LINTON —
Before this boys basketball season — a glorious one indeed for the 24-3 Linton Miners — coach Joey Hart was in a bit of a slump regarding the IHSAA state tournament.
His record for sectional title matchups was 0-6 over a career that included six-year stints with Shakamak (1996-2002) and Turkey Run (2004-10) before his last three seasons at Linton.
“My teams lost to A.J. Graves [White River Valley], Brody Boyd [Union] and R.J. Mahurin [Rockville],” Hart said, reflecting on some of his sectional heartbreaks.
But this season, the 40-year-old Hart is riding a hot streak that includes a 9-0 mark since Feb. 12.
On March 2, he finally got the sectional monkey off his back when his Miners defeated Sullivan 47-41 to capture the Class 2A North Knox Sectional crown.
Then they rolled through the Southridge Regional by downing Clarksville 65-62 and Perry Central 68-63 on March 9. Then they edged Speedway 76-75 in overtime last Saturday to survive the Richmond Semistate and earn a trip to the state finals Saturday inside Indianapolis’ Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
At 12:45 p.m., they’ll face No. 7-ranked Bowman Academy (17-9) for all the marbles in Class 2A. Linton was ranked No. 10 before the state tournament started.
For Hart, a former standout player at Union High School (1990 graduate), Vincennes University (1990-92) and Coastal Carolina (1992-94) and a former assistant coach at VU (2002-04), basketball has played a major role in his life. So winning a state championship would be a dream come true — not just for him, but for his players, staff, school and community — and he knows it.
“It would be an awesome thing, most definitely,” he told the Tribune-Star after Wednesday’s practice in Indianapolis. “More importantly, it would be something amazing for our kids. But as far as coaching, we’ll probably be thinking about our next team about an hour after Saturday’s game.”
Hart has tasted success at the high school level before, but most of it was as a player when his father Joe Hart coached the small-school Bulldogs.
At the end of his junior season, the 6-foot-4 Joey Hart helped Union claim the 1988-89 sectional championship and reach the Terre Haute Regional in Hulman Center, where it lost to a strong Tony McGee-led Terre Haute South squad.
“We missed a bunch of free throws in the first half and got behind,” he recalled. “We should have been right there.”
Joey’s senior year, the Bulldogs went 21-2 but lost to a good Mark Hisle-led Terre Haute North group in the sectional semifinals in Hulman Center.
“When Joey was a senior, it was like having a coach on the floor,” Joe Hart mentioned Wednesday.
At Coastal Carolina three years later, the younger Hart was able to play in the NCAA tournament as a junior. But his team was eliminated by Michigan.
“It was a blast,” he said of his Coastal Carolina career. “I started every game for two years.”
Once his playing days ended, Joey Hart returned to the Wabash Valley and earned a degree in mathematics education from Indiana State in 1995.
He also helped with his dad’s team at Union for one season and served as an assistant at Evansville North for one season before he landed the head-coaching job at Shakamak.
“I didn’t know what I was doing as a coach until 2001,” Joey said with a chuckle. “I really thought I got a lot better as a coach in 2001-02.”
After coaching at Shakamak, VU and Turkey Run, Joey’s wife Brooke — a Greene County native — convinced him to apply for the job at Linton in 2010.
Now Joey — who says he knew he would become a coach when he was in fifth grade — has an opportunity to lead a team to a state title. With this group of Miners, which includes seniors Austin Karazsia and Dess Fougerousse, nobody knew if it would ever reach its potential until recently.
“The talent was there the day they walked through the door three years ago,” Joey Hart pointed out. “We’ve had growing pains. We’ve had moments when we were really good…”
But Linton finished only 12-10 in 2011-12, losing to Bloomfield 45-41 in the sectional. That disappointment caused an increase in commitment from the players over the summer.
Describing a summer-league game from 2012, Joey said his boys led a “loaded” Columbus East team by 20 points at halftime and held on for the victory.
“We made a lot of progress this summer in terms of our maturity,” he noted. “We had some seniors who were pretty committed to what we wanted to do.”
According to Joe Hart, Joey’s coaching didn’t hurt the cause this season.
“He’s pretty knowledgable,” the elder Hart assessed. “I know he knows a lot more about basketball than I do. He really works at it. … He’s picked up things from different people.”
Joey Hart preferred to share credit for the Miners’ success.
“Things have to come together for a run like this and we’ve had all sorts of heroes,” he said. “There have been several key moments — big shots all over the place. These guys have earned it. They’ve prepared for good things to happen and now they’re happening.”
This week, Joey has received congratulatory texts and phone calls from a variety of coaches and former coaches, including Loogootee legend Jack Butcher, the state’s all-time leader in victories.
Regardless of what happens Saturday, Joey Hart will add to his memory bank full of court battles.
“It’s just so enjoyable to experience this with kids who worked so hard and gave of themselves for so long,” he said.
High School
Linton coach enjoys postseason basketball success
- High School
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Goatee, Bertoli ran away with Spring Athlete of the Year
When honoring athletes after a season of excellence, the phrase “what might have been” doesn’t usually come up.
But in the case of Terre Haute South’s Jackson Bertoli and Terre Haute North’s TaPring Goatee – the Tribune-Star’s Athletes of the Year for spring sports – there’s an air of unfinished business despite obvious recent successes.
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Post 346 opens tournament with two victories
Preston Tofaute got on base enough to score three runs, Cody Thornton smashed a two-run triple in the first inning and pitcher Pete Lannoo scattered four hits over a seven-inning complete game.
All of that helped Wayne Newton Post 346 down Lafayette Post 11 by a 7-2 score in the opener of the Terre Haute Inviatational tournament for American Legion baseball Thursday afternoon at Terre Haute North High School. -
North boys move up to 13th in golf state finals
Early Wednesday morning, Terre Haute North senior Ryan Baker and coach Abe Nasser headed out to the Legends of Indiana Golf Course for a range session.
Baker wasn’t happy with the 85 he shot in Tuesday’s first round of the IHSAA boys golf state finals.
“He was frustrated,” Nasser said.
Problem solved. Baker bounced back with a 2-over 74 Wednesday, helping the Patriots improve their team score by seven strokes.
The Patriots shot 304 as a team Wednesday, giving them a two-day score of 615, good for 13th place in the 15-team field. -
Big hill to climb for North golf
Terre Haute North boys golf is 21 strokes behind leaders at IHSAA boys golf tourney.
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Top of her game
There are a lot of surprising facts about blossoming volleyball prodigy Caitlyn Newton, including that shape-shifting thing she can apparently do, but maybe one of them stands out the most. She may only be scratching the surface.
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Camp, Howe win, then lose in state tennis tourney
Miranda Camp and Nicole Howe of Terre Haute South won their first match of high school tennis Friday at the state individual doubles finals, then won the first set against a powerful Park Tudor team before falling in three sets.
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Terre Haute North heading back to state finals in boys golf
Terre Haute North is going back to the state finals in boys high school golf for the first time in more than 10 years. The Patriots qualified for a trip to The Legends Course next week by tying for third in the Washington Regional at Country Oaks Golf Club and advancing with the better fifth score.
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North, South, Sullivan to compete at golf regional
Boys high school golf teams from the Wabash Valley will compete in the Washington Regional on Thursday, seeking a spot in the state finals to be played next week.
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Terre Haute North falls 6-1 to Brownsburg in opening game of Class 4A Regional
Terre Haute North coach Shawn Turner told the Patriots to raise their heads. He wanted to see their eyes at the close of their 24-7 high school baseball season.
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Terre Haute North girls shine on dreary day at track state finals
Led by a record setting 3,200-meter relay team and Keirra Porter’s long jump, Terre Haute North turned in its best finish ever in the 40th annual IHSAA Girls Track & Field Championships on Saturday at Indiana University in Bloomington.
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Valley teams will have to wait until Monday for baseball regionals
Rain and the threat of more rain caused postponements of high school baseball regionals involving Terre Haute North, West Vigo and Shakamak on Saturday.
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Rockville's season ends at Lafayette Central Catholic
Lafayette Central Catholic ended Rockville’s tourney run in high school baseball Saturday, defeating the Rox 8-0 in the first game of the LCC Class A Regional.
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IHSAA boys state track finals: Standing alone
It hadn’t been a particularly good day for Wabash Valley track and field Friday, and it wasn’t looking like a good one for Jackson Bertoli either.
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Terre Haute North, West Vigo return to baseball regionals
Terre Haute North’s baseball team hasn’t participated in an IHSAA regional since 2006. West Vigo’s wait hasn’t been as long, but it was 2010 when the Vikings last advanced from a sectional.
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Patriots girls take aim at state track title
Terre Haute North’s girls have several potential state champions today at Indiana University.
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South, North track athletes looking for big performances at state finals
Terre Haute South’s distance trio of Jackson Bertoli, Logan Hambrock and Riley Stohler appear to be the favorites to crack all-state status among Wabash Valley competitors today in the IHSAA boys track and field state finals at Indiana University.
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Internet site keeps area prep teams on airwaves
- PREP ROUNDUP: Locals to take part in Hoosiers All-Star Game
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South Vermillion softball can't overcome errors, Tri-West
Uncharacteristic errors led to eight unearned runs and hard-luck hitting made that impossible to overcome for South Vermillion, which fell 8-0 to Tri-West in Class 3A regional play.
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Clay City softball comes up short against Lutheran
Clay City closed its high school softball season Tuesday night with the best record ever for the program at 21-9.
The Eels wanted to add another win, the school’s first regional title, but they came up short.
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PREP ROUNDUP: Rockville wins baseball sectional
Rockville won its own Class A sectional in high school baseball Tuesday, defeating Covington 10-4 in the rain-delayed championship game.
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Class 4A Terre Haute South Sectional:The wait is over
Three minutes into an interview with various media members, Terre Haute North baseball coach Shawn Turner couldn’t react fast enough to avoid a bucket of ice water being dumped over his head from behind by his giddy players. The soaking-wet Turner could shake it off with a smile, however, because his Patriots had just won the IHSAA Class 4A Terre Haute South Sectional championship with a 13-3 six-inning triumph over Plainfield on Monday evening.
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Class 4A Terre Haute South Sectional: TH North, Plainfield win squeakers
The high school baseball teams of Terre Haute North and Plainfield proved Monday that what a batter does early in the game is not necessarily indicative of what he will do in the late innings.
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Class 2A Linton Sectional: Eastern rains on Sullivan parade
Mother Nature put Sullivan’s quest for a high school baseball sectional championship on hold Monday night at Linton-Stockton High School. Sullivan (14-15) and Eastern Greene (16-7) will resume play in the Class 2A Sectional 47 championship game at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Linton’s Roy Herndon Field.
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Opening Day: Terre Haute Rex host Quincy
In his first season at the helm, first-year Terre Haute Rex manager Ronnie Prettyman is going to be surrounded by men he knows and trusts.
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Class A Shakamak Sectional: Stout pitching leads Union, Shakamak to final
Trey Bedwell and Patrick Green made sure their respective high school baseball teams would meet for the championship of the Class A Shakamak Sectional by pitching shutouts in semifinal contests Monday afternoon.
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Class A Rockville Sectional: Covington, Rockville title game postponed
Rockville and Covington won semifinal high school baseball games Monday to advance to the championship game of the Rockville Class A Sectional. Due to rain, the championship game was postponed. A decision was expected this morning whether the game will be played today or Wednesday.
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South Vermillion, Linton, Clay City look to stay alive in softball
There might have been as many reasons to think they wouldn’t be winning sectionals this spring as evidence to show they would, but high school softball teams from South Vermillion, Linton and Clay City will be playing one-game regionals Tuesday with the chance to keep defying the odds.
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West Vigo back on top of Class 3A baseball sectional
West Vigo won its sectional with a 6-4 victory over South Vermillion on a rainy night at Dick Ballinger Field.
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South runs into ‘buzzsaw’ at girls tennis semistate
Postmatch interviews don’t often begin with a coach and a reporter ready to blurt out the same word, but that was the case for Bill Blankenbaker and his interviewer Saturday morning after the Center Grove Semistate for girls high school tennis.
Unfortunately for Blankenbaker’s Terre Haute South team, that word was “buzzsaw.”
Greenwood’s Kawamoto twins made quick work of the top of the Braves’ singles lineup, so despite stellar efforts by both South doubles teams the Woodmen’s 3-2 victory didn’t seem all that close.
Greenwood moves on to Fishers, where it plays Floyd Central or Jasper on Friday in the state quarterfinals.
Also playing Friday, but at Park Tudor, will be South’s Miranda Camp and Nicole Howe, who reached the individual doubles finals for the second straight season by virtue of their 6-4, 6-2 win over the Greenwood team of Taylor Hudnall and Brittany Toney.
“It’s really exciting,” said Howe of the prospect of a second straight finals trip, “but I wish our team could’ve gone with us.”
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