TERRE HAUTE — Each high school basketball team had a four-minute scoring drought Saturday night at Terre Haute South, and one might have expected the Braves’ dry spell to hurt worse.
It came early, enabling highly regarded Brownsburg to go from a 7-7 tie to a 20-7 lead, and if the Braves’ egos were fragile at all after two straight sub-.500 seasons it wouldn’t have been surprising to see some heads drop.
Instead, South clawed its way back to within two points before the half, forged three ties in the third quarter and took the lead — for good, as it turned out — in the last minute of that period. When Brownsburg’s four-minute drought occurred, right after 6-foot-8 Butler-bound Gordon Hayward had fouled out, it enabled the Braves to be on their way to a 72-55 win that looked like a blowout on paper.
“In the first half I thought our kids gutted it out through some foul trouble,” coach Joshua Kendrick said after the game, “but we were not making good decisions with the basketball.”
Foul trouble was not just an incidental factor for the visiting Bulldogs. Hayward saw less than 11 minutes of action before becoming the first of four Brownsburg players to foul out.
South nullified a lot of that advantage by missing 24 free throws — which might be a school record, along with the 55 attempts and the 31 free throws made, although no one was absolutely sure Saturday — and actually could have won even more easily.
“Terre Haute South did a great job switching defenses,” Kendrick said, “and thank goodness they didn’t shoot better from 3[-point range].”
“It was amazing how many steals and deflections we didn’t take advantage of,” coach Mike Saylor of the Braves said. “But other than that — and the free throws — it was a real nice game.”
It was also kind of a strange game, as you might have already guessed from some of the statistics mentioned. Brownsburg was already without its other Division I recruit — 6-8 Julian Mavunga has missed the Bulldogs’ first two games for a violation of athletic handbook policy, Kendrick said — yet for the first nine minutes looked like a team fully able to extend its season-opening winning streak against the Braves.
But after Jake Odum stopped South’s cold spell with a pull-up jumper that cut the lead to 20-9, it was game on for the home team. Twice in the second quarter South had 7-0 runs of its own, the first cutting the lead to 22-17 and the second slicing the margin to 26-24.
“We needed to go out and work harder on defense,” Zach Odum said later. “We were working hard in the first quarter, but then we kind of ran out of gas. But we went to half-court pressure and attacked [the Bulldogs’] small guards.”
“It felt like our team defensive intensity dropped [during the 13-0 Brownsburg run],” said Jake Odum, “and that didn’t allow us to force turnovers.”
“We had to bag what we were going into the game with [defensively],” Saylor said. “We went to a more aggressive style.”
What started working for the Braves was a half-court 3-2 look, out of which they either trapped or went man-to-man. And with Hayward basically useless after the first quarter — he got his third foul 16 seconds into the second quarter, returned for the third quarter and picked up his fourth foul after two minutes, then sat until the fourth quarter, fouling out with 7:18 to play — the Bulldogs had trouble finding someone to score.
South tied the score for the first time since 7-7 when Jake Odum got back-to-back baskets in the third quarter that made it 34-34.
Brownsburg scored four straight, but then John Michael Jarvis got a rebound basket and came up with a steal that set up Zach Odum’s dunk for a 38-38 tie.
A 3-pointer by Brownsburg’s J.T. Cosby was matched by Jake Odum, and then Blake Hall hit another 3-pointer for the visitors’ last lead at 44-41.
South got the last seven points of the third period — two more Jake Odum baskets, then a Jarvis 3-pointer. Hayward assisted on a basket by Austin Fish that cut the lead to 48-46 to start the fourth quarter, but then fouled out. And the Braves pulled away in agonizing fashion, missing 15 free throws down the stretch.
“I liked the spirit of the kids, the way they came out after halftime,” Saylor said later. “We’ve got a real competitive, smart group; they don’t know the meaning of quit.”
Jarvis and the Odum brothers had 19 points each for the Braves, and also combined for 15 rebounds and 14 steals. “That kind of speaks for itself,” Saylor said when hearing the stats. “They made key plays offensively and defensively.”
Cosby had 15 points and Hayward and Hall 10 each for Brownsburg. Hayward still led all rebounders with eight.
“We hope we can keep our energy and our defensive intensity up going on the road,” Zach Odum said. “That’s what’s winning games for us.”
Saylor also emphasized how pleased he was that South’s junior varsity was also a winner Saturday, noting the contributions of sophomores Bryn Schwartz and Chris Rose and freshman Anthony McGill.
Brownsburg 55
Player fg 3pt ft r s pf tp
Hayward 4-10 2-2 0-0 8 0 5 10
Hall 4-6 1-3 1-6 5 1 2 10
Watson 0-1 0-0 0-0 3 0 5 0
Fish 1-7 0-3 2-3 3 1 2 4
Nibbs 0-1 0-0 0-2 0 0 5 0
Cosby 5-12 1-3 4-4 4 0 5 15
Mason 1-3 0-0 1-1 3 1 4 3
Jankowski 2-6 0-4 5-8 5 1 3 9
Stevens 2-3 0-0 0-0 2 0 1 4
Calderon 0-3 0-3 0-0 2 1 4 0
Totals 19-52 4-18 13-24 *43 5 36 55
Terre Haute South 72
Player fg 3pt ft r s pf tp
Z.Odum 3-9 0-1 13-22 5 5 3 19
Barnett 1-2 0-1 2-2 3 1 4 4
Harlan 1-2 0-0 1-3 2 0 1 3
J.Odum 8-11 1-2 2-4 4 5 4 19
Jarvis 6-12 2-7 5-6 6 4 2 19
Tanoos 0-0 0-0 1-4 1 0 2 1
Shouse 0-1 0-1 3-4 2 0 0 3
Schwartz 0-2 0-1 0-0 1 0 2 0
Weaver 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0
Austin 0-0 0-0 1-2 3 0 1 1
Worrell 0-0 0-0 1-2 2 0 1 1
McGill 0-0 0-0 2-6 1 1 1 2
Totals 19-40 3-13 31-55 *46 16 22 72
Brownsburg 18 13 13 11 — 55
Terre Haute South 7 19 22 24 — 72
FG Pct. — Brownsburg .365, THS .475. 3-pt FG Pct. — Brownsburg .222, THS .231. FT Pct. — Brownsburg .542, THS .564. (*) Includes team rebounds — Brownsburg 8, THS 16. Turnovers — Brownsburg 22, THS 12. Assists — Brownsburg 10 (Cosby 3, Hayward 3), THS 9 (Z.Odum 3). Blocks — Brownsburg 1 (Jankowski), THS 2 (J.Odum 2).
JV — Terre Haute South 47 (Bryn Schwartz 17, Anthony McGill 13), Brownsburg 42 (Levi Roach 12).
Next games — South (1-0) plays Friday at Lawrence North. Brownsburg (0-2) has a home game that night against Fishers.
High School
Braves boys basketball starts season with big win
- High School
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It’s a rivalry-filled Memorial Day for sectional contenders
Longtime rivalries figure to determine high school baseball sectional champions throughout the Wabash Valley today, with semifinal and final games scheduled at four sites and a stand-alone championship game at a fifth.
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South tops Oldenburg to win tennis semistate
There was no evidence of rally caps, rally towels and certainly no rally squirrels, but Terre Haute South’s No. 1 singles player Maddie Kesler needed a rally in the worst way.
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New route leads to same place for South girls tennis
For so many years, the road to the IHSAA girls tennis state finals for local teams ran through Vincennes (regional) and Jasper (semistate). In other words, south and more south.
This year, their trip was re-routed through Greencastle (regional) and Center Grove (semistate). So it cnahged to east and more east. -
PREP ROUNDUP: Robinson tops Greenville in sectional semifinal
Robinson jumped to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning, then cruised to a convincing 12-3 victory over Greenville in a IHSA Class 2A Vandalia sectional semifinal game on Thursday.
Ashlyn Sullivan was 2 for 3 with a double, home run and three RBIs to lead the winning Maroons. -
West Vigo baseball falls in sectional to Owen Valley
West Vigo overcame the odds to win 20 high school baseball games this season with a lineup that often included four freshmen and few seniors.
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South Vermillion softball's late-season surge comes to end
A late-season surge by South Vermillion wasn’t quite enough to halt a high school softball sectional winning streak by the host team Thursday night, as Edgewood got on top early and held on for a 5-2 win in the championship game of the Class 3A Edgewood Sectional.
The loss was just the second in the last 12 games for the Wildcats. The Mustangs, however, haven’t lost a sectional softball game for eight years in a row. -
South takes second, North third at boys track regional
Terre Haute South finished second and Terre Haute North third on Thursday night at the boys track and field regional at Evansville Central, with 11 individuals and three relay teams qualifying for the state finals June 2.
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PREP ROUNDUP: White River Valley baseball holds off Eminence
Three Eminence errors in the top of the sixth inning finally enabled White River Valley to score in high school baseball Thursday night, and the Wolverines went on to a 5-0 win in Class A Shakamak Sectional action.
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Feeling cursed: South bitten in sectional final again
Terre Haute South softball is not even close to being as cursed as a certain northside baseball team in Chicago, but it might just seem like it.
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PREP ROUNDUP: Mundy, Porter, Knight individual regional winners
Chanli Mundy and Keirra Porter of Terre Haute North were among the individual winners in the IHSAA Evansville Central girls track and field regional that ended late Tuesday night.
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Thornton puts away South Vermillion
Cody Thornton’s three-run blast over the left-field fence was the finishing touch to West Vigo’s 10-3 victory over South Vermillion in the opening game of the Class 3A Greencastle Sectional on Wednesday.
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Lakers triumph, go home for regional
Shakamak took Class A Clay City Sectional honors in high school softball for the first time since 2009 Wednesday, defeating White River Valley 9-5 in the title tilt.
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North Vermillion avenges losses
North Vermillion avenged two high school softball losses during the regular season to win the Class A Riverton Parke Sectional championship Wednesday with a 3-2 triumph over the host Panthers.
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Pats, Knights will meet in sectional
Adler Ingalsbe pooh-poohed his lack of velocity Wednesday night, yet the Terre Haute North pitcher was throwing BBs in the first game compared to Mooresville’s Brandon Topie in the nightcap.
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South outbattles Northview to reach sectional final
Even the best of high school softball pitchers can’t keep all the batters in the middle of Terre Haute South’s lineup down.
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Panthers get 20th win in sectional
Riverton Parke will face North Vermillion in the Class A softball sectional championship at Riverton Parke today, with action commencing at 6 p.m.
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Plainfield Sectional all about parity
Considering Terre Haute South has won five consecutive Class 4A sectional titles in high school baseball, naming the Braves as favorites to capture the 2012 Class 4A Plainfield Sectional would not seem far-fetched.
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PREP ROUNDUP: North Vermillion in title game
Casey West had a triple and three runs scored to help North Vermillion softball advance to the championship game of the Class A Riverton Parke Sectional on Tuesday.
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North takes second in track regional
Terre Haute North finished second with 74 points, six behind team champion Evansville Reitz, during the Evansville Central girls track and field regional that ended late Tuesday night.
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Wildcats advance to sectional softball final; West Vigo falls
Patience, patience.
South Vermillion exhibited great patience, being very selective at the plate and it paid off royally in the fourth inning. -
South, Crawfordsville win in regional tennis semis
Terre Haute South outlasted Fountain Central 4-1 in the first round of the girls high school tennis regional Tuesday, advancing the Braves into today’s championship match against Crawfordsville.
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Braves, Knights open with wins
It was an excellent night for starting softball pitchers to help their own cause Monday night in the Class 4A Northview Sectional.
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Lough dreamt about McMillan
A two-time state finalist in wrestling and a two-time all-Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference football player and wrestler, Tsali Lough of Terre Haute South was named the male recipient of the 2012 McMillan Award on Monday night at South’s Senior Awards Night.
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PREP ROUNDUP: Panthers cruise in sectional opener
Sarah Burnham pitched a two-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts in high school softball Monday evening as host Riverton Parke defeated defending champion Rockville 10-0 in opening-round action at the Class A Riverton Parke Sectional.
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Notable tradition bodes well for Riverton Parke
Located practically in the shadow of a high school that sets one state standard in track and field, Riverton Parke has a tendency to be overlooked in that sport.
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Vikings get 18th win over Shakamak
West Vigo began a busy week of high school baseball Monday on a winning note, defeating Shakamak 6-3.
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Greencastle new site for girls tennis regional
The starting times might prove to be a bone of contention, but otherwise coaches Bill Blankenbaker and Emily Goff are thrilled their respective girls high school tennis teams will begin play today at the Greencastle Regional.
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Northview sectional groups 3 20-win teams
Three teams with 20-plus victories will attempt to claim the Class 4A Northview Sectional crown for high school softball this week, and most of the other Wabash Valley sectional fields also appear to be wide open.
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Terre Haute South softball takes Riverton Parke tournament
Terre Haute South is going into the Class 4A Sectional at Northview on Monday with momentum, confidence, a deep bench and a healthier pitching staff than it has had in quite a while.
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North baseball splits doubleheader with Indy North Central
Some of their incentive could have been sapped a couple of nights earlier, when Center Grove achieved an eight-inning victory over Warren Central to clinch the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference high school baseball championship.
- More High School Headlines
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