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Indianapolis, IN

Bennedict Mathurin, short-handed Pacers outlast more short-handed Grizzlies

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Bennedict Mathurin, short-handed Pacers outlast more short-handed Grizzlies


INDIANAPOLIS — The short-handed Pacers outlasted the even-more short-handed but eternally gritty Memphis Grizzlies 116-110 in a Sunday matinee at Gainbridge FIeldhouse.

The Pacers have won three straight and improved to 27-20, which puts them alone at sixth place in the Eastern Conference. The Grizzlies’ three-game winning streak was snapped, falling to 18-28.

Here are four observations.

Bennedict Mathurin goes on the attack

The Grizzlies are easy the most injury-plagued team in the NBA with eight players listed as out in Sunday’s injury report, including guards Ja Morant, Desmond Bane and Marcus Smart. All are out for extended periods, with the All-Star Morant out for the year.

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Those losses make the Grizzles a specific kind of dangerous, however, because they still have two tough centers anchoring their defense in Jaren Jackson Jr. and Xavier Tillman, so they play gritty and wall off the lane. They entered Sunday’s action ranking seventh in paint points allowed.

The Grizzlies were also playing without sharp-shooting guard Luke Kennard on Sunday, so they entered 6-4, 255-pound David Roddy into the starting lineup which made them even bigger and more physical even though they were lacking for speed and skill.

“When Kennard was unable to play, they put Roddy in the lineup and that was sending the message that this is going to be a physical battle,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “They’re physical anyway, but him in the starting lineup was a further message of that. As much as you try to prepare your group for how physical it is going to be, words don’t do justice to it.”

Driving against such a defense requires a fearless player and skilled finisher. Bennedict Mathurin is very much both of those things, and he had his outside shot working as well, so he was in a way the perfect antidote for what the Grizzlies were doing. The Pacers were playing without All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton and center Myles Turner, so they needed someone along with Pascal Siakam to step up and be a go-to scoring option and Mathurin stepped up.

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Mathurin didn’t check in until the 7:23 mark of the first quarter, but when he did he went straight for the rim. The first time he touched the ball he drove straight from the timeline to the rim for a dunk and didn’t stop attacking after that. Mathurin scored 14 of the Pacers’ first 28 points and 17 of their first 33.

“The main thing for me was just to keep the game simple,” Mathurin said. “Just try to come out there and have an impact. It was working. It was working and I was scoring and getting my teammates involved. It was just knowing what the defense gave me. They were giving me drives early. I was applying pressure going to the rim.”

He finished with 19 first-half points, making 7 of 9 field goals and 3 of 3 3-pointers. He found fewer opportunities in the second half but finished with 24 points on 9 of 14 shooting including 3 of 5 from the 3-point arc. He also had seven rebounds, a steal and a block.

Mathurin’s drives helped open up other options and generally softened the Grizzlies wall around the lane. After scoring just 32 points in the paint against the Grizzlies in a loss in Memphis on Dec. 21, the Pacers outscored them 54-48 in the lane on Sunday.

“I thought Mathurin was tremendous,” Carlisle said. “He was tremendous. In the first half when we couldn’t get going, he was making the right play every time. The right drive, the right pull-up, the right read. And he gave us a lot of life in the first and second quarters. Tremendous growth by him this year with those things.”

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Pascal Siakam helps Pacers score in the paint

The Pacers needed Pascal Siakam inside. Navigating the paint against the Grizzlies isn’t easy, and even players with good handles have trouble against Memphis’ size there. So it really helps to have somebody 6-8 with a 7-3 wingspan who can keep his dribble and rise up to score. Siakam is that player.

The Pacers’ recently acquired two-time All-NBA power forward scored 19 points on 8 of 13 shooting, and he commanded enough attention to set up his teammates. He finished with six assists against one turnover and also grabbed six rebounds and two steals.

“It was difficult to get good shots all night,” Carlisle said. “Pascal got us going in the third quarter with some really good screening and footwork. Was able to break loose. We hit him two or three times. That gave us momentum going into the quarter. That was big. He’s got the inside and outside dimension. … He’s going to give us really unique versatility at the 4 position.”

Siakam also performed on the defensive end when he was switched on to Jaren Jackson Jr. Jackson scored 25 points, but was 7 of 17 from the floor and scored just five points in the fourth quarter on 1 of 3 shooting.

“The last play of the game was one of the reasons we traded for Pascal,” Carlisle said. “Putting him on a playmaking big like Jackson. They ran a keeper, he smelled it out, was able to stay in front, forced a difficult shot and then the rebound and the game was basically over. He was 8 for 13, six boards, six assists, he plays an all-around game that really complements our roster.”

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Jalen Smith, Isaiah Jackson step up in Myles Turner’s absence

The Pacers learned early Sunday afternoon that Myles Turner wouldn’t be available because of back spasms. Jalen Smith has also been dealing with those, but he stepped up in Turner’s absence.

Smith played tough in the middle and took advantage of the Grizzlies’ inattention at the 3-point line despite his 48.6% accuracy this season. He scored 19 points on 8 of 13 shooting, including 3 of 6 from 3-point range, and also grabbed 10 rebounds with blocked two shots. He scored 11 of Indiana’s 41 third-quarter points on 5 of 6 shooting in a tide-turning period. He also had three offensive rebounds in that quarter, which helped the Pacers post 1.55 points per possession in the period.

In the fourth quarter after the Grizzlies had rallied, Smith also hit a 3-pointer with 3:07 to go that broke a tie and gave the Pacers a 110-107 lead and his dunk with 35 seconds to go gave the Pacers a four-point lead that Memphis couldn’t come back from.

“Sticks played great,” Carlisle said, using Smith’s nickname. “He really did. As the game went along, he adjusted better and better to Jackson and his tendencies. He hit enormous shots in the game. The 3 he hit in front of our bench in the fourth quarter was a monster shot for us.”

Backup Isaiah Jackson also was productive, scoring 10 points and grabbing seven rebounds, five offensive.

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Andrew Nembhard provides more solid work at point

Second-year guard Andrew Nembhard has had to step in and start in Haliburton’s absence and he had to carry an even greater burden on Sunday with veteran backup T.J. McConnell out for family reasons. He played 37 minutes, as the Pacers used wings Buddy Hield and Ben Sheppard to handle the ball when he had to take a breather.

It wasn’t Nembhard’s most efficient performance but it was another in a string of strong ones. He scored 16 points on 5 of 14 shooting and dished out nine assists against just one turnover.

It was Nembhard’s fourth straight game in double figure scoring. In that stretch he’s averaging 18.0 points and 8.0 assists per game and shooting 30 of 54 (55.6%) from the floor.

“He made key plays down the stretch again,” Carlisle said. “His numbers don’t look super gaudy. Sixteen and nine, those are good numbers. But he scored in traffic one time. He made the pass to Sticks for a dunk one time. He was tough defensively the whole game. … He was terrific.”

Pacers stats vs. Grizzlies

MEMPHIS (110): Aldama 4-11 0-0 10, Williams Jr. 8-12 2-4 20, Jackson Jr. 7-17 11-12 25, Konchar 4-5 0-0 9, Roddy 5-13 2-2 14, G.Jackson 6-9 4-5 18, Tillman 0-3 3-6 3, Williams 2-6 0-0 4, Gilyard 1-1 0-0 3, Pippen Jr. 1-5 1-2 4. Totals 38-82 23-31 110.

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INDIANA (116): Nesmith 6-11 2-3 16, Siakam 8-13 3-3 19, Smith 8-13 0-0 19, Hield 1-8 0-0 3, Nembhard 5-14 4-4 16, I.Jackson 4-6 2-2 10, Toppin 1-5 1-1 3, Mathurin 9-14 3-3 24, Sheppard 2-6 0-0 6. Totals 44-90 15-16 116.

MEM 27 26 29 28 — 110

IND 23 28 41 24 — 116

3-Point Goals—Memphis 11-30 (Williams Jr. 2-3, G.Jackson 2-4, Aldama 2-5, Roddy 2-7, Gilyard 1-1, Konchar 1-2, Pippen Jr. 1-2, Jackson Jr. 0-3, Williams 0-3), Indiana 13-35 (Mathurin 3-5, Smith 3-6, Sheppard 2-4, Nembhard 2-5, Nesmith 2-6, Hield 1-4, I.Jackson 0-1, Siakam 0-2, Toppin 0-2). Fouled Out_None. Rebounds_Memphis 45 (Williams Jr. 8), Indiana 44 (Smith 10). Assists_Memphis 20 (Jackson Jr., Konchar, Pippen Jr. 4), Indiana 31 (Nembhard 9). Total Fouls_Memphis 20, Indiana 26. A_16,519 (20,000)



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Indianapolis, IN

1 dead, 3 others injured in shooting on Indy’s northwest side

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1 dead, 3 others injured in shooting on Indy’s northwest side


INDIANAPOLIS — IMPD is investigating a fight that resulted in a shooting that killed one person and injured three others on the northwest side of Indianapolis Thursday night.

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers responded to the 2800 block of Questend Dr. South on reports of a person shot just before 9:30 p.m.

Upon arrival, officers located three victims who had been shot. The victims were transported to a hospital where one, identified as an adult female, was pronounced dead and the other two, identified as adult males, remain in stable condition.

A short time later, IMPD responded to Eskenazi Hospital on reports of a person shot. It was determined the victim, identified as an adult male, was injured in the shooting and is in stable condition.

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IMPD says a suspect is in custody.

Two other people were transported from the scene with minor injuries.





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Indianapolis, IN

Friday rain chance leads way to tolerable conditions this weekend

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Friday rain chance leads way to tolerable conditions this weekend


INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Beneficial rainfall greeted us through our Thursday morning, but some areas did have local flooding due to the heavy rain rates. It has also remained very muggy.

We’re looking to eventually quiet things down as we head into the first weekend of July with a drop-off in humidity.

Thursday night: Scattered showers and storms will be in the process of moving out as we get near sunset. This will be just in time for the main Fourth of July festivities to take place without weather issues.

Lows will fall into the low 70s once again like last night.

Friday: More scattered showers and storms will be possible for the morning and early afternoon hours of your Friday. Severe weather is not expected for us as well. A front will be sliding through our area by early Friday afternoon, which will cause winds to turn a little breezy through the evening hours.

This will also decrease cloud cover and knock our muggy meter down a bit to being just above the discomfort line. Dew point values will be in the 70s into early Friday afternoon before they drop to the low 60s by Friday evening.

Highs will rise into the low to mid 80s.

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Saturday: The first half of this weekend won’t be too shabby weather wise. Plenty of sunshine and dry conditions will help make it a fairly decent day with highs in the 80s. Humidity values will also remain just above the discomfort line for Saturday.

8-Day Forecast: Slightly uncomfortable humidity values will stay in place through Sunday with highs pushing into the mid 80s. More rain and storm chances are ahead for the first half of next week. Temperatures look to hover near normal for much of next week.



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Love for Christ calls father and son to ordained ministry in Indianapolis Archdiocese – The Record Newspaper

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Love for Christ calls father and son to ordained ministry in Indianapolis Archdiocese – The Record Newspaper


Deacon Liam Hosty and his father, Deacon Tom Hosty, processed out of St. Barnabas Church in Indianapolis April 27 after a Mass during which Deacon Liam was ordained. They are the first father and son to be deacons in the history of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. Deacon Tom Hosty was ordained in 2022. (OSV News photo/Sean Gallagher, The Criterion)

By Sean Gallagher, OSV News

INDIANAPOLIS — This spring Deacon Tom Hosty and his son Liam made history, becoming the first father and son to both be deacons at the same time in the 190-year history of the Catholic Church in central and southern Indiana.

Deacon Tom, 60, was ordained a permanent deacon for the Indianapolis Archdiocese in 2022, and Liam, 26, was ordained a transitional deacon as an archdiocesan seminarian April 27 at St. Barnabas Church in Indianapolis, with his ordination to the priesthood expected to happen in June of 2025.

Ahead of Liam’s ordination, in a March interview with The Criterion, the archdiocesan newspaper, neither of them had given much thought to the history they were making. Their hearts and minds were focused instead on matters that were more important to them — their relationship as father and son and their shared desire to serve Christ and the church.

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“It’s a beautiful thing,” said Deacon Tom, director of the archdiocesan Department of Pastoral Ministries. “It’s all in God’s control. There must be a reason that he’s calling the two of us to holy orders. … It’s just complete providence.”

“My dad is always going to be my dad,” said Liam. “But it’s neat to almost see him as a peer and a brother in a certain way, a brother in Christ, a co-worker in the vineyard.”

The paths that father and son have taken to their call to ordained ministry can be traced back to 1999, when the family moved from Kansas City, Kansas, to Indianapolis, where Deacon Tom was transferred in his work as an attorney at NCAA headquarters in its enforcement division.

The family soon became members of St. Barnabas Parish on Indianapolis’ southside. Liam was a toddler at the time, Deacon Tom and wife Julie’s fourth child. A fifth would be born later.

Looking back 25 years later, Julie sees the hand of God guiding her family to St. Barnabas.

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“It was divine providence,” she said. “We were provided with so many opportunities and surrounded by really amazing faith-filled people that just inspired us. They were our role models. We wanted to do better. We were very blessed.”

Deacon Tom experienced a turning point in his life of faith in 2003 when he participated in a Christ Renews His Parish retreat at St. Barnabas.

“That’s really when I had for the first time a personal relationship with Christ,” he recalled. “That’s when I drew close to Christ and began diving into Scripture a lot.”

His blossoming faith made an impression on his young son.

“It was really evident when I was a kid that Jesus was a real person because my dad had a relationship with him,” Liam said. “There’s no on and off switch for my dad. Whenever he rests, he’s resting with the Lord. Whenever he’s working, he’s working with the Lord. I saw that.”

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Deacon Tom and Julie sought to share their faith not only with their five children, but also with other young people at St. Barnabas. As their own children prepared for the sacrament of confirmation, the parents hosted monthly meetings of small groups of the parish’s teenagers at their home to lead them in their sacramental formation.

Liam regularly saw in these meetings in his own home how important the faith was to his parents.

“Our household was imbued with the sense that our faith was not something we do just on Sunday,” he said. “It’s part of our identity. We’re Catholic Christians.”

When he became a student at Roncalli High School in Indianapolis in 2012, Liam would talk with his dad about what he was learning in his theology classes and how much he was interested in them.

“He had a deep understanding of Catholic theology,” Deacon Tom recalled. “I would have to go and explore it myself. How did he know all this? He was smarter than I was in those things. It was cool to see as a dad.”

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As Liam’s time at Roncalli progressed, so did his thoughts about God possibly calling him to be a priest.

“He was pretty open about it,” Deacon Tom said. “Even in high school, he was really being serious about his own discernment.”

As Liam became a seminarian at Bishop Simon Bruté College Seminary in Indianapolis
in the fall of 2016, Deacon Tom was considering his own possible call to the diaconate.

He had been thinking about it privately for a few years. In 2017, he began the application process to be accepted into the archdiocese’s deacon formation program. He was accepted and began his formation in 2018 when Liam was in his second year at Bishop Bruté.

“It was a very personal call,” Deacon Tom said of his discernment. “I did not want to influence him. And I didn’t want his vocation to influence mine. I needed to understand what God was calling me to do.”

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For his part, Liam is grateful for his parents always being in his corner, yet also giving him the space he needed for his consideration of his vocation.

“They have an unconditional love and support for me,” he said. “It has been constant through my childhood and during my discernment.”

Julie has been a constant with Deacon Tom and Liam in their respective discernments. While her husband admires the deep faith he has seen in her throughout their 35 years of marriage, Julie was quick to say with a laugh that her husband and son were called to ordained ministry “in spite of me, in spite of my failings.”

“They’re very inspiring to me,” she said. “I do feel that, because of them, my faith is stronger. They’re both just pretty amazing — in their faith and the way they serve others. The servant heart that both of them have is very inspiring to me.”

The bond of Deacon Tom and Liam deepened in the four years from 2018-22 when both were in formation for ordained ministry. That bond has only strengthened since Deacon Tom’s ordination in 2022.

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Their common experience of formation gives them a bond that brings them together in ways they can’t share with others who haven’t gone down the same path.

It went beyond just talking about their experiences to praying together, along with Julie. In their times together at home, they prayed together the Liturgy of the Hours, something that all who are ordained promise at their ordination to do for the rest of their lives.

Liam was ordained a transitional deacon April 27 at St. Barnabas Church in Indianapolis. At the beginning of the rite, as part of the church’s ordination ritual that goes back centuries, a person representing the church calls forward those to be ordained by name.

This symbolic action became personal and poignant for father and son.

Deacon Tom called forth his son.

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“Let the one who is to be ordained a deacon come forth,” he said.

He paused for about 10 seconds, working to gain hold of his overflowing emotions before he finally added, “Liam James Hosty.”

After the ordination Mass, Deacon Tom spoke about the emotions he felt.

“It was a powerful moment to announce to the community that he was being called forward to be ordained a deacon,” he told The Criterion. “It’s unique for a parent to have that role in the rite.”

“It was a beautiful moment to see how much love my dad has for me and how proud he is of me,” added Deacon Liam. “I’m proud of my dad, too. He’s also laid down his life for the Gospel. I hope to do the same.”

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