South Bend Adams boys basketball fall to rival Riley amid Chad Johnston allegations

SOUTH BEND — In its first game without head coach Chad Johnston, the South Bend Adams boys basketball team fell at home to South Bend Riley, 78-63, marking the team's fifth consecutive loss.

Friday's contest came in the wake of allegations reported by The Tribune earlier in the day regarding Johnston, the sixth-year head coach, being placed on administrative leave due to an alleged off-court incident with a player following a game at New Prairie on Feb. 10.

Johnston, last year's Indiana All-Star Team coach, presided over the following two Adams' games on Feb. 11 at Andrean and Feb. 14 at Mishawaka.

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Johnston was placed on leave after failing to attend a scheduled meeting Thursday with the parents of the player involved in the alleged altercation, according to a source with direct knowledge of the situation.

Erin Wagler, a spokesperson for the South Bend Community School Corp said Friday there is an on-going investigation regarding Johnston's situation and declined to offer further details.

As of Friday night, Johnston has yet to respond to phone call by The Tribune.

The Eagles were coached Friday by assistant Brady Bechtel, a former standout player at Goshen who said the team has been focusing on practicing hard and getting better in Johnston's absence.

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"We got one regular season game left and then sectionals," Bechtel said. "We have a goal to make a run in the tournament and get a sectional title, so we are going to keep working toward that."

All Adams players listed on its varsity roster were dressed for Friday's game, which was dominated by Riley's Marvin Schindler and Mancell Hill

The duo combined for 39 points, 22 by Schindler and 17 by Harris.

"He came out the gates firing," Riley head coach Alex Daniel said. "I thought we were going to have to hold him back some but he was ready to go."

The Wildcats have won five of their past seven games, and are riding their first three-game winning streak into Tuesday's regular-season finale at Bowman Academy.

"We are playing well," Daniel said. "We have to find a way to keep it going. We haven't been on a sequence of wins this year, but no better time to do it."

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Adams boys basketball falls to Riley amid Chad Johnston allegations