MARTINSVILLE — Long after the final horn sounded, Jason Speer was still coaching.
Forgive him. It’s been nine years since a Bloomington North boys’ basketball player climbed a ladder to cut down the nets after a sectional championship.
Eventually, the Cougars got it sorted out, like they did all week in a punishing run that included three overtime periods the final two nights.
North scored just seven points in the second half, none in the last six minutes, giving rival Bloomington South every chance to win its eighth straight sectional title. But the shorthanded Panthers couldn’t muster enough offensively as North claimed a 32-28 overtime victory.
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It wasn’t tiring for the Cougars. It was invigorating.
“I think adrenalin really helped us,” North junior forward JaQualon Roberts said. “Having that rivalry we knew we were going to have to play hard, even harder than against Columbus North. It was just about winning that pushed us forward.”
It sends the Cougars (22-3) to the Seymour Regional for the first time since 2014 and a 10 a.m. rematch with Evansville North (16-10), which dispatched Harrison, 63-49.
After 36 minutes of hard-fought basketball, those little snippets of net meant a great deal to the Cougars.
“It’s great, especially senior year,” said North guard Nick Klaiber, who had seven of the Cougars’ eight points in the OT. “I couldn’t be more proud of this team.”
They earned it. They had to. South had too much pride to give it away.
“It’s a really good program win, North coach Jason Speer said. “With our sectional and South being so good for so long, they didn’t let go of it easy. They were so tough. We were tough and we made some plays down the stretch to pull it out.”
More shooting woes
The Panthers give up just 32 points, but scored their fewest points in a playoff game since its infamous 24-19 OT over North in the 1985 final.
South (19-8), missing leading scorer Brock Kincaid to injury, had every shot to win it. Several shots, but going 9-of-37 to North’s 9-of-35 was a wash, leaving North to win the battle at the free throw line, going 12-of-20.
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Gavin Wisley was South’s leading scorer with seven points (and seven rebounds), while Coleman Oliphant had six. No one made more than two buckets or two free throws.
Still, the Panthers had a good shot from Andrew Baran come up short at the end of regulation. Their last four possessions of the OT ended with a turnover, a missed 3, a made 3 and their final turnover with 2.7 seconds left to snap a 19-game sectional game win streak.
“It was a sample of our season,” South coach J.R. Holmes said. “We played really good defense. Played really hard and competed. But we were really inconsistent shooting and scoring the ball.
“We were giving up on our plays too soon and looking like we were disorganized. We just struggled offensively all year.”
Knowing that, he would have been perfectly happy skipping the first 31 minutes.
“If you had told us before the game you’d give us that scenario, I’d have taken it,” Holmes said. “I just hate it for the kids’ sake. They’re not super talented, but they are super good kids and they work hard.
“It’s a shame, because they put themselves in a position to win 20 games and a sectional. Some people were talking, it they win 10 games, that might be a good season. And we didn’t have our best player most of the season. It’s just bad luck.”
Relentless on defense
The Cougars leaned on their defense all week with 140 points getting the job done.
“We’ve been saying this during our winning streak here that our defense has been really solid,” Klaiber said. “We’re good on offense, too. But we know if we show up and play good team defense, that’s hard to beat.”
Roberts, who posted his third double-double of the week with 11 points and 10 rebounds, also had a handful of blocks, which made the Panthers think twice about continuing their drives.
North led just 26-25 in the OT when Roberts came up with a steal after a long possession, with 49 seconds left. Klaiber converted a 1-and-1 as a result with 35 seconds left.
Oliphant’s 3 was short with 10 seconds left and Klaiber went 2-of-2 for a 29-25 lead with 8.3 seconds left. Still, it wasn’t over. Kincaid checked in just to throw the inbounds pass watched as Baran raced to the other end and knocked in a 3 with 2.8 seconds left.
Klaiber was immediately fouled and converted both free throws for a 31-28 edge. Then South had its 10th turnover of the night when the inbounder stepped on the line scooting back and forth looking for an open player.
Bril Kante made just one of two at the line, but it was enough to let the Cougars finally exhale and then scream in joy and relief.
“Both teams played exceptional defense,” Speer said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever been a part of game where two teams were so evenly matched on the defensive end.
“Nobody gave an inch. We just had to make more plays than they did at the end. And that’s tournament basketball. Very grateful to win tonight.”
Too fine a line
North’s had to hang its hat on defense, especially when its offense began to sputter late the last two nights. Friday, it was turnovers. Saturday, it was trying to play too perfectly with the lead.
“I think a little bit,” Klaiber said. “We got up five or six and they weren’t pressuring us too much. I don’t want to say we were complacent, but we were trying to find a really good shot and that did throw us off a little bit on offense because we had been wanting to attack and getting some solid shots.”
His jumper with 3:00 to go gave North the lead for good.
“I thought that really gave us some momentum in the overtime period,” Klaiber said. “So I’m glad I hit it.”
It was almost deja vu to Friday night, when North stumbled to the finish of regulation against Columbus North and lost another lead in the first OT before vanquishing the Bull Dogs in the second.
North, which led 17-9 at half, went 3-of-16 in the second half and didn’t score in the final 6:06, setting up South’s rally.
“I think it was more they held themselves,” Holmes said. “They were up four in the third and it gave us a chance to be able to make a play. They missed a couple of shots and it put some pressure on them and they had a hard time getting back in their rhythm on offense.
“It almost backfired.”
Instead, North’s win streak is now 15 games, its best since the 2001-02 team started the season 18-0.
“It was going to be a dogfight,” Roberts said. “We knew that was going to be a dogfight last night. Had a hard game, double overtime against Columbus North. Get home, rest a little bit. We knew it was going to be a hard matchup.”
Contact Jim Gordillo at [email protected] and follow on Twitter @JimGordillo.
MARTINSVILLE SECTIONAL
BLOOMINGTON NORTH 32, BLOOMINGTON SOUTH 28 (OT)
Bloomington North (32)
Roberts f 3-9 3-5 10, Kante f 0-3 1-2 1, Klaiber g 4-13 7-9 15, Hoffman g 1-3 0-1 3, Fitch g 0-5 1-2 1, Vencel 1-2 0-1 2, Daniels 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 9-35 12-20 32.
Bloomington South (28)
Wisley f 2-7 2-2 7, Rochell f 2-6 1-2 5, Ransom f 0-1 0-0 0, Joyce g 1-7 2-2 4, Oliphant g 2-9 1-1 6, Johnson 0-1 0-2 0, Baran 2-5 1-2 6, Schultz 0-1 0-0 0, Schmitz 0-0 0-0 0, Kincaid 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 9-37 7-11 28.
Bloomington North (22-3) 6 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 8 — 32
Bloomington South (19-8) 4 | 5 | 9 | 6 | 4 — 28
3-point goals: Bloomington North 2-8 (Hoffman 1-1, Roberts 1-3, Klaiber 0-1, Fitch 0-1, Kante 0-2), Bloomington South 3-14 (Baran 1-2, Wisley 1-3, Oliphant 1-5, Ransom 0-1, Schultz 0-1, Joyce 0-2). Rebounds: Bloomington North 30 (Roberts 11, Klaiber 8), Blooomington South 32 (Wisley 7, Baran 6). Team fouls: Bloomington North 13, Bloomington South 20. Fouled out: Fitch, Oliphant, Joyce. Turnovers: Bloomington North 5, Bloomington South 10.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bloomington North scores OT win over Bloomington South in sectional title game
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