At least for one night folks in Bloomington had more on their mind than a golf course controversy, the heartbreaking Indiana University loss at Michigan State or whether the mayor is headed to state government.
On this Friday night the whole town seemed to be in Bloomington South's gym. And what a spectacle it was, as more than 3,000 fans jammed the BHSS gym for a clash between South and Bloomington North.
Third-ranked North, the state's second stingiest defensive team, proved it was the superior team during the regular season this year. North smothered South's perimeter game and registered a 62-44 Conference Indiana 4-A basketball victory before a standing-room-only crowd.
The Cougars (4-0, 9-0) limited the fourth-ranked Panthers (3-1, 11-1) to 20-percent shooting in the first half. That enabled North to build a 35-18 halftime lead. The Cougars shot 67 percent from the field in the opening half.
"Early on we shot well and they didn't, and that was the difference," said North coach Tom McKinney.
For the game South would finish at 30 percent. North cooled in the second half and shot 47 percent for the game.
Although South climbed within 11 early in the fourth quarter, the Panthers were unable to mount a rally that threatened the Cougars' lead in the final half.
Senior Jared Jeffries led North with 24 points, 17 rebounds, four assists, three blocked shots and a steal.
"We were really motivated to put last year behind us," Jeffries said of an embarrassing loss to the Panthers last season. "I don't think we could be more motivated for a game, unless it's the state championship."
The Panthers won the 1999 game 75-47.
South guard standout Kyle Hankins was held to five points by the Cougars' guards. Hankins entered with a 16-point average. He had one of those nights where he was just a centimeter or so off on each shot. Several times in the second half he was left shaking his head after the ball just rimmed out. He finished 2 of 13 from the field and 1 of 8 from behind the arc.
"The key to our whole team is our guards," Jeffries added. "We have excellent guards and they set the tone for how we play. The get the ball to the right people and apply excellent ball pressure."
Senior Matt Kalua started on Hankins and freshman Errek Suhr had the second crack at him in North's guard rotation. Fellow guards Scott May and Kelvin Boatner also smothered South's perimeter game. The smaller Panthers rely on their guards and forwards to shoot the trey and in the first half they made only 2 of 12 from behind the arc. They finished just 5 of 21 on three-pointers (23 percent).
Offensively, Jeffries got plenty of help from senior forward Mike Bridgwaters, who had 14 points. Bridgwaters also had four boards. Meanwhile, the four North guards combined for 22 points.
Jeffries finished with a 6-of-12 shooting night from the field. He consistently got the ball inside in North's motion offense and was fouled. The Indiana University signee made 12 of 13 from the line. He has three turnovers.
North's McKinney warned not to make too much of one regular-season game.
"For 24 of 25 minutes we played as well as we could," McKinney said. "It was a big conference win, but I told our boys not to celebrate too much. The history of the series is the team that loses (this game) has broken the other team's heart in the sectional."
Bloomington North and South could meet again in the IHSAA 4-A sectionals at Columbus North. Also in that sectional are Center Grove, Columbus East, Greenwood and host Columbus North.
South was led by senior center Scott Fisher, who finished with 14 points before fouling out with 4:01 left in the game. Teammate Reed Carmichael added 10 and J.C. Hulls scored all nine of his points in the second half.
North got a little sloppy in the second half and finished with 15 turnovers. South had 10 turnovers.
North travels to Martinsville next Friday night. South hosts Perry Meridian next Saturday.
The Cougars won the jayvee game 55-48. Mike Davis led North with 17 points. Dustin Krebbs added 11. Bil Duany had four blocked shots.
Game notes -- The sellout crowd began lining up outside the South gym at 3:30 p.m. ... Sophomore Sean May had only six points before fouling out, but May helped Jeffries dominate the boards. May finished with seven boards. He and Jeffries outrebounded South all by themselves. North won the board battle 41-19, and the Jeffries-May combination had 24 themselves ... Indiana University players Lynn Washington, Jeffrey Newton and George Leach were in attendance along with IU head coach Bob Knight and assistant coach Mike Davis, whose son plays for North ... Former Bloomington Herald-Times sports editor Bob Hammel was also there. Hammel is now the color commentator for the Hoosier radio network ... Also on hand were former IU players John Lazkowski, Cam Cameron and Scott May, who has two sons on the North team. Cameron coaches the IU football team. Lazkowski works for ESPN Plus and does the IU pre-game and post-game shows for Channel 4 ... Mike Davis' son, a freshman, also scored a basket in the varsity game, on the game's final play ... The crowd was so dense that the public address announcer repeatedly had to remind fans where the gym's exits are located ... Overflow crowd was able to see the game on closed-circuit TV in the South auditorium ... In addition to his three blocks, Jared Jeffries rushed or changed three shots ... South actually scored six more points than what North had been allowing in its first eight games ... Jeffries scored just one below his 25-point average ... Bloomington North is rated first in Jeff Sagarin's computer ratings. South is fourth ... Pike coach Alan Darner was impressed by North. Darner was scouting since his team had a rare Friday night off ... Also in attendance was Indiana All-Star game director Pat Aikman ... The South athletic department conservatively estimated that it turned away more than 3,000 fans for the game because of space limitation. One Conference Indiana assistant coach scouting the game used a little hyperbole when he said he felt liked he had to park in Bedford.
© 2000 dbulla@indiana.edu