By Andy Amey
EVANSVILLE — A homecoming miracle was the last thing fans at Evansville Central were thinking about for more than three quarters of high school basketball Saturday night.
The only suspense appeared to involve whether John Michael Jarvis of visiting Terre Haute South would outscore the host Bears all by himself, a prospect still in the balance when he hit a pair of free throws for his 14th and 15th points that gave the Braves a 36-16 lead early in the fourth quarter.
Then the wheels threatened to come off for South, the Braves finally hanging on for a 46-39 win.
“We lacked a little poise — offensively and defensively — toward the end,” said coach Mike Saylor of South. “But I don’t want that to overshadow the very solid game we played for about 26 minutes.”
“Terre Haute South did whatever they wanted to do,” agreed coach Brent Chitty of Central.
After the Jarvis free throws, however, the Bears hit back-to-back 3-pointers. After another free throw by Jarvis, Central reserve Tyreece Strong scored six straight points and Alex Barker got a steal and added a free throw. Suddenly the lead was down to 37-29.
The Bears eventually got within 39-34 and had the ball, but Anthony McGill got a deflection that resulted in a steal for South and Ike Worrell, Jermaine Smith and Jarvis hit free throws.
“McGill had another real solid game,” Saylor said, “and Jarvis had a real good first half. [Jacob] Tanoos and Jarvis seemed to get a lot of rebounds.
“We knew we were in for a battle because Brent Chitty’s teams are always ready.”
The Braves did some of their best work on the defensive end. Evansville Central entered the fourth quarter shooting 22 percent from the field — and also 25 percent at the foul line.
“How many games have you seen teams win shooting free throws like that?” Chitty, whose team finished 7 for 20 at the line, asked afterward.
“You’ve got to hit free throws, block out and rebound. Teams that win are teams that hit free throws, block out, rebound and play good defense.”
Jarvis, held to one field goal Friday, got his first one Saturday just 12 seconds into the game, a layup on an alley-oop pass from McGill. He went on to score all 13 of his team’s points in the first quarter, his only miss a tip-in attempt near the end of the quarter.
Jarvis went two quarters without scoring, but his teammates began to step up. And Central cooperated by hitting just 1 of 13 shots in the second quarter and 2 of 7 in the third.
Jarvis led all scorers with 18 and also had nine rebounds, while McGill scored 11, Smith nine and Tanoos grabbed eight rebounds.
Sophomore Brienne Miles led Central with 12, Justin Ahlbrand had nine points and eight rebounds and Barker had nine rebounds.
“Terre Haute South has got a really nice team,” Chitty said. “The Jarvis kid — his attitude, his approach to the game — I think if I was a college coach I would have to get on him. I really like that kid; he sets the table for that team.”
