Plainfield – The Quakers keep stacking wins.
It was not easy on Tuesday night, coming against a Class 4A third-ranked Lawrence North team crowned Marion County Tournament champions on Saturday. Midway through the third quarter, Lawrence North led by eight points after Duke Karnes drilled a 3-pointer.
“We had to call a momentum timeout,” Plainfield coach Andy Weaver said. “But I felt like from that point, we played pretty well.”
After the timeout, fifth-ranked Plainfield (15-1) used an 18-2 run to take control of the game, sparked largely on the back of senior and DePaul commit Noah Smith, who scored 18 of his game-high 29 points in the second half on an array of mid-range shots and drives.
“They started switching the ball screens,” teammate Harper Baker-Lands said. “And once they did that, it was a lot of big on little action and a lot of mismatches that we could take advantage of.”
The crowd, partly fueled by free admission for students on Tuesday night, got into it as the Quakers made their run. Plainfield led by as many as eight points before Lawrence North (14-2) made a final desperation push in the final minute.
A three-point play by Brennan Miller with 59 seconds remaining pulled the Wildcats within five. Two Plainfield turnovers led to two free throws and a 3-pointer by Britton Thomas to make it 59-58 Quakers with 23.3 seconds remaining.
“Give them credit,” Weaver said. “They turned us over and either attacked the basket or made that three on us late.”
Landon Gilliatt, who broke the school’s career assist record on Tuesday, which was previously held by Mark Satterfield with 377 from 1985-88, was money from the free-throw line down the stretch. He made all six of his attempts in the final 20.2 seconds to help hold off the Wildcats.
Weaver was twice faced with the question of fouling up three points. Plainfield fouled Webster with 4.7 seconds left. He hit both to pull Lawrence North within one point. After Gilliatt hit two free throws with 3.6 seconds left, Plainfield chose not to foul. Webster nearly banked in a game-tying 3-pointer from well beyond half court.
“Based on the momentum of the game at that point, if we could get the clock under five (seconds), we were going to foul before they had a 3-point attempt just because of all the momentum there and take our chances on getting a defensive rebound,” Weaver said. “And we’re a pretty good free-throw shooting team. All of our guys are good free-throw shooters. That was kind of our philosophy. Then on the last play with Webster there, I was barking out at Trey Barton, ‘No foul, no foul.’ We were going to live with that 60-footer at that point.”
Since losing its only game of the season to Class 3A No. 1 Silver Creek on Jan. 3 at the Lawrenceburg Tournament championship, Plainfield has won the Hendricks County Tournament and defeated 4A No. 6 Carmel, 3A No. 6 Northview and 4A No. 3 Lawrence North.
“It definitely gives us confidence,” Smith said. “Stacking up these wins is great for our team. This win especially is probably our biggest win.”
Webster led Lawrence North with 24 points and Miller added 15. Lawrence North is at North Central on Friday, while Plainfield is at Mooresville.
City Tournament from Tuesday night
The City Tournament got into full swing on Tuesday night, and one game in particular was crazy:
No. 9 Bishop Chatard 75, No. 8 Covenant Christian 73, 4 OT: Covenant Christian trailed by 20 points in the second quarter and again in the third before outscoring the Trojans 25-8 in the fourth quarter and erasing a 15-point deficit in the final 4:30. Chatard’s Ari Sahm drilled a 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds remaining in the first overtime. At the end of third overtime, Covenant’s Caleb Jankowski hit two free throws to send the game to a fourth OT. Chatard rallied from a four-point deficit in the fourth overtime to finally put it away. Zach McCormack led Chatard (3-9) with 23 points. Sahm added 19. Isaac Crane scored 32 of his game-high 38 points after halftime to lead Covenant Christian (7-4). Chatard is at No. 1 seed Cathedral on Thursday.
No. 4 Cardinal Ritter 90, No. 13 Herron 49: Devin Bolden had 31 points, 10 rebounds and two blocked shots as Ritter (6-8) rolled to a win over Herron (3-9). Ritter will host Heritage Christian on Thursday.
No. 5 Heritage Christian 77, No. 12 Tindley 56: Heritage Christian (9-3) pulled away after leading by nine points at halftime. The Eagles will play at Cardinal Ritter on Thursday. Caleb Flint (20 points), Isaac Arterburn (15) and Logan Peters (14) led Heritage Christian.
No. 10 Christel House 60, No. 7 Washington 55: Dayshawn Griffin’s 3-pointer with 5 seconds remaining broke a 55-all tie to propel Christel House (6-6) into the quarterfinal on Thursday against No. 2 seed Crispus Attucks.
No. 3 Scecina 101, No. 14 Providence Christo Rey 46: Jaylin Foster led four players in double figures with 24 points as Scecina (9-4) cruised to the win. Bryce Mathis added 21 points, and Adrian Hill added 18 points. T.J. Duerson led Providence Christo Rey (8-9) with 23 points.
No. 6 Tech 84, No. 11 Purdue Poly Englewood 61: Tech (4-9) advanced to the quarterfinal round to play at Scecina on Thursday night. Purdue Poly dropped to 7-10.
Other scores of note
*Center Grove knocked off Decatur Central 52-42. These teams could meet again down the road in Class 4A Sectional 12.
*Mt. Vernon won 64-52 at Avon after a slow start. The Class 4A No. 4 Marauders (13-2) trailed by 12 points in the first quarter.
*Class 4A No. 9 Northridge defeated Penn 47-36 on Tuesday. Brady Scholl led Northridge (12-1) with 23 points. Penn dropped to 9-3.
*Whiteland, coming off the Johnson County Tournament title, defeated 3A No. 5 Shelbyville 67-61 as Kyle Edwards led the way with 20 points.
*Class 3A No. 7 Roncalli lost 48-45 to Jennings County.
Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649. Get IndyStar’s high school coverage sent directly to your inbox with the High School Sports newsletter. And be sure to subscribe to our new IndyStarTV: Preps YouTube channel.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Plainfield surges past Lawrence North in top-5 matchup. ‘Gives us confidence.’
Reporting by Kyle Neddenriep, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
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