By Dennis Clark
TERRE HAUTE — Terre Haute South’s boys basketball team enjoyed a lot of senior moments, and in this case, it was a very good thing. The Braves also enjoyed a few junior moments for good measure.
South entertained a large crowd turning out for the Cam Cameron jersey retirement ceremony (halftime) and Senior Night festivities (pregame), utilizing a stifling defense and a boatload of 3-pointers.
South pumped in 15 3-pointers on offense, while forcing 22 turnovers (15 steals) on defense to subdue visiting Rockville 70-50 in a nonconference game that closed out the regular season for both teams Friday.
Cameron, who played at South in an era predating the 3-pointer, witnessed two teams combining to convert 27 of 68 3-point attempts. South was good on 15 of 43, while the Rox shot an impressive 12 of 25.
“We moved the ball unselfishly … our kids don’t care who gets the shot,” South coach Mike Saylor said. “We scrapped and clawed, tried to play aggressively the whole game.”
You want South senior moments?
John Michael Jarvis led all scorers with 26 points, including six 3-pointers, along with seven steals.
Jacob Tanoos tallied 12 points on four first-half 3-pointers.
Ike “I Like Ike” Worrell had five points, seven rebounds and four steals.
Bryn Schwartz had a rare start and hit a 3-pointer.
Joey Etling came off the bench with four points and four rebounds.
South’s other senior, rarely used Bobby McKenna, arguably had the most interesting shot of the game. He didn’t score, but nearly converted an improvised circus-like reverse layup which received a grin from his father, ISU men’s coach Kevin McKenna, sitting at the top of the bleachers.
The junior moment was provided by Anthony McGill, scoring 13 of his 15 points in the second half and also had four steals.
“[South] made a lot of shots,” Rox coach Dave Mahurin said. “We actually made more 3-point shots than we’ve made all year in a game. So for us, there were some positives.
“Playing a game like this going into the sectional prepares us for anything we might see in the sectional or beyond. [South’s] athleticism, the ability to shoot the perimeter shot and the trap [defense] are something we can’t simulate.
“We weren’t too successful early, but I was really happy in the second half the way we were able to attack their defense.”
Jarvis scored the game’s first eight points, then Tanoos’ first trey had South up 11-0 before the Rox finally scored with just 1:27 to go in the first quarter. Tanoos added three more 3s in the second quarter to build the Braves’ lead to 25-10.
The youthful Rox (10-11) managed to make a game of it for a while, receiving a huge lift from freshman Joel Wittenmeyer.
Wittenmeyer hit a pair of 3s late in the first half, then added two more 3s early in the third quarter to get the Rox within 30-22. Cody Jeffries, a sophomore, scored his first of four 3-pointers to make it 32-26 with three minutes left in the quarter.
But before the vocal Rox crowd could get too excited, South turned on the afterburners and ended any hopes of a Rox upset with a 22-5 run — scoring on eight straight possessions.
McGill hit a 3, Jarvis hit a 3, Jarvis hit two free throws, McGill hit back-to-back 3s, McGill hit two free throws, Schwartz hit a 3, then Jarvis capped off the run with a 3. Just like that, South led 54-31.
Wittenmeyer and Jeffries paced the Rox with 19 and 14 points respectively. Clint White, another sophomore, added nine points — all 3-pointers.
“To Rockville’s credit, they hit a lot of shots from the corner,” Saylor noted. “The 1-3-1 [zone defense] is vulnerable in the corner. That’s a young Rockville team that’s going to be very good.”
“We’re building for the future,” Mahurin concluded. “We’re thrilled to have 10 wins. We started the season losing our two best players to knee injuries, after graduating five seniors from a great team. We were down six [points] and had the ball in this game tonight … we never stopped playing hard.”
South (12-10) finished its regular season winning three of its last four games.
“I feel good,” Saylor described his team’s chances entering play in the Class 4A Plainfield sectional vs. Mooresville on Tuesday. “We’ve played four nice games in a row.”
Rockville 50
Player fg 3pt ft r s pf tp
Jeffries 5-9 4-8 0-0 4 0 1 14
Wittenmeyer 7-15 5-11 0-0 3 0 4 19
White 3-4 3-3 0-0 1 0 3 9
Mahurin 3-5 0-2 0-0 4 0 3 6
Kelley 0-2 0-0 0-0 6 0 0 0
McFall 0-1 0-0 2-4 2 1 2 2
Wheeler 0-0 0-1 0-0 1 0 1 0
Lear 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0
Kempf 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Wake 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Totals 18-38 12-25 2-4 29* 1 15 50
TH South 70
Player fg 3pt ft r s pf tp
McGill 5-12 3-7 2-3 2 4 1 15
Jarvis 7-16 6-14 6-6 3 7 1 26
Schwartz 1-4 1-4 0-0 3 0 1 3
Tanoos 4-9 4-8 0-0 4 0 0 12
Worrell 2-8 1-5 0-1 7 4 1 5
McKenna 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Etling 2-3 0-0 0-0 4 0 0 4
Smith 0-3 0-3 3-4 0 0 0 3
Ulrich 0-2 0-2 0-0 1 0 2 0
Turner 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2
Weishaupt 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 0
Totals 22-59 15-43 11-14 27* 15 6 70
Rockville 4 12 15 19 — 50
TH South 14 13 21 22 — 70
FG Pct. — Rox .474, THS .373. 3P Pct. — Rox .480, THS .349. FT Pct. — Rox .500, THS .786. Blocks — Rox 3 (Wittenmeyer 2, Mahurin), THS 1 (Jarvis). Turnovers — Rox 22, THS 6. Team rebounds(*) — Rox 7, THS 2.
JV — TH South 64 (Tyler Weishaupt 10), Rockville 25 (Nick Lucas and Zach Kempf 11).
Next — TH South (12-10) opposes Mooresville at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday in the Class 4A Plainfield sectional. Rockville (10-11) takes on Tuesday’s North Vermillion vs. Covington winner at 6 p.m. on Friday in the Class A North Vermillion sectional.
