Jared Jeffries had 21 points, seven rebounds, six assists and five blocks Friday night as Bloomington High School North routed Indianapolis Manual 92-41 at North's gym.
The victory gave North a perfect 20-0 regular-season record. The Cougars, who start the IHSAA 4-A sectionals next week, became the first Bloomington prep team to post a perfect regular-season record. Even in 1997 when BHSN won the last single-class state title, the Cougars lost once in 29 games.
"Each player on the varsity can look back on this with pride as time goes by," North coach Tom McKinney said of the undefeated regular season. "As for me, I've said it before: I feel very blessed to be coaching at North, which is the most unique school in the state. We have kids from 70 countries here. It is an honor working at such a school. I'm fortunate in that I've been blessed to have young people who are willing to work hard."
The No. 1 Cougars shot 61 percent for the night, including 11 of 21 on three-pointers (52 percent). Meanwhile, they held the Redskins (6-14) to a 33-percent shooting night. North's defense made it difficult for Manual to get any easy shots. The Cougars' pressure forced 18 turnovers.
McKinney's team scored the game's first eight points and led 19-5 at the end of the first quarter. North made nine of 13 from the field in the opening quarter.
The lead continued to build in the second quarter, when North outscored the Redskins 19-7. Sean May led the Cougars in the first half with 11 points.
"Sean really played well early in the game and I'm not just talking about shooting," McKinney said. "Then once Jared relaxed in the third quarter, he got hot."
Jeffries, who had eight points at the half, scored 13 in the third quarter. He got going with a nifty alley-oop dunk off a pass from Scott May. After another dunk, the McDonald's all-America hit three treys to finish the night just below his 24-point average. Jeffries also held Manual all-Indianapolis performer Tony Weeden to five points.
Sean May finished with 15 points and five boards, while fellow frontcourt mate Mike Bridgwaters had 14 points and four rebounds. Guards Kelvin Boatner and Errek Suhr added 10 and nine, respectively. Mike Davis added seven and Clay Ludlow six. Michael Ray led the Redskins with 14. Chris Gray had 10.
Next up for North is Greenwood (6-13) in the second round of the sectionals at Columbus North next Friday night. The Cougars get a first-round bye. Tickets are $7.
"Now we can focus as a team on the state tournament," McKinney said. "Every team faces pressure now. It equals out. Let's get to practice Monday and sharpens some areas. We've had a nice season. Now we have a second season.
"We've accomplished our second goal. The first was to win the conference. We think Conference Indiana is as good as any conference in the state. Once we got to 15 wins, we said to ourselves, 'Let's set us another goal.' We achieved that second goal and the third goal is tourney success."
Manual coach Michael Bryant was impressed with the Cougars, ranked 22nd in the nation by USA Today.
"Before the game I told the players that they had a chance to play a team that might go undefeated," Bryant said. "That doesn't happen very often in Indiana basketball. I told them in 10 years they can tell their children that they played this historic Bloomington North team."
The last undefeated state champion came in 1985 when Marion did it. That team was led by Jay Edwards and Lyndon Jones.
North's JV team won the preliminary game 62-30 and finished the season 14-6.
© 2000 dbulla@indiana.edu