WEST TERRE HAUTE — Joe Boehler wasn’t even able to get divine help Friday night when his West Vigo team hosted Terre Haute North in a Vigo County high school basketball series game.
“What [the Patriots] did was exactly what I prayed they wouldn’t do,” the Viking coach said after the game. “They shot the lights out.”
North opened the game with a pair of 3-pointers that offset a driving layup by West Vigo’s Tyler Wampler, shot 75 percent in the first quarter, and went on to a 63-39 win.
A 12-2 closing run by the Patriots made the final score look a little more decisive than the game was, but it was pretty decisive all the same. Those in the substantial Green Dome crowd who also watched Indiana State play Wichita State on Wednesday probably had a sense of deja vu because it was the same game all over again — a decisive early lead for the visitors, a series of game comeback attempts by the home team, and a series of clutch shots to derail all the home team’s rallies.
“I thought a key to the game was we were able to get off to a great start,” coach Todd Woelfle of the Patriots said afterward. “We shot the ball extremely well, we made the extra pass and we played very unselfish.”
“We knew [the Vikings] were going to be a tough team with good athletes,” said Patriot forward Justin Gant, whose 5-for-5 shooting helped his team get a 14-2 lead and a 20-7 margin at the first stop. “Wampler can pretty much do it all, [Jordan] Houser is a good young player, and they all work hard. But we prepared pretty thoroughly and came out and got a good win.”
Chris O’Leary hit the first 3-pointer to open the scoring, and after Wampler’s drive it was Logan Shipley connecting from behind the arc. The Vikings were quickly two possessions down, and it got worse — Shipley’s basket started an 11-0 run that included two buckets each by Gant and Chase Jones.
“We got behind so fast so early,” Boehler said later. “We were playing catchup from the first minute of the game.”
“We played really well at both ends of the floor,” Woelfle said. “We felt a key was playing with the lead — if [the Vikings] got [the lead] they could spread us out — and we were able to get the lead early.”
“Everything kind of went our way the first quarter,” Gant noted.
The Vikings were able to play evenly with their visitors for awhile after the opening salvo, and when North finally committed its first turnover of the game after more than 13 minutes — the two teams combined for just 12 errors in the game, in fact — the Vikings were able to trim a 13-point deficit to nine following a 3-pointer by Zach Kent and a free throw by Houser.
But Shipley had another 3-pointer for North, making it 31-19, and the Patriots closed out the half with a flourish when Jones connected on an off-balance 3-pointer at the buzzer.
“It was a busted play,” Jones agreed after the game. “Logan [Shipley] threw me the ball, I looked at the clock and I knew I had to get a shot up.”
“I thought we defended that play perfectly,” said Boehler, shaking his head after the game.
Trailing by 15 at intermission, the Vikings continued to battle and North had its only quarter with less than 50-percent shooting in the third quarter. But the Patriots got seven points off offensive rebounds in that period — five by Gant, two by Calvin Blank — and built the lead to 18.
West Vigo had one glimmer in the fourth period, when Houser penetrated the lane and dished to Ryan Crowther for basket, then stole the in-bounds pass and hit a spinning layup of his own. That four-point flurry cut the lead to 51-37, but then came North’s game-ending run.
“I loved our kids’ effort — we were able to get [the deficit] to single digits once,” Boehler said, “and they did a great job of attacking the basket.”
Gant had a game-high 19 points and Jones scored 15 for North.
“Chase Jones had his most complete game in a Patriot uniform,” Woelfle said afterward.
“We approach every game together,” Jones said. “It doesn’t matter who gets the job done … we just want to keep winning.”
Shipley added nine points and four assists, Blank matched Gant’s game-high six rebounds in limited playing time and Thomas Anderson, without shooting much, was the unsung hero of the early burst with three assists and two steals.
“Thomas has provided excellent leadership to this basketball team,” Woelfle said. “He’s sacrificed personal statistics for wins.”
Wampler scored 13 and Houser 12 for the Vikings. Cody Thornton added nine points and Crowther and Kent each had five rebounds.
Terre Haute North 63
Player fg 3pt ft r s pf tp
Gant 9-11 0-0 1-6 6 0 1 19
Shipley 3-8 3-7 0-0 1 0 2 9
Anderson 1-3 0-0 2-2 5 2 3 4
C.O’Leary 2-5 1-2 0-1 2 1 2 5
Jones 4-5 1-1 6-8 4 0 2 15
Gauer 0-3 0-0 1-2 2 0 5 1
Sponsler 2-3 1-2 0-0 2 0 0 5
Marshall 0-1 0-1 0-0 1 1 0 0
Blank 1-2 0-0 0-0 6 0 1 2
M.O’Leary 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0
Newton 1-1 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 3
Bolden 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Gabbard 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Alexander 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 0
Totals 23-42 7-14 10-19 *35 4 17 63
West Vigo 39
Player fg 3pt ft r s pf tp
Thornton 2-7 2-7 3-4 3 0 2 9
Mix 0-1 0-1 0-0 1 0 2 0
McCalister 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Wampler 5-11 0-1 3-8 4 2 3 13
Houser 5-12 1-5 1-2 2 2 4 12
Crowther 1-1 0-0 0-1 5 0 4 2
Kent 1-3 1-2 0-0 5 1 1 3
Flesher 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Lydick 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Lindsey 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Corenflos 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Totals 14-37 4-16 7-15 *24 5 16 39
Terre Haute North 20 14 12 17 — 63
West Vigo 7 12 9 11 — 39
FG Pct. — THN .548, WV .378. 3-pt FG Pct. — THN .500, WV .250. FT Pct. — THN .526, WV .467. (*) Includes team rebounds — THN 5, WV 4. Turnovers — THN 6, WV 6. Assists — THN 15 (Shipley 4), WV 5 (Wampler 3). Blocks — THN 5 (Gant 3), WV 1 (Crowther).
JV — Terre Haute North 44 (Calvin Blank 10, Kalen Alexander 9), West Vigo 13 (Cade Lindsey 5).
Next — North (12-2) has a home game next Friday against Warren Central. West Vigo (7-6) travels to Marshall that night.
High School
North Patriots overpower West Vigo Vikings
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