TOP 5: Weekend's Top 5 includes setting up big games to come
Jan. 17—It may have been the worst Terre Haute North-Terre Haute South boys basketball game ever in terms of artistry, the two teams combining to hit less than 25% of their field goal attempts. It may have been the best North-South game ever in terms of effort by both sides, a big reason why neither shot well.
And Friday's game in Hulman Center was just one of the highlights in a weekend of high school basketball that also included big conference wins for the boys from Linton and Sullivan. Here are the Top 5 things we learned.
5. We have a champion — Dugger Union won the Southern Roads Conference tournament by winning three games in two days and is now 11-3 for the season. Coach Greg Kinnaman's team hosts Harry Marshall's Hutsonville team on Tuesday, and although the Bulldogs aren't yet eligible to be back in the IHSAA postseason tournament, they also have another conference tournament in Illinois coming up.
4. Boys races heating up — Linton's second nail-biter this season over Bloomfield on Friday knocked one of the three SouthWestern Indiana Athletic Conference powerhouses out of the unbeaten ranks, and the other two play this coming Friday when North Daviess comes to Linton. Sullivan beat West Vigo in a key Western Indiana Conference game on Friday and the Golden Arrows are currently threatened by just North Putnam (a team they beat 75-40) in the WIC. Terre Haute North is still in contention in Conference Indiana, behind unbeatens Columbus North and Bloomington North; South Vermillion is one of three Wabash River Conference teams without a loss and meets one of the others, Seeger, on the road Saturday; and Casey can stay in contention and do the rest of the Little Illini Conference a favor by winning at unbeaten Olney on Tuesday.
3. Girls in the home stretch — Conference races in girls basketball are nearing the finish line, with the key contests this week involving WIC unbeatens Northview and Indian Creek. The Knights played Cloverdale on Monday and go to Trafalgar on Friday, and they'd like another favor from West Vigo like they got a year ago (when IC won in overtime at Northview on Friday but lost at home less than 24 hours later to the Vikings). In other leagues, overtime losses earlier this year look likely to prevent Parke Heritage from overtaking Seeger in the WRC and will probably allow Eastern Greene to dethrone Linton in the SWIAC. North Central lost to both the other Thunderbirds and Miners but lurks in third place in the SWIAC. In Conference Indiana, Terre Haute North and unbeaten Columbus North each have one conference game remaining, both against Bloomington North, and the Cougars would share the title by winning both those games.
2. And in the LIC — The girls in the Little Illini Conference have their conference tournament this week, with Paris having the best record (19-2), the state ranking, the top seed and the home court. Semifinals are Tuesday night, with other contenders being 14-4 Marshall and 12-3 Robinson. The Lions have won their last two games by a combined score of 140-20, and the Maroons might be the Wabash Valley's most improved girls team.
1. Shooting mysteries — Terre Haute North's boys had their unbeaten season halted at Columbus on Jan. 7, then were flummoxed by the way the Braves guarded them in Hulman Center. A team that can call shooting one of its biggest strengths went 9 for 46 in that latter game and needs a confidence boost. Northview visits the Patriots on Tuesday night in what is arguably the game of the week, which may not be the ideal scenario for that confidence-building . . . or the law of averages may work in the Patriots' favor and their touch may return. As the old-timers say, that's why you play the games.
