Bloomington North rallied from nine down in the second half to defeat top-ranked Indianapolis Pike 71-63 Friday night at North's gym.
It was a significant win for coach Tom McKinney's team. The Cougars (7-1, 13-2) now can grab a share of the Conference Indiana title Saturday night with a win at Columbus North. North, the defending league champ, and Pike (8-1, 16-2) are likely to finish in the two-way tie at the top. Conference Indiana would not give the outright championship to North based on Friday's win. Instead, the league will award a co-championship.
North's only loss came at Bloomington South, which has two league losses.
The Cougars, who led by as many as 11 in the first half and by seven at the half, fell behind by nine at the start of the third quarter when the Red Devils went on a 17-1 run. David Teague and Tony Weeden led the Pike run. They combined for 13 of the 17 points in that hot third-period start.
Yet North didn't wilt, despite Sean May getting three fouls in the period. In fact, the Cougars finally got going on an old-fashioned three-point play by May with 1:58 left in the period. It was North's first field goal of the period. That led to a 10-2 Cougar run, and Pike's lead was down to 52-51 entering the fourth quarter.
May immediately got a layup to start the final period. Still Pike was out front 57-53 on a Chris Thomas drive with 6:43 left.
Red Devils' center Parnell Smith was in position to make it a six-point lead, but he missed a wide-open layup and May was fouled on the rebound. He hit one free throw to cut the lead to 57-54.
"We got a wide-open layup on a nice pass from Chris," Pike coach Alan Darner said. "We miss and foul on the rebound. We make it and we are up six, but we miss and are up only three. That was crucial."
May would give his team the lead with a layup and a follow shot. Teague then hit an 18-footer on the right wing for the Red Devils' last lead.
North took the lead for good on Clay Ludlow's layup on a nice feed from Scott May, who finished with nine points, eight assists and only two turnovers. Moussa Kante made it 62-59 with two foul shots and May fed Ludlow for another layup for 64-59.
Neither team shot free throws well down the stretch, after May picked up his fourth foul with 3:12 to play. Pike went 1-for-4, while North was 3-for-10.
"We got up 50-41, but let them back in," Darner said. "North seemed to get every long rebound and every loose ball at the end of the game. We had trouble on the free throw line blocking them out. They had trouble shooting their free throws, but they got the rebound and scored off that rebound. We just didn't get to the line very much, and we didn't hit them at the end of the game when we got to the line.
"We just could not score there at the end of the game. We may have taken some rushed shots in the fourth quarter."
North's McKinney credited assistant coach Brian Muehlhaus with devising a defensive game plan that made the Red Devils settle for the outside shot.
"Pike's too quick on the drive, so we backed off, except on the ball," McKinney said. "Coach Muehlhaus said just let them shot the three. Pack it in -- which is not our style -- with a hand in the face. That's all."
The gambit worked as the Red Devils were as cold as the rapidly-changing weather outside. They shot only 29 percent on three-pointers and 39 percent overall -- just 29 percent in the pivotal fourth period. Thomas, who had 18 points and 11 assists, was held six points below his season's average by Scott May. Thomas, the leading Mr. Basketball candidate, was only 6 of 19 from the field.
Meanwhile, North shot 57 percent from the floor. That included an 86-percent ledger in the second quarter. The Cougars also were 5 of 13 on treys.
Sean May, who played all 32 minutes, led the way. He finished with 28 points, 14 rebounds and six blocked shots.
"Sean is a very good player," McKinney said of his 6-foot-8 junior center. "Early in the year we were getting a ton of points out of Sean. Now we are getting points out of other people."
Kelvin Boatner had 12 points and five rebounds. Errek Suhr had 10 points and seven boards.
"Scott May played a tremendous game," McKinney said. "Clay Ludlow just banged on the boards (seven rebounds) and got us eight points.
"We shot much too quickly in the third quarter. We didn't want to get into a game in the 80s. We got it back under control at the end of the third and for the most part controlled the tempo in the game."
Boatner dislocated a finger in the last 30 seconds of action, but it was put back in place by a physician. McKinney said Boatner's status will be re-evaluated Saturday.
PIKE(63) -- Chris Thomas 18, Tony Weeden 20, David Teague 13, Justin Cage 8, Keith Borgan 2, Parnell Smith 2, Donald Yates 0, Curtis Thomas 0, Kyle Murphy 0.
BLOOMINGTON NORTH (71) -- Sean May 28, Scott May 9, Kelvin Boatner 12, Moussa Kanta 4, Errek Suhr 10, Clay Ludlow 8, John Allman 0, Anthony Lindsey 0, Mark Hillenburg 0.
© 2001 dbulla@indiana.edu