ZIONSVILLE – Seven consecutive wins. Ten victories in 11 games. The season is trending in the right direction for the Center Grove boys basketball team after a 60-49 win at Zionsville on Tuesday night.

Here are five takeaways from Center Grove’s victory:

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Playing inside/outside works

Center Grove worked the ball inside to 6-10 junior Michael Ephraim early as he scored all 12 of his points in the first half and the Trojans (13-4) built a 12-point halftime lead.

If it looked like it was an effort to work the ball inside early, it was. But Center Grove coach Zach Hahn said that is case every game.

“We talk about getting paint touches or post touches,” Hahn said. “We have some guys that really shoot the ball well, but it’s easy to take away shooters if you stay tight to them. But if we force them to rotate and force them to double down, we have a couple really good post players who are starting to play under control and are really high-level guys at finishing around the rim. Then we can kind of go inside-out a little bit.”

Ephraim, whose season high is 14 points against Greenwood, did not score in the second half. But his frontcourt teammate, 6-6 senior Will Spellman, finished with eight points.

“We’re a team that wants to get out in transition as much as we can,” Hahn said. “But the first look is always going to be paint touch or post touch.”

Trojans’ outside shooting is elite

It was not their most impressive outside shooting performance of the season, but the Trojans connected on six 3-pointers and are one of the most impressive 3-point shooting teams in the state, shooting 46.4% from the arc.

That starts with senior Joey Schmitz, who came in averaging a team-high 17.8 points and was shooting a staggering 54.4% (54-for-94) from the 3-point line. Schmitz was 2-for-5 from the arc on Tuesday and finished with 12 points. Senior guard Dylan Meador, who also connected on a pair of 3s, came in shooting 55.1% (27-for-49) from the 3-point line.

“What I tell people is those guys are great shooters and they are gym rats, but they don’t take bad ones,” Hahn said. “They don’t take step-back 3s or fadeaways. They took good 3s, and they take open ones. Joey has a little more leeway than other guys because he shoots at such a high clip, but they take great shots and that takes your percentage up.”

Schmitz said his recruitment ranges from Division III programs like Rose-Hulman and Trine to potentially preferred walk-on situations at Division I schools. He attributes his high shooting percentage to a lot of repetitions and confidence.

“Once you get the confidence to see one go in, I’m bound to make more,” he said. “That’s from the work of putting the time in to be able to shoot like that in games. For me, it started around sixth grade when I started to take basketball seriously. I really enjoy shooting the ball, so I want to be good at it and do something with it.”

Ephraim quickly improving

Ephraim, who came in averaging 5.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.4 blocked shots, is a native of Nigeria who has made major strides this season. He played last season at Westwood Christian in Miami, Fla., averaging 13.3 points and 12.2 rebounds, though his basketball experience is limited.

“He’s only played basketball for three years,” Hahn said. “My son is in third grade and I think about where he is from an IQ standpoint and what Mike is doing out here and it’s incredible. To have a bit of a language barrier and to understand what he is doing takes a lot. He’s a fantastic, extremely hard worker, takes charges, dives on the floor. He’s a special player and a really good person. That makes it easy for guys to want him to be successful.”

Zionsville needs more offensive balance

I watched Zionsville juniors Maguire Mitchell and Drew Snively combine for 39 points in a in a 62-49 loss at Ben Davis on Saturday afternoon. It was much of the same story on Tuesday as the junior duo combined for 31 points in the loss to Center Grove.

As good as those two have been (Mitchell averaging 21.9 points and Snively 18.0 points coming into the game), only junior Jackson Tielker (6.9 ppg) came into Tuesday’s game averaging more than 3.9 points.

“Tielker has been fairly consistent this year being that third guy, but we just haven’t had that consistency from others,” Zionsville coach J.R. Howell said. “Hopefully we can find some of that magic in the next couple weeks and kind of give us a little jolt of energy as we get into the tournament. Those two have been heavy scorers for us this year. If we can get a couple other guys to lessen that, it will benefit us the long run.”

Zionsville, which had won three in a row going into the Ben Davis game, dropped to 10-10. The Eagles play at Lebanon on Friday before closing the regular season with Fishers (Feb. 16) and Cathedral (Feb. 20). And then, the Sectional 8 gauntlet awaits at Noblesville.

Center Grove has team that can make deep run

Center Grove has the look of a team that can make a deep tournament run in March — and a path that should be beneficial.

The Trojans will be a heavy favorite in Sectional 13 at Bloomington North, where only Bloomington South (10-8) has a winning record among the other five teams. Bloomington North, which beat Center Grove 43-41 in last year’s sectional championship, is 8-10.

Center Grove is 4-0 against the sectional field, though two of those wins came against Greenwood. The Trojans beat Bloomington North, 55-44, and Martinsville, 79-54. Center Grove is at Mooresville on Tuesday.

“A couple of those guys have been playing three years varsity and they have been very successful in that tenure,” Howell said of Center Grove. “They are big, physical and they just overmatched inside and that was too much to overcome. We’re not as big and strong as they are in the post.”

Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IHSAA basketball: Takeaways from Center Grove's win over Zionsville