MARTINSVILLE — Bloomington South boys basketball coach JR Holmes watched his team run hot and cold against a three-win Terre Haute South squad in a 60-45 win in the semifinals of the Class 4A Martinsville Sectional on Friday, March 6.
That came after he saw No. 7 Terre Haute North play almost perfectly in the last three quarters of its 78-39 blistering of Bloomington North. If the Patriots keep playing like that in Saturday’s final at 7 p.m., his team will have to play at only one temperature to have a chance at the upset.
“They were just too big and too physically strong,” Holmes said of THN. “They can drive the ball. They can shoot the ball.”
Terre Haute South (3-21) proved to be pesky to put away, even after Max Surdam went off like a firecracker, opening the game with two 3s for an 11-point first quarter.
Surdam finished with 18 points as his shooting cooled off in the second half, while Matt Tierney had 13 and Combs 12 while Jack Clark, who committed to Wabash this week, had a quiet night with eight while still facilitating several buckets for his teammates.
“(Tierney) was really aggressive to the basket with the ball in there,” Holmes said. “I was pleased to see that. He’s gotten better every game here late in the season. We’re starting him and he’s acting like he wants to stay there.
“We’re always looking for a third scorer and we had three and (Clark) wasn’t one of them.”
South got up 21-8 lickity-split, and then, THS turned to a zone that slowed the Panthers down and gave the Braves a chance to get back in it with a run of good shooting. By half, THS was down just 34-27.
“We had a decent first quarter to get up by double-digits and then they went to a zone,” Holmes said. “I said to them at halftime, you’ve had 24 games and you didn’t run one zone play that we have.
“Then we came out and got some high-low, high low and got some baskets and the game turned back around.”
Tierney got South started in the third with a layup, but THS responded with two 3s by Austin Semmler and a breakaway layup by Riddle and suddenly, the Panthers were up only 38-35 with 5:11 left in the third.
A team they had beaten 71-36 was playing a lot more like the team sitting two sulking starters that had a lead right before halftime in that game. Tre Lewis had 12 points to lead THS while 5-foot-5 guard Jeremich Riddle had nine. Both came off the bench.
“I told them the team you’re playing tonight is the team we played in the first half,” Holmes said. “They’ve been playing these guys and having better practices. (Riddle) was a really good sparkplug for them, so was (Lewis).”
That’s when the Panthers saved themselves by hitting the offensive glass on three of the next four possessions to score, two by Duncan Combs, another by Rylin Stikeleather. Tierney tossed in a couple more layups and Combs hit a turnaround for a 50-35 lead to end the third.
That was good enough for the Panthers who built the lead to 18 with 2:53 to go.
“Matt did a good job and Rylin does a great job,” Holmes said. “He doesn’t score much, but he rebounds, keeps balls alive and can guard.
“But I just thought they reminded me of that movie, ‘The Good, the Bad an the Ugly.’ We were pretty good. Then we were bad. Then we were good again. Then it got ugly, ugly and we’d come back and be good for four or five possessions.”
TH North 78, Bloomington North 39
Terre Haute North (22-3) hasn’t lost since dropping an overtime thriller at South back on Dec. 19 and showed exactly why in the opener, shooting an absurd 78% (25-of-32) after the first quarter. Or more specifically after a 3-pointer by Derrick Cross put the Cougars (14-8) on top briefly, 12-11.
Six minutes later, THN led 35-20 and never stopped filling up the basket to the point the running clock mercy rule kicked in for the last 2:40. The Cougars looked helpless defensively as the Patriots ran their offense and the moment there was a breakdown by North, turned it into an open look and points.
THN was 7-of-9 from the arc in a 20-minute span, a flurry of layups, 3 and free throws and ended up shooting 65% on the night, finishing on a 30-9 run.
Derrick Cross scored the first 12 points of the game for the Cougars and finished with 23. Tevin Bridgwaters battled foul trouble all night and added 10 points. Levi Lindeman (four points) and John Bargen (two) were the only other Cougars to score.
THN had five in double figures, getting 15 points each from Tyler Renn and Cameron Fennell and 13 from Blake Hammond, Brady Klopfenstein and Traishun Brown.
Bloomington North graduates just one starting senior, Rex Speer, and two off the bench, Ka’Mareon Washinton and John Bargen.
TERRE HAUTE NORTH 78, BLOOMINGTON NORTH 39
Bloomington North (39): Lindeman f 2-5 0-0 3, Bridgwaters f 5-9 0-1 10, Cross g 8-15 3-4 23, Walker g 0-3 0-0 0, Speer g 0-3 0-0 0, Bargen 1-1 0-2 2, Miller 0-1 0-0 0, Washington 0-4 0-0 0, English 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-41 3-7 39.
Terre Haute North (78): Hammond f 5-9 3-4 13, Klopfenstein f 5-9 0-0 13, Fennell g 3-5 6-6 15, G.Wolfle g 1-3 0-0 2, Renn g 5-6 5-6 15, N.Millington 3-5 0-0 6, Loyd 0-0 0-0 0, Brown 6-6 0-1 13, Parker 0-0 0-0 0, Belleu 0-0 1-2 1, T.Wolfle 0-0 0-0 0, C.Millington 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-43 15-19 78.
Bloomington North (14-8) 6 | 17 | 12 | 4 — 39
Terre Haute North (22-3) 11 | 24 | 20 | 23 — 78
3-point goals: Bloomington North 4-17 (Cross 4-8, Lindeman 0-1, Miller 0-1, Walker 0-3, Washington 0-4), Terre Haute North 7-13 (Fennell 3-3, Klopfenstein 3-6, Brown 1-1, Hammond 0-1, G.Wolfle 0-1, N.Millington 0-1). Rebounds: Bloomington North 19 (Cross 5), Terre Haute North 28 (Hammond, Klopfenstein 6). Team fouls: Bloomington North 14, Terre Haute North 12. Technical foul: Bloomington North bench. Turnovers: Bloomington North 13, Terre Haute North 5.
BLOOMINGTON SOUTH 60, TERRE HAUTE SOUTH 45
Terre Haute South (45): Snider f 3-6 1-2 9, Livers c 1-4 0-0 3, M.Lewis g 1-6 0-0 2, Brinston g 0-1 0-0 0, Semmler g 2-7 0-0 6, Jer.Riddle 3-5 3-4 9, T.Lewis 5-10 2-3 12, Chastain 0-1 0-0 0, Jo.Riddle 1-1 0-0 2, Griese 1-1 0-0 2, Wells 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-43 6-9 45.
Bloomington South (60): Tierney f 6-10 1-2 13, Combs f 6-12 0-0 12, Clark g 4-10 0-0 8, Surdam g 7-15 1-2 18, Stikeleather g 1-1 0-0 2, Lukes 1-2 0-0 3, Graham 0-1 0-0 0, Smithers 1-2 0-0 2, Douglas 1-2 0-0 2, O.Parker 0-0 0-0 0, Edwards 0-0 0-0 0, Prall 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-55 2-4 60.
Terre Haute South (3-21) 10 | 17 | 8 | 10 — 45
Bloomington South (19-6) 21 | 15 | 14 | 10 — 60
3-point goals: Terre Haute South 5-18 (Snider 2-4, Semmler 2-6, Livers 1-4, M.Lewis 0-1, Wells 0-1, Je.Riddle 0-2), Bloomington South (4-18 (Surdam 3-8, Lukes 1-2, Douglas 0-1, Combs 0-3, Clark 0-4). Rebounds: Terre Haute South 24 (Livers, Je.Riddle, T.Lewis 4), Bloomington South 32 (Surdam 7). Team fouls: Terre Haute South 8, Bloomington South 7. Turnovers: Terre Haute South 12, Bloomington South 6.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bloomington South, North part ways in semis of boys basketball sectional
Reporting by Jim Gordillo, The Herald-Times / The Herald-Times
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