February 29, 2012
North marches on; South bows out of sectional after loss to Martinsville Andy Amey The Tribune-Star BRAZIL, Ind. — Martinsville dominated. Terre Haute North — thanks to a gutty effort by the host team — merely survived. But the effect was the same for both high school basketball teams Tuesday night at the Class 4A Northview Sectional, sending them to Friday’s semifinals. Martinsville, an 80-59 winner over Terre Haute South, will meet Mooresville then and North, a 62-51 victor over the Knights, takes on Plainfield. “The theme of postseason sometimes is survive and move on,” coach Todd Woelfle of the Patriots said after the game. “Give Northview credit; I thought [the Knights] played really well.” One of the things Northview did best Tuesday was stay patient and stick with its game plan, even though North had taken a nine-point lead before the first quarter was over, had a 10-point advantage early in the second period and led 32-24 at halftime. “We didn’t panic when we got down 10,” coach Ernie Maesch of the Knights noted. Baskets by Craig Peters and Damon Hyatt to open the third quarter cut that eight-point lead in half, however, and the Patriots were suddenly being threatened. After a North basket by Calvin Blank, Hyatt connected for a 3-pointer that cut the lead to 34-31. North got six straight points, four by Matt O’Leary, but the Knights weren’t done. Peters was fouled on a long shot, sinking all three free throws, then added a 3-pointer. Daniel Kimball hit a free throw with 2:07 left in the third quarter and Northview was within 40-38. Five more points by O’Leary stretched the lead to seven, and Dillon Reynolds scored for Northview. Then, with the third-quarter clock winding down, North’s Casey Vickers had to launch a desperation 25-footer — and drilled it, ending the quarter with the same eight-point margin that it started with. “That 3-pointer by Vickers? Oh, did that kill us,” Maesch said later. “That was a big play in the game,” Woelfle agreed, “and this time of year it takes a little luck … I was proud of our guys, after Northview got within two, that we maintained our composure. We had good, veteran leadership on the court, and A.J. Grady and Casey Vickers gave us good minutes [off the bench] tonight.” North got the first two baskets of the fourth quarter to go up by 12, and the Knights never got closer than 10 again. At 54-44, Ross Sponsler scored eight straight North points to seal the outcome.
“We played as well defensively as we played all year,” Maesch said after the game. “We prepared very hard for Terre Haute North … we tried to grind it out in man defense [after playing zone much of the season], and I thought we did a good job knowing who [among the Patriots] could shoot. “The score got too high,” the coach added. “We wanted to make [the Patriots] play defense a long time and score off their mistakes.” O’Leary still had a game-high 20 points for North, nine in the crucial third quarter, and handed out five assists. “O’Leary is just difficult to guard,” Maesch noted. “Because he’s so long, he can score in some awkward ways.” Northview, which shot 60 percent from the field despite a respectable defensive effort by the Patriots, belongs in that boat too, according to Woelfle. “Their stuff is hard to guard,” the North coach said in admiration. Blank added 15 points, Sponsler 14 and Austin Lewis had six assists for North. Reynolds had 16, 12 in the first half, to lead Northview and Hyatt added 10. Those are two of five seniors who ended their Northview careers Tuesday, the others being Jacob Ninesling, Bryant Pestoff and Chance Talbot. “They’ve been a great bunch, the nicest kids I’ve ever coached,” Maesch said. “Throughout their careers they’ve dealt with injuries, they’ve kept great attitudes — I wouldn’t trade them for anybody.” Coach Scott Ridge of South was also saying goodbye to his seniors after the Braves got just one field goal in the first quarter Tuesday and never caught up. That 1-for-9 shooting performance in the first eight minutes had South down just 10-4 thanks to a physical defensive effort, and even though Martinsville started to pull away in the second period the Braves crept back within 21-14 on two free throws by Jermaine Smith and a 3-pointer by Jeffrey Turner. Martinsville responded with eight in a row to take a 15-point lead, but South got back-to-back 3pointers from Turner and Danny Etling to get within 29-20. The Braves had the ball in the final seconds of the half with a chance to get even closer, but a steal by Martinsville’s Noah Davis set up a layup with three seconds left to give the Artesians a 31-20 lead at the break. South tried to pick up the pace even more in the second half, but the Artesians — even without starting point guard Seth Dow — proved they could play at any speed. They gradually pulled away, and put the game out of reach with eight straight points for a 66-40 margin early in the fourth quarter.
“We wanted it to be a fast game,” Ridge agreed, “but that’s a really smart, experienced, well coached team … and we came out cold, and the last thing we wanted was to get behind a patient team like that [The Artesians] are too good a decision-makers to take the [defensive] chances we had to take.” Turner had a game-high 24 points and Jermaine Smith 15 for the Braves with Turner adding six rebounds. Jason Ray, Martinsville’s 6-foot-8 center, had 23 points and a game-high eight rebounds for the winners, who didn’t miss Dow thanks to the efforts of Davis and Aaron Tincher. Davis made his first varsity start, Tincher came off the bench, and the two sophomores played with poise and combined for 19 points, 10 assists and six steals. Five South seniors — Jermaine Smith, Austin England, Holden Smith, Monte Stevenson and Lucas Steward — saw their last action as Braves; a sixth, Ian Long, was not in uniform Tuesday. “They’ve been a great group to work with and are such good kids,” Ridge said. “They’ve been polite, courteous, well behaved and showed a lot of character. I feel bad they didn’t get as many wins as they deserved.”
TERRE HAUTE SOUTH (59) — Turner 8-16 4-4 24, J.Smith 4-13 4-5 15, Lu.Steward 0-3 1-2 1, Stevenson 1-3 3-4 6, H.Smith 1-1 0-0 2, Etling 3-4 0-0 9, Benford 0-1 0-0 0, Tofaute 0-0 0-0 0, Gregory 0-2 0-0 0, England 1-1 0-1 2, Tanoos 0-0 0-0 0, Lo.Steward 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-44 FG, 12-16 FT, 59 TP. MARTINSVILLE (80) — Cazee 3-4 2-3 8, Barker 2-5 1-2 6, Ray 9-16 4-4 23, Spina 4-5 0-0 8, Davis 2-3 0-0 5, Tincher 4-5 4-4 14, LaRue 2-5 1-2 5, Johnson 3-4 0-0 7, Myers 0-0 0-0 0, Stropes 1-1 2-2 4. Totals 30-48 FG, 14-17 FT, 80 TP. TH South
4
16
Martinsville 10
17 22 21
23
— 26
59 —
80
3-point shooting — THS 11-25 (Turner 4-9, Etling 3-4, J.Smith 3-7, Stevenson 1-2, Benford 0-1, Gregory 0-2), Martinsville 6-14 (Tincher 2-3, Barker 1-2, Davis 1-2, Johnson 1-2, Ray 1-3, Spina 0-1, LaRue 0-1). Total fouls — THS 19, Martinsville 12. Fouled out — Lu.Steward. Turnovers — THS 18, Martinsville 19. Rebounds — THS 17 (Turner 6), Martinsville 34 (Ray 8, Barker 7). Assists — THS 13 (Turner 2, Lu.Steward 2, Stevenson 2, Tanoos 2), Martinsville 23 (Tincher 6, Spina 4, Barker 4, Davis 4). Steals — THS 14 (Stevenson 5, Tofaute 3), Martinsville 15 (Spina 4, Davis 4, LaRue 4). Blocks — THS 2 (Tofaute, Turner), Martinsville 1 (LaRue).
NORTHVIEW (51) — Peters 2-4 3-5 8, Ninesling 3-4 0-0 6, Pestoff 0-1 0-2 0, Reynolds 6-8 22 16, Hyatt 3-6 2-3 10, Mace 2-2 0-0 4, Ball 1-2 0-0 3, Kimball 0-1 1-2 1, Talbot 1-2 1-2 3, Clark 0-0 0-0 0, Ellis 0-0 0-0 0, Hakman 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-30 FG, 9-16 FT, 51 TP. TERRE HAUTE NORTH (62) — O’Leary 7-12 5-7 20, Lewis 3-5 0-0 6, Blank 6-11 1-4 15, Sponsler 5-13 1-2 14, Jahn 0-3 0-0 0, Grady 2-4 0-0 4, Davis 0-1 0-0 0, Vickers 1-1 0-0 3, Dillahunt 0-0 0-0 0, Low 0-0 0-0 0, Schenck 0-0 0-0 0, Hart 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-50 FG, 7-13 FT, 62 TP. Northview
10
14
16
11
—
51
TH North
17
15
16
14
—
62
3-point shooting — Northview 6-10 (Hyatt 2-3, Reynolds 2-4, Peters 1-1, Ball 1-2), THN 7-17 (Sponsler 3-6, Blank 2-3, Vickers 1-1, O’Leary 1-4, Davis 0-1, Jahn 0-2). Total fouls — Northview 15, THN 13. Fouled out — none. Turnovers — Northview 13, THN 6. Rebounds — Northview 20 (Pestoff 4, Hyatt 3), THN 31 (O’Leary 8, Sponsler 6, Lewis 6). Assists — Northview 12 (Ninesling 4), THN 19 (Lewis 6, O’Leary 5). Steals — Northview 4 (Peters 2, Ninesling, Clark), THN 4 (Grady, Vickers, O’Leary, Blank). Blocks — Northview 1 (Kimball), THN 1 (Blank). Next — Martinsville (19-2) plays Mooresville (17-3) at 6 p.m. Friday, followed by Terre Haute North (17-6) against Plainfield (1-19). Terre Haute South finished 8-15, Northview 8-14.
