INDIANAPOLIS -- Zach Randolph, the largest player on the floor, proved to be the Marion Giants' giant go-to player Saturday night.
The 6-foot-9 Randolph scored 28 points to lift the Giants to a 62-56 4-A state title win over Bloomington North before 18,263 at Conseco Fieldhouse.
Marion (28-1) overcame a five-point halftime deficit with a big second half from Randolph, who had eight points and two fouls at halftime. The Giants went on a 27-15 run to take control of the game. That put the Cougars (25-1) in a 50-43 hole from which they were unable to climb. North did close within 59-56 with 32.9 seconds left, but Marion got two free throws from Todd Chin and one from Allen Miller to win its seventh IHSAA championship.
Randolph, the Michigan State signee, got almost all of his points on the inside on a variety of dribble post-up moves. North played behind the Giants' left-handed center and he was able to catch the ball at will. Sean May, North's 6-8 sophomore forward, was charged with guarding Randolph most of the night and the task was just too big for May, who led North in scoring with 17.
Cougar all-America Jared Jeffries turned in one of his least productive games of the season. Jeffries, the Indiana University signee, made only 5 of 17 from the field and finished with 10 points, 14 below his season's average. Jeffries was unable to get untracked in the first half because of foul trouble. He picked up two quick fouls and spent the last 8:20 of the half on the bench.
"I feel like I let my teammates down," Jeffries told the media. "I couldn't get my shot going early and I think it affected my whole game."
Ironically, North built its five-point halftime with Jeffries on the bench. May led a 15-1 run to close the half for a 28-23 Cougar lead. The Cougars, who missed their first seven shots of the game and trailed 7-0 early, saw the Marion lead grow to 22-13 with Jeffries playing assistant coach on the bench. May then drove for a basket for 22-15 and senior Mike Bridgwaters posted on Randolph and drew the Giant's second foul. Marion coach Moe Smedley sat Randolph for the last 4:09 of the half. Bridgwaters made one free throw for 22-16.
North then closed the half with four consecutive treys, two by May and one each by Kelvin Boatner and Errek Suhur. Meanwhile, the Giants scored but one point -- an Isaac McClung free throw -- with their center sitting on the bench.
Bridgwaters, who struggled from the field all night, made a follow shot for the first basket of the second half and a 30-23 North lead. That made it a 17-1 BHSN run and Marion seemed to be vulnerable since the Cougars have been dominant in the third quarter all season long.
But somebody forgot to tell Randolph about North's third-quarter invincibility. Randolph scored nine points in a 20-11 Marion run before a 7-2 Giant spurt to start the fourth quarter proved to be decisive.
"I thought they really hurt us in the third quarter," North coach Tom McKinney said. "Marion is awfully good. They are such a good basketball team. You can't just key on Randolph. They could match us with size and good, strong guards."
Jeffries' game languished until late. He scored six of the Cougars' last 10 points.
The North senior finally got going and pulled his team withint 54-51. Then the hot-shooting Boatner, who finished with 15 points, had only his second miss of the night with 2:58 left. Boatner finished 5 of 7 from the floor. A Boater make there would have tied the game; instead, Reggie Nevels countered with a drive for 56-51. Chin then hit a free throw for what proved to be the game-winning point.
Randolph got most of his help from Miller and Chin, who combined for 25 points. Yet the key was slowing Jeffries.
"We didn't do anything special for Jeffries," Smedley said. "Our defense -- a lot of people call it a matchup zone --our whatever you want to call it ... We simply play a 1-2-2 zone with a lot of variations. We make sure everybody is guarding somebody and Jeffries, who we know is their go-to guy -- we didn't want to give him the three. We didn't want to let him penetrate. Again I can't say enough about the defense we played and it wasn't one player."
The Giants prevented North from becoming the first unbeaten state champion in Indiana since Marion did it in 1985. The Giants, who own 63 sectional crowns, won their sixth state title since 1975.
North's Jeffries was named the winner of the Arthur L. Trester Award for attitude and sportsmanship. A donation of $1,000 was made to North in Jeffries' name.
The Cougars finished with the second-best record in school history. The 1996-97 Cougars posted a 28-1 mark en route to the last single-class IHSAA title.
Marion, ranked sixth in the nation by USA Today, was able to exact some measure of revenge by a 57-54 loss to Pike in the 1998 state title game. Pike and North are members of the same conference. North was ranked 20th in the country by USA Today last week. Marion is ranked No. 1 in the Midwest by the newspaper.
Bloomington North (56) -- Sean May 17, Kelvin Boatner 15, Jared Jeffries 10, Mike Bridwaters 8, Errek Suhr 3, Scott May 3, Matt Kalua, Clay Ludlow 0.
Marion (62) -- Zach Randolph 28, Allen Miller 13, Todd Chin 12, Matt Backs 6, Reggie Nevels 2, Isaac McClung 1, Josh Peters 0, Kevin Cates 0.
Halftime: Bloomington North, 28-23.
Records: Bloomington North, 25-1; Marion, 28-1.
© 2000 dbulla@indiana.edu