Drew White scores 52 points against the
3rd ranked Ballard Bruins of Kentucky

No, it is not the regular season yet, however, The New Albany High School Basketball Program held a summer basketball tournament Thursday evening/June 14th at the New Albany Dog House. There were many teams from the Kentuckiana area competing. The 6:30 pm game was more than what each team, players, coaches and fans expected. The Ballard Bruins from Louisville Kentucky was playing The Paoli Rams from Paoli Indiana. The over confident Bruins must not have heard of Coach Joe Hinton and his ability (resume) of taking small schools and student athletes with big hearts and winning over 550 games in his legend career (Floyd Central, Providence, Paoli) in the state of Indiana, the cradle of basketball.

This night the Paoli Rams and Coach Hinton stepped on the Bulldog hardware floor with one of those student athletes with the big heart, Drew White. The 6’ 3” 190lb (senior to be 2008) lead his teammates with 52 points against the Ballard Bruins. “Drew gave one of the most profound scoring performances I have ever seen. I have coached a lot of good basketball players and Drew ranks right up there with each of them. He is one talented kid” stated Coach Hinton. Coach Hinton continued; “I have spent my whole adult life sharing my knowledge and love of this game with kids and I love it. I love coaching at Paoli and the kids are thirsty for success. I have 7 good (young) basketball players and Drew is our leader”.

White stated; “Ballard beat us this night by 2 points, however, we won the battle of confidence tonight. Summer play is all about getting better as a player and team and building confidence in each other. Each summer game we play will carry over to the school season. I have a lot of respect for Ballard. They are a storied program and were 3rd in the state of Kentucky last year. We (Rams) have talent and we have a Great Coach that believes in us, we believe in him and each other as players. Teams that we play should be aware of the powerful unity we have before stepping on the floor and taking us for granted just because we are a smaller school”. “We Rams are from the cradle of basketball, Indiana”!

Patoka Lake Athletic Conference - Paoli, Indiana