LEXINGTON, KY — Jack Benter and the Indiana All Stars suffered a stunning reversal of fortune on Friday night, dropping the first of two games against Kentucky, 103-82, in a mostly full gymnasium at Lexington (Ky.) Catholic High School.

Indiana led the first 29 minutes of the contest, building leads as large as 19 points. Mr. Basketball Flory Bidunga’s consecutive dunks to open the second half gave the Hoosiers a 55-43 lead and appeared to signal a second half on cruise control.

Then Max Green happened.

An AAU Grand Park Premier teammate of Benter’s, the 6-foot-6 Green scored 25 points during a torrid 12-minute stretch to lead Kentucky from a 12-point deficit to a 22-point lead.

“Max is a really good shooter,” Benter said. “We’ve seen it in AAU multiple times. Our game plan was not to let him shoot. But he got open and made us pay.”

Green, an Oldham County product, ended with 36 points and the game’s MVP award. He made a staggering 14 of 16 shots from the field, including 5-for-7 from 3-point range.

Aiding Kentucky’s comeback was the absence of Bidunga, who played just 13 of the game’s 40 minutes due to foul trouble.

Bidunga fouled out of the game with 10 minutes to go after being assessed a technical foul, apparently for yelling enthusiastically following a dunk.

“It’s kind of laughable. He’s fouled out of maybe two or three games in his high school career,” said Indiana head coach John Peckinpaugh, who also coached Bidunga at Kokomo. “It’s an all-star game. People came to see the best players play. It’s too bad we didn’t get to see that.”

When Bidunga’s fateful dunk went through the hoop, Indiana trailed by a point at 67-66 with 10:26 to go. After the 6-foot-9 center departed, the Hoosier side was outscored by Kentucky 26-5 during the game’s next five minutes.

“When Mr. Basketball plays (13) minutes, it’s going to affect your team,” Peckinpaugh said. “When he was in there, we were really good defensively. When he was out, we weren’t that great defensively. We weren’t that great offensively. When you can’t have your best players out on the floor, you’re not going to get the best result.”

Over the game’s final 10:26, Kentucky enjoyed a 36-16 run.

“We didn’t respond very well,” Benter said. “(Flory) brings a double team, so we get open shots. He just opens everything up. Not having him on the floor really hurt. We didn’t execute and defend at all late in the first half and the second half.”

Benter led all Indiana scorers with 16 points. Fishers’ Keenan Garner followed with 15 while Bidunga had 13.

Benter scored six of Indiana’s first 10 points to take an early 10-3 lead. The soon-to-be Boilermaker scored eight points in each half, shooting 6-for-12 from the field and 2-for-5 from 3-point range.

The 6-foot-6 former Brownstown Central Brave also grabbed six rebounds and had three assists.

Kentucky Mr. Basketball, Travis Perry scored 12 points. Ultra-quick guard Quel’Ron House ended with 16 for Kentucky.

Friday’s result leaves Indiana scrambling to salvage a split in the two-game series. Indiana leads the overall series, which started in 1940, by a 103-46 margin and has won 25 of the last 29 inter-state contests.

“We just got to go out and play our game,” Benter said. “We’re capable of beating them, but we have to stay out of foul trouble and execute.”

Benter said putting on the Indiana All Star jersey has lived up to expectations.

“It was really fun,” he said. “To play with all these really high-level athletes, it’s a really cool experience.”

Indiana Girls Beat Kentucky, 90-79

Jennings County’s Juliann Woodard scored 23 points to lead the Indiana girls team to an 11-point win over Kentucky in the evening’s first game.

Woodard’s 3-pointer with 2:58 left in the second quarter gave the Hoosiers a 37-34 lead, an advantage they never gave up.

Three other Indiana players finished in double figures. Purdue-bound Jordyn Poole scored 19 followed by Miss Basketball Chloe Spreen with 12 and Noblesville’s Reagan Wilson with 11.

Games were only two twenty-minute halves.

BOXSCORES

Indiana-Kentucky All Stars

BOYS

Indiana;49;33;—;82

Kentucky;43;60;—;103

Indiana (0-1): Jack Benter 6-12 2-2 16, Keenan Garner 5-12 4-5 15, Flory Bidunga 6-7 1-2 13, KJ Windham 5-12 1-2 12, Micah Davis 4-7 0-0 8, Evan Haywood 2-5 0-0 6, Tyler Parrish 2-4 0-0 6, Aaron Fine 2-6 0-0 5, Tucker Tornatta 0-2 1-2 1, Isaac Andrews 0-3 0-0 0, Trey Buchanan 0-3 0-0 0, Jack Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Karson Rogers 0-3 0-0 0, Totals 32-76 9-13 82.

Kentucky (1-0): Max Green 14-16 3-4 36, Quel’Ron House 6-13 4-6 16, Travis Perry 2-8 6-6 12, Brady Shoulders 3-7 4-7 11, Tyler Doyle 4-5 1-2 9, Ayden Evans 2-4 5-6 9, Mason Ritter 3-9 0-0 6, Dayton Williams 1-2 0-0 2, Jashaun Pouncy 1-3 0-0 2, Darrell Bateman 0-2 0-2 0, Antonio Williams 0-0 0-0 0, Totals 36-69 23-33 103.

3-point shooting: Indiana 9-27 (Benter 2-5, Haywood 2-4, Parrish 2-3, Garner 1-2, Fine 1-3, Windham 1-3, Andrews 0-3, Buchanan 0-2, Rogers 0-1, Tornatta 0-1), Kentucky 8-22 (Green 5-7, Perry 2-5, Shoulders 1-5, Bateman 0-1, Evans 0-1, House 0-1, Ritter 0-2).

Rebounds: Indiana 44 (Garner 10, Benter 6, Bidunga 4, Rogers 4, Parrish 4, Tornatta 3, Windham 3, Haywood 3, Davis 2, Team 5), Kentucky 40 (Doyle 8, Green 5, Shoulders 5, D. Williams 4, Evans 4, House 4, Ritter 4, Perry 3, Bateman 1, Pouncy 1, Team 1).

Fouls: Indiana 20, Kentucky 15. Turnovers: Indiana 15, Kentucky 8.

GIRLS

Indiana;19;27;24;20;—;90

Kentucky;19;22;23;15;—;79

Indiana (1-0): Juliann Woodard 7-17 6-7 23, Jordyn Poole 7-12 3-4 19, Chloe Spreen 4-8 4-7 12, Reagan Wilson 3-7 2-2 11,Talia Harris 2-4 4-6 8, Camryn Runner 1-3 1-2 4, Alli Harness 1-2 0-0 3, Emma Haan 1-1 0-0 3, Lauren Walsh 1-1 0-0 3, Rachel Wirts 1-2 0-0 2, Faith Wiseman 1-3 0-2 2, Audrey Annee 0-1 0-0 0, Ellery Minch 0-0 0-0 0, Totals 29-61 20-30 90.

Kentucky (0-1): Shaelynn Steel 6-15 12-15 25, Destiny Jones 7-11 1-2 15, Reagan Bender 4-5 3-6 12, Ramiya White 1-2 5-6 7, Angelino Pelayo 2-9 2-2 6, Trinity Rowe 2-3 0-0 5, Jasmine Jordan 1-1 2-2 4, Ayanna Darrington 1-3 1-2 3, Abby Varney 1-2 0-0 2, Mariah Knight 0-2 0-0 0, Anna Drakeford 0-3 0-0 0, Totals 25-56 26-35 79.

3-point shooting: Indiana 12-28 (Woodard 3-8, Wilson 3-5, Poole 2-5, Runner 1-3, Harnes 1-1, Haan 1-1, Walsh 1-1, Wirts 0-1, Harris 0-2, Spreen 0-1), Kentucky 3-13 (Rowe 1-1, Bender 1-2, Steele 1-5, Pelayo 0-1, Knight 0-1, Jones 0-1, Drakeford 0-2).

Rebounds: Indiana 30 (Wiseman 7, Woodard 6, Spreen 2, Poole, Wilson, Harris, Harness, Haan, Wirts, Minch, Team 8), Kentucky 40 (Jones 11, Jordan 5, Steele 5, Pelayo 3, Bender 2, Darrington 2, Knight 2, Varney 2, White 2, Rowe, Team 5).

Fouls: Indiana 23, Kentucky 21. Turnovers: Indiana 19, Kentucky 25.