Tyler Zeller’s last appearance at the Hatchet House finished up like just like almost all of the rest of the home appearance during his record setting career did — with a win, and with Zeller making the big plays to help secure the win.

The Indiana Junior All-Stars saw a late lead slip away as Zeller and the Senior All-Stars claimed a 93-91 win in the first of two exhibition games before a good crowd in a sweltering Hatchet House on Monday.

Zeller had a quiet first half but a strong second half, finishing with 19 points and a team high 15 rebounds. The Senior All-Stars trailed late in the second half but a pair of Zeller free throws gave the Seniors the lead for good with just under two minutes to play. Zeller then blocked a shot on the other end — one of four blocks for Indiana’s Mr. Basketball on the night — to help stave off a Junior All-Star rally.

Thus Zeller went out a winner on his former home court. After the game, Zeller said his focus was simply on winning against a good Junior squad that gave the Senior All-Stars everything they wanted in preparation for the games against the Kentucky All-Stars on Friday in Indianapolis and Sunday in Louisville.

“Actually, I wasn’t thinking about that. I was just thinking about winning. You’ve got to go out and try to win every game, and I just went out and did everything I could to try and win” said Zeller. “They (Junior All-Stars) are a great team. I’ve played against them or watched them on their AAU teams. I’ve seen them all play, and they’re very good.”

Zeller’s familiarity with his own teammates on the Senior All-Stars has helped the team come together quickly. The Senior All-Stars only gathered for camp this past Saturday, giving them one week to prepare to face Kentucky.

“Team chemistry is really good right now because we know each other so well, we know what we can do, we know we can play together,” said Zeller.

Early in the game on Monday, Zeller found the going tough against a Junior team which collapsed one or even two perimeter players on him each time he got the ball in the low post. But as the game wore on Zeller adjusted, and the North Carolina recruit tallied 12 points and 11 boards in the second half alone.

“You just have to learn to adjust. I was being really aggressive in the beginning, then I realized what they were doing and I had to adjust and try to do something different,” said Zeller, who played at team high 28 minutes for the Senior All-Stars.

Alex Young of Indianapolis Northwest led the Senior All-Stars with 24 points and also pulled down 13 boards. Chase Stigall of New Castle also reached double digits with 15 points. Patrick Bade of Franklin Central led the Junior All-Stars with 24 points.