Bloomington North's Cougars took one step closer to a perfect regular season with a 48-31 victory over visiting Southport Friday night.
With the win the Cougars improved to 19-0 and finished the Conference Indiana season 9-0. This marks the third straight year that the Conference Indiana champion has gone undefeated. Pike did it two seasons ago and went on to win the 4-A state title. South finished 9-0 in the CI last year and went on to the Final Four.
The Cougars have one regular-season game left. They host Indianapolis Manual next Friday night. They can complete the first undefeated regular season in school history. The 1997 state championship North team lost one regular-season game en route to the state title in the final season of single-class ball in Indiana.
Sean May paced the Cougars Friday night with 15 points and 10 rebounds. The 6-foot-8 sophomore forward got plenty of help from senior Jared Jeffries, who Thursday was named a finalist for the Prep Naismith Award. Jeffries, a leading candidate for Mr. Basketball, finished with only seven points because the Cardinals put a box-and-one on him the entire night. Yet Jeffries contributed in other ways. He had eight rebounds, five blocked shots and two assists.
"Jeffries didn't get frustrated by the box-and-one," Southport coach Joe Cantou said. "He passed the ball instead of forcing it. That's the sign of a mature player."
Cougar junior guard Kelvin Boatner added 10 points.
North held Southport 10 points under its game goal of 41 points. The Cougars hope they can match the 1996-97 BHSN team that finished the season with a school record 41.8 points per game defensive average. This North team is giving up 43.1 points per game.
The Cougars, ranked 22nd in the country by USA Today, held the Cardinals scoreless in the first quarter and Southport (3-6, 6-12) didn't get its first basket until Chris Weber nailed a three-pointer with 6:09 left in the half.
"We've played against some presses and zones lately," North coach Tom McKinney said. "Tonight we faced a box-and-one and a deliberate offense. We probably needed to be a little more aggressive about getting it inside. We won by 17 points, though. I'm pleased with that.
"You have to play a game like this sooner or later. We had a lead in the fourth quarter and made Southport come after us. That enabled us to get some layups."
The major difference in the game was the fact that North held Southport to a 33-percent shooting night.
"We wanted to play North within 10 points," Cantou said. "We couldn't get that close because we didn't shoot the ball real well tonight. North is the most physical team we've played.
"To a lot of people it might have looked like we were trying to slow the pace. The truth of the matter is that North took almost everything away from us. In the first quarter they did take away everything away from us."
The Cougars led 21-8 at halftime after the Cards made only 4 of 12 shots in the first half, but Southport closed within 32-22 by the end of the third quarter. The Cardinals outscored the Cougars 14-11 in the third period. Yet North put the game away with a 16-9 fourth quarter.
North shot just 46 percent itself, but the Cougars did make 6 of 14 from behind the arc.
Before the game, Jeffries was presented with the first annual John Stewart Memorial Award. Stewart was an all-state player from Indianapolis who died last March from a heart attack suffered during a playoff game. Stewart had signed with Kentucky. Meanwhile, North senior guard Matt Kalua was crowned Winter King during a halftime ceremony.
Southport hosts Greenwood next Wednesday.
In the JV game, North captured a 45-20 victory. The Cougar JV team improved to 13-6.
© 2000 dbulla@indiana.edu