 from three-point range for 44 percent and 10-14 from the foul line for 71 percent. Indiana pulled down 35 rebounds, 17 assists 5 blocks, 4 steals, and committed 12 turnovers. The Hoosier starters scored 84 of the teams 86 points with Kiandra Browne getting the only 2 points off the bench.
Ohio State was led by Jacy Sheldon with 23 points and 21 of those came in the second half. Taylor Miksell who started her career at Maryland before transferring to Oregon and then coming back to Big Ten to play for the Buckeyes scored 15 points. Madison Greene who is the teams point guard is out for the season with a Torn ACL and the Hoosiers put pressure on her replacement Kateri Poole all night as Poole had 5 turnovers and 9 points. Ohio State was 24-66 from the field for 36 percent, 10-19 from three-point range for 52 percent, and 8-11 from the free throw line for 72 percent. The Buckeyes pulled down 38 Rebounds, 14 assists, 7 steals, 3 blocks, and committed 17 turnovers.
The Hoosiers will focus on final exams this week and will host Western Michigan, Sunday at 1pm inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
Indiana Football Gets 2 Running Backs Out of The Transfer Portal and Lands 2022 Commi
The Indiana Hoosiers Football Team has been very busy the last few weeks as they have pulled six players out of the transfer portal to join the team for the 2022 season. The latest are a pair of Running Backs as Shaun Shivers from Auburn and Josh Henderson from North Carolina who committed over the weekend along with 2022 Commit Jamari Sharpe a defensive back from Miami Northwestern High school in Florida.
Shivers from Hollywood veteran back stands at 5-foot-7 and 189 pounds. He was a rotational back for Auburn for every season of his career. Coming out of high school he had offers from LSU, Baylor, Georgia, Wisconsin, Cincinnati, Georgia Tech and more. Shivers was voted a team captain in 2020, and over four years and 43 games played, he compiled 1,020 yards and eight touchdowns. He saw a lot of action as a true freshman, rushing for 371 yards in the 2018 season.
This season Shivers had 87 yards on 14 carries and one touchdown. He also had 22 catches for 163 yards and one touchdown. Shivers has also seen a lot of action as a returner, which would be very beneficial to coach Kasey Teegardin and the rest of the Hoosiers special team’s unit. Shivers was a four-star running back coming out of high school. He was ranked as the No. 11 all-purpose pack in the Rivals250 class. A 2018 graduate of Chaminade-Madonna Prep, Shivers has one year of eligibility remaining.
Henderson was a four-star prospect in the class of 2019. He was ranked as the No. 17 running back in the Rivals250 rankings. The New Jersey native had offers coming out of high school from Baylor, Maryland, Minnesota, Purdue, Nebraska and others. Henderson is expected to have three years of eligibility remaining.
Henderson appeared in 23 games in his UNC career, totaling 209 rushing yards on 41 carries (5.1 yards per carry) and 10 receiving yards on three catches. As a freshman at UNC, he rushed for a career-high 98 yards on 13 carries against Mercer.
Indiana has now reloaded its backfield with transfers. The Hoosiers lost Stephen Carr, Sampson James, Tim Baldwin and Chris Childers this offseason.
Sharpe is ranked as a three-star safety. He had a top-6 of LSU, Georgia Tech, Missouri, Mississippi State, Indiana, and Rutgers. Sharpe has great size at 6-foot-2 and tremendous speed. He has been clocked as low as 10.69 in the 100-meter dash. He has been a late bloomer in terms of his recruitment and was someone who shot up recruiting boards this season. His speed, size and length make him a very intriguing prospect and someone who will come to Bloomington with a great amount of raw talent. Sharpe adds to Indiana’s 2022 recruiting class which is now ranked No. 36 in the Rivals team rankings.
4 Time Indianapolis 500 Winner Al Unser Sr Passes Away at 82
Four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser Sr has passed away at age 82 after a 17-year battle with cancer at his home in New Mexico. Unser is only driver have both a sibling and son win the Indianapolis 500. His Brother Bobby won in 1968 and his son Al Jr won in 1992. Unser is one of four men to win the greatest spectacle in racing four times joining A.J. Foyt, Rick Mears and Heilo Castroneves to accomplish that feat. Unser won in 1970,1971, 1978 and 1987. Unser is one of five drivers to win the Indianapolis 500 in consecutive years.
The Unser’s have a long history at Indianapolis. His brother Jerry finished 31st in the 1958 Indianapolis 500 and was killed the following year at speedway after a fiery crash in practice. Bobby competed in his first 500 in 1963, his son Al Jr competed in first 500 in 1983 and they were known as Big and Little Al too many to separate the two. His nephew’s Johnny and Robby have competed in the race as well. Unser Sr had 39 wins, 28 poles, and 97 podiums in his career from 1965-1993 and competed in 5 NASCAR Races in 3 different seasons with three top ten finishes.
For more local news . . .
Check out our archived episodes of What’s Happenin’ and Talkin’ Sports with Nick Jenkinson here
