MARTINSVILLE — Underdog Terre Haute North postponed its high school basketball coach’s retirement for yet another day Friday when Chris O’Leary’s 25-footer at the buzzer gave the Patriots a 62-60 win over Plainfield at the Class 4A Martinsville Sectional.
Northview, which missed five free throws in the last minute of a game the Knights controlled almost the entire way to keep its that contest nearly as exciting, will meet the Patriots in today’s 7:30 p.m. championship game after beating Mooresville 54-51 in Friday’s nightcap.
“This is definitely two teams that people didn’t expect to be [playing for the championship],” coach Mitch Lancaster of the Knights said afterward, “but it’s two teams with a lot of hard-nosed kids.”
• North 62, Plainfield 60 — There was no tempering the excitement of the North players and fans earlier in the evening, after the Patriots overcame an 11-point first-quarter deficit, then nearly squandered a 12-point fourth-quarter lead when the Quakers shot 80 percent from the field in the final eight minutes.
“It got down to the time to win and I wasn’t sure we knew how,” said coach Jim Jones after the game, noting an unnecessary 3-point shot, a missed one-and-one and a late foul on a 3-point shooter among the things his team hadn’t needed to do.
Nathan Ellis of the Quakers hit two of the three free throws with 41.6 seconds left to cut the lead to 59-57, and Plainfield was awarded the ball out of bounds in the scramble for the rebound of the miss along the sideline. The Quakers held the ball until point guard Jameson Wheeler, the game’s high scorer, capped a 22-point night with a long 3-pointer with about seven seconds left.
O’Leary immediately took the in-bounds pass and got it upcourt as fast as he could. He collided with Plainfield’s Brian Mucho just above the top of the key, then launched his winning shot as Mucho fell to the floor.
“I looked up at the clock a few times and I saw two seconds,” O’Leary said after the game, “so I figured I’d shoot it. I was trying to go around [Mucho], and I thought I’d probably get a charging [foul] call.”
“With that little time, you have to advance the ball as fast as you can,” said Jones, whose team lost a one-point game to Gary Wirt in similar fashion in January. “It was just a heads-up play. [O’Leary] used his athleticism to get the shot off.”
Last-second heroics didn’t appear to be necessary early in the game. Wheeler scored 12 first-quarter points as the Quakers jumped out to a 15-4 lead.
But Zach Harrison, taunted by chants of “air ball” by the Plainfield student section after a first-quarter miss, connected from beyond the arc to bring North within 17-9 at the first stop, then hit four more long ones in a row in the second quarter.
His fifth straight 3-pointer brought North within 25-24 late in the second quarter. Then he missed a shot from inside the arc, but got his own rebound and passed to Justin Gant for a three-point play with 29 seconds left that wound up putting the Patriots ahead 27-25 at halftime.
With Plainfield’s running game under control the second half went completely the Patriots’ way for a while. North opened the third quarter with a 10-3 run to widen its lead to 37-28, then got the last four points of the third quarter and the first four of the fourth period to go up 49-37.
Plainfield’s hot shooting got the Quakers back within 53-50 on an Ellis 3-pointer, but Thomas Anderson hit four straight free throws, then a layup on a pass from Gant, to keep North ahead 59-55 prior to the foul of the 3-point shooter.
“The kids played very well,” Jones summarized afterward. “They met every challenge, and they were able to fight [the Quakers] off. We beat an outstanding basketball team, and it takes a little luck. We were fortunate there.”
Harrison finished with 21 points for the Patriots, who shot 60 percent from the field for the game and had assists on 18 of their 23 baskets. Anderson added 16 and Gant 11, with Anderson and Hemmings getting five assists each and O’Leary adding nine points and four assists.
“Nobody thought we’d be here [in the championship game],” O’Leary said. “But we realized we could play with a lot of [the good teams in the final eight games of the regular season]. In the sectional we’ve started to put four quarters together.”
• Northview 54, Mooresville 51 —Northview bolted to an 8-0 lead in the first two minutes of the second game, and it was an uphill battle for Mooresville the rest of the way.
The Pioneers crept within 10-7, only to have Clint Reynolds and Jered Timm hit back-to-back 3-pointers for Northview. When it was 16-13, Nick Lancaster stopped a Pioneer rally with a 3-pointer. And when Mooresville had the ball trailing 19-17 with a chance to tie or take the lead, Austin Akers stole it and nailed a 3-pointer at the other end.
Mooresville tied the score only once at 25-25 with 2:35 left in the first half, but didn’t score again in the second quarter. Two free throws by Reynolds and a driving layup by Timm gave Northview a four-point halftime lead, and Akers made most of the big shots in the second half.
The third of Akers’ three fourth-quarter 3-pointers put Northview ahead 49-43, but then Mooresville’s backcourt stars Matt Kenney and Trent Mossbrucker combined for back-to-back scores that brought the Pioneers within two. Two free throws by Timm were answered by a Kenney basket and it was 51-49.
Northview then missed its first free throw of the night after hitting the front end of a one-and-one, and the Pioneers scored with an offensive rebound at the other end to cut the lead to 52-51. The Knights missed four of their last five attempts at the line, but Mooresville didn’t score again.
Akers scored 23 points and a game-high eight rebounds and showing the most poise on the court in directing Northview’s attack. Timm added 12 points for the Knights.
“Austin Akers did a super job hitting big shots all night,” coach Lancaster noted. “We told him Kenney and Mossbrucker were all-staters, and he had to have his own all-stat performance tonight.”
Plainfield 60
Player fg 3pt ft r s pf tp
Toliver 7-9 0-0 3-3 6 0 4 17
Uberto 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0 3 2
Metcalf 3-4 0-0 3-4 5 1 3 9
Wheeler 8-13 4-8 2-2 3 1 1 22
Ellis 3-3 2-2 2-4 1 2 1 10
Mucho 0-3 0-3 0-0 1 1 1 0
Fakes 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0
Lee 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 0
Totals 22-37 6-13 10-13 *21 5 14 60
Terre Haute North 62
Player fg 3pt ft r s pf tp
Gant 5-9 0-1 1-1 6 1 4 11
Harrison 7-12 5-9 2-2 1 0 0 21
Anderson 5-9 0-1 6-6 4 1 3 16
Hemmings 2-3 0-1 1-3 0 2 2 5
O'Leary 4-5 1-1 0-0 0 2 3 9
Gabbard 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0
Totals 23-38 6-13 10-12 *14 7 12 62
Plainfield 17 8 12 23 — 60
Terre Haute North 9 18 18 17 — 62
FG Pct. — Plainfield .595, THN .605. 3-pt FG Pct. — Plainfield .462, THN .462. FT Pct. — Plainfield .769, THN .833. (*) Includes team rebounds — Plainfield 2, THN 3. Turnovers — Plainfield 14, THN 12. Assists — Plainfield 16 (Ellis 6, Wheeler 6), THN 18 (Hemmings 5, Anderson 5). Blocks — Plainfield 1 (Toliver), THN 0. Technical — Metcalf.
Next game — Terre Haute North (10-13) returns for today's 7:30 p.m. Class 4A Martinsville Sectional championship against Northview. Plainfield finished 17-4.
Mooresville 51
Player fg 3pt ft r s pf tp
Ruble 1-3 0-1 0-0 5 0 0 2
Caudill 2-6 0-3 0-0 3 2 2 4
Viles 1-4 0-0 0-0 0 0 4 2
Mossbrucker 7-20 2-8 2-5 3 2 2 18
Kenney 8-12 1-3 1-3 7 5 3 18
Surenkamp 2-2 0-0 1-1 5 0 3 5
Broderick 1-3 0-0 0-0 3 0 0 2
Totals 22-50 3-15 4-9 *30 7 14 51
Northview 54
Player fg 3pt ft r s pf tp
Timm 4-6 2-2 2-2 2 1 2 12
Whitman 2-3 0-1 0-0 6 0 4 4
Coltharp 1-4 0-0 2-4 7 1 0 4
Akers 8-18 4-9 3-6 8 2 2 23
N.Lancaster 1-3 1-2 0-0 2 0 3 3
Reynolds 2-4 2-4 2-2 1 1 2 8
Totals 18-38 9-18 9-14 *28 5 13 54
Mooresville 9 16 11 15 — 51
Northview 16 13 11 14 — 54
FG Pct. — Mooresville .440, Northview .474. 3-pt FG Pct. — Mooresville .200, Northview .500. FT Pct. — Mooresville .444, Northview .643. (*) Includes team rebounds — Mooresville 4, Northview 2. Turnovers — Mooresville 9, Northview 12. Assists — Mooresville 16 (Kenney 6), Northview 9 (Akers 4). Blocks — Mooresville 5 (Kenney 5), Northview 3 (Akers, Coltharp, Whitman).
Next game — Northview (14-7) plays at 7:30 p.m. today for the Class 4A Martinsville Sectional championship against Terre Haute North. Mooresville finished 14-7.
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