Complete effort sees North past Southport
Jan. 23—Terre Haute North's boys basketball team has done some impressive things in a season where the Patriots have only lost once.
Even given the high standard North has already set, Saturday's 54-45 victory over Southport raised the Patriots' bar.
"I think it's the most complete effort we've had in a long time, if not all season, on both ends of the court," North coach Todd Woelfle said. "Our defense has been consistent all year, but offensively we were clicking tonight, especially in the first half."
North played well, more on that in a moment, but consider the competition. The Cardinals came in hot. Southport had won seven of its last eight games, the only loss was a defeat in the semifinals of the Marion County Tournament to eventual champion North Central.
North didn't flinch. The Patriots were brilliant on the offensive side of the ball in the first half and kept their wits in the second half when Southport used its speed and athleticism to put a formidable trap defense on the Patriots.
Senior Mark Hankins shined brightest for the Patriots as he scored 21 points and had 11 rebounds, 13 of the points and eight of the boards came in the first half.
"Other than the first quarter defensively, we knocked down some shots and when we got our offense going? It's pretty special," Hankins said.
North (16-1, 3-1) converted 56.4% from the field, and though the Patriots had an uncommon 16 turnovers, the Patriots also had stopping power when they needed it.
It was clear from the start that offense was going to be produced at an advanced level. Neither North nor Southport could miss. The Cardinals were 70% from the field in the first quarter and didn't miss any of their threes. The Patriots countered by shooting 66.7% and North only missed one of its four 3-point attempts.
Given that high level of offense, it's no surprise that there were nine lead changes and three ties in the first quarter alone. The period appropriately ended deadlocked at 19.
Could the teams keep it up in the next quarter? The home team did.
North kept burying one jumper after another and got in the lane against the bigger Cardinals for decent looks at the rim. North made four of its first five shots of the second quarter to build a 29-19 lead. North briefly applied a zone defense that flummoxed Southport as the Patriots built the gap.
North finished the first half by sizzling at a 56.5% conversion rate from the field.
The second half was a different proposition. North slowed the tempo down and Southport responded late in the quarter by going to the full-court trapping.
It appeared it might bear fruit for a while. A 6-0 run midway through the fourth quarter cut North's peak lead of 12 in half. Southport got as close as 48-43 with 2:42 left in the game.
By then, though, North was getting used to the trapping. Once the Patriots broke the first wave, they were generally able to turn the tables and get an easy look on their own end. A decisive 6-0 run by the Patriots in the final 2:13 was proof of this.
"We struggled with it a little bit, they're quick and athletic and they can jump passing lanes well. Once we settled down and realized we could just look up the floor and find the open guy, we broke it and made some layups," Hankins said.
The Patriots have a week off before they travel to Evansville North next Saturday evening.
"This keeps us in the conference hunt. We're 3-1 and need a bit of help, Columbus North and Bloomington North still play each other, you never know, but we have to handle our business. Our goal was to compete for a conference championship and we're there with one game to play," Woelfle said.
