Published: March 06, 2008 11:50 pm      

BOYS' BASKETBALL: Donnie Hale is New Albany's big man in the middle

At the start of the 2007-08 season, Donnie Hale knew he had some big shoes to fill at the New Albany center position.

The 6-foot-7 sophomore was replacing Mitchell Meyer, who averaged 14.2 points per game last year to earn Evening News and Tribune all-area team honors.

But Hale has filled in for Meyer quite nicely this year.

In fact, he has been a major factor in the Bulldogs attaining a 24-0 record and winning last week’s Seymour Sectional.

“Although we knew we were going to miss Mitchell, we felt the potential of Donnie was outstanding,” New Albany head coach Jim Shannon said. “I don’t want to say that we thought he was going to be better than Mitchell. But we didn’t think we were going to miss a beat.”

Hale is the Bulldogs’ leading rebounder at 6.5 boards per game and is the team’s third-leading scorer, averaging 12.7 points a contest. He is also one of the top shot blockers in the state, registering about four blocks per contest.

“He’s been critical to our success,” New Albany senior guard Spencer Shannon said. “His presence inside just helps out our guys to pressure the guards. If they get around us and cut to the basket, Donnie is there. His long arms and his height make it a lot harder for teams to get baskets inside.

“Mitchell did a lot of good things for us last year. But Donnie has really gotten better since last year, and I think he’s going to continue to be a good basketball player.”

Hale credits Meyer, who is a freshman forward for the Hanover College men’s team, for teaching him the ropes in the post last season.

“He helped me a lot my freshman year. He got me used to it,” said Hale, who is already drawing interest from a few Division I schools.

Once the season started, Hale was anxious to get the chance to get more playing time — and most of all to start. He made his presence known right away, scoring in double figures in 10 of the first 13 games.

“I was real pumped up,” Hale said. “To know you’re on a really good team and to be able to start for them and play a lot of minutes and help them a lot, it really gets you excited.”

His inspired play during the first half of the season earned Hale a big honor. He was named the most valuable player of the Hall of Fame Classic on Dec. 28 in helping the Bulldogs win the annual tournament in New Castle. Hale scored 35 combined points in victories over Marion and Batesville.

Hale said capturing the MVP award created a surge in his confidence level.

“It boosted it up a lot,” Hale said. “There were a bunch of good players, and to get MVP I was real proud of myself. It was real unexpected.”

Hale stepped up huge at sectional. In a 62-49 semifinal victory over Bedford North Lawrence, he scored 21 points on 10-of-14 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds.

Despite tallying only four points in a 76-59 win in the final over Jeffersonville, Hale scored his points on two thunderous dunks in the first quarter. One of the slams came off an alley-oop pass from Spencer Shannon off a fast break. Hale caught the ball one-handed in mid-air and threw it down with authority, which prompted an eruption from the Bulldog cheering section.

“He’s been huge. He’s been a guy in the middle that we can rely on defensively and offensively,” teammate Braydon Hobbs said.

Coach Shannon says Hale has got a lot of weapons in his arsenal, which is already giving opponents nightmares.

“He’s invaluable because there’s so many things that Donnie can do because of his basketball ability,” Shannon said. “He’s long; he blocks a lot of shots. He’s kind of an intimidating person when you come in there to shoot your layup. We can lob it into him because of his length.

“Both offensively and defensively, he really gives us some outstanding play that some other teams don’t have.”

Hale and the Class 4A No. 1 Bulldogs are in the midst of preparing for Saturday’s Seymour Regional, as they will play East Central in the semifinals at about 12:30 p.m. Hale says New Albany must establish its up-tempo style in order to win its first regional crown since 1997.

“We’ve got to keep on playing the way we did (at sectional),” Hale said. “We’ve got to play at our speed and our pace. We’ve just got to keep on doing what we’re doing.”

Like the rest of his teammates, Hale has his sights set on one goal — a Class 4A state championship.

Hale would like nothing more than to win the title and have his team’s picture mounted on the wall at The Doghouse alongside the program’s lone state championship team, the 1972-73 Bulldogs.

“Putting our picture on that wall would be awesome,” Hale said. “That’s how everybody remembers you.”



CLASS 4A SEYMOUR REGIONAL

SATURDAY

SEMIFINALS

Terre Haute North (11-13) vs. Evansville Reitz (16-7), 10:30 a.m.

New Albany (24-0) vs. East Central (16-7), 12:30 p.m.

CHAMPIONSHIP

Semifinal winners, 8 p.m.