12 31 2011

December 31, 2011 WVC: Terre Haute North holds off Sullivan for fifth title in 9 years Andy Amey The Tribune-Star TERRE...

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December 31, 2011

WVC: Terre Haute North holds off Sullivan for fifth title in 9 years Andy Amey The Tribune-Star TERRE HAUTE — Terre Haute North won the defensive battle — on both ends of the court — and with it the Pizza Hut Wabash Valley Classic championship in high school basketball Friday night with a 57-44 victory over Sullivan on the Jim Jones Court in North’s gym. The Patriots held the Golden Arrows to 31-percent shooting from the field and never trailed after two free throws by Calvin Blank with 2:35 left in the first half put the Patriots ahead 16-15. Just as importantly — maybe more so, in fact — the Patriots never buckled against a Sullivan full-court press that had set up numerous back-breaking surges for the Arrows in their previous three Classic games. “That’s one of [the Arrows’] strengths,” coach Todd Woelfle of the Patriots said after the game, “they hurt people with their full-court press ... but I thought we handled it very well. It was a team effort.” “Terre Haute North is used to pressure [against it defensively],” coach Jeff Moore of Sullivan noted. “I’m sure they see teams far quicker than us. We didn’t get anything out of our defense like we usually do ... [the Patriots] made it a half-court game.” As far as North’s defense was concerned, the Patriots had several big bodies to throw at Sullivan’s Rhett Smith. Although the Indiana State-bound Smith finished with game-high totals of 18 points and 10 rebounds, it took him 23 field goal attempts to reach those totals. “It was a total team effort on him,” said Woelfle. “We rotated guys to try to wear him down. We really made him work for everything he got.” There was a tie plus eight lead changes before Blank’s free throws put North ahead to stay. When Austin Lewis followed with a 3-pointer, the Patriots became the first team to have more than a one-possession lead, and it was 21-17 in North’s favor at halftime. SULLIVAN (44) — Lisman 1-7 0-0 2, Turner 0-2 2-2 2, Smith 6-23 5-9 18, K.Pirtle 2-6 2-3 6, Marx 0-0 2-2 2, Weszely 2-3 0-0 5, Ellett 2-3 1-2 5, Bement 2-3 0-0 4. Totals 15-48 FG, 12-18 FT, 44 TP. TERRE HAUTE NORTH (57) — O’Leary 5-13 0-0 12, Lewis 7-9 2-4 17, Blank 2-4 3-4 9, Sponsler 3-8 7-9 13, Jahn 0-2 3-4 3, Vickers 0-1 0-0 0, Davis 1-3 0-0 2, Grady 0-0 0-0 0, Dillahunt 0-0 0-0 0, Paul-Bonham 0-0 0-0 0, Schenck 0-0 1-2 1, Low 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-41 FG, 16-23 FT, 57 TP. Sullivan 5

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3-point shooting — Sullivan 2-11 (Weszely 1-1, Smith 1-5, Pirtle 0-1, Lisman 0-2, Turner 0-2), THN 5-15 (Blank 2-4, O’Leary 2-6, Lewis 1-2, Jahn 0-1, Sponsler 0-2). Total fouls — Sullivan 22, THN 18. Fouled out — Turner, O’Leary. Turnovers — Sullivan 14, THN 13. Rebounds — Sullivan 37 (Smith 10, Lisman 6), THN 32 (O’Leary 8, Sponsler 8, Blank 7). Assists — Sullivan 8 (Smith 3, Turner 2), THN 13 (O’Leary 3, Sponsler 3, Lewis 2, Blank 2, Jahn 2). Steals — Sullivan 4 (Ellett, Bement, Lisman, Smith), THN 9 (Lewis 3, Jahn 3). Blocks — Sullivan 3 (Smith 2), THN 7 (O’Leary 4, Blank 2). Next — Terre Haute North (9-2) hosts Evansville North on Jan. 7. Sullivan (11-1) plays Friday at Bloomfield. “We had a lot of opportunities.” said Moore after the game, “We were usually able to get the ball where we wanted ... but we didn’t finish very well and we missed some key free throws at times. Give a lot of credit to Terre Haute North. Defensively they were pretty good.” Sullivan was within 24-23 early in the third quarter after Smith hit back-to-back baskets and was threatening to go on a roll. But North’s Matt O’Leary, the other Division I recruit (Loyola of Chicago) in the game, stepped up at that point with eight points — including back-to-back 3pointers — and three blocked shots as the Patriots went on a 13-3 run for a 37-26 lead. Twice after that Sullivan got within nine, but no closer. Lewis wound up as North’s leading scorer with 17 points, while Ross Sponsler added 13 and O’Leary 12. Blank scored nine, and he, O’Leary and Sponsler combined for 22 rebounds. “I just came out here and [my teammates] gave me the ball in good spots,” said Lewis, who probably wouldn’t be considered his team’s first option offensively. “Our role players really stepped up huge, especially on the offensive end,” O’Leary noted, “and we contained their big guy very well.” O’Leary’s unheralded contribution came against the Sullivan press. At 6-foot-8, he was readily available to take the in-bounds pass and get his team’s offense started. “I was using my height,” he said after the game. “[Sullivan’s press] is what teams have been struggling against all season, but we didn’t struggle at all.” Smith didn’t get as much offensive help from the rest of the Arrows, although Bryce Bement gave Sullivan a lift early with its first two field goals — he’s not often an offensive option either — and Brooks Weszely and Lance Ellett hit some big shots off the bench. Kaleb Pirtle was Sullivan’s second-leading scorer for the night, but with just six points. “We worked all summer and put in a lot of time for this,” said Lewis said. “It feels great to get a championship [North’s second in a row] out of it.”

For the Arrows, most of whom had been part of a championship team on the same court two seasons ago, it was a disappointing night — although only Sullivan’s first loss of the season. “We need to play teams like this,” Moore said. “This can only make us better ... Terre Haute North is a very good basketball team, and we came up short today.” Smith and teammate James Lisman joined O’Leary and Blank on the all-tournament team, and Blank’s physical play helped his team through some rough stretches in earlier Classic games. “I did what I had to do for our team to win — screen, rebound ... it was a good effort by the entire team,” Blank said. Other all-tournament team members are Jacob Duncan of third-place Marshall, Jordan Houser of fourth-place West Vigo, Brandon Wolfe of fifth-place Casey, Jeffrey Turner of consolationbracket champion Terre Haute South plus Austin Karazsia of Linton and Lane Mahurin of Rockville.