SEYMOUR — In the end, it wasn’t about No. 1 versus No. 2. It wasn’t even about the strength of nationally-ranked Bloomington South.

It came down to New Albany’s biggest weakness.

Poor free-throw shooting cost the Bulldogs a chance to stay close to, or even lead top-ranked Bloomington South at halftime. But instead Class 4A No. 2 New Albany found itself chasing a team that simply would not be caught.

The result was that the Bulldogs had their season end with a 61-50 loss to Bloomington South in the first game of the Seymour Regional on Saturday morning.

It was the first and last loss of the season for New Albany, which again ran roughshod through both the Hoosier Hills Conference and the Seymour Sectional, extending its streak of regular-season victories to 43 despite the loss of a star crop of seniors that led it to last year’s semistate. In that contest, the Bulldogs were finally defeated by eventual state champion Brownsburg.

Foul shooting also bit the Bulldogs then, though not to the extent in Saturday’s game. New Albany shot just 10-of-23 (43 percent) for the game, and hit just 7-of-16 tries in a first half that saw South leave an opening after taking a 15-5 lead.

“I felt like we were a second-grade team shooting free throws,” said New Albany coach Jim Shannon, who fell to 4-5 in regional games at the school. “It makes me think we should have shot free throws all week. Not even stretched or run plays, just free throws.”

Had just a few of them dropped, things could have been much different.

New Albany (23-1), used to fast starts and putting away opponents early, found itself on the other end of a stiff opening salvo when South sharpshooter Spencer Turner opened the scoring with a 3-pointer. That was followed by a bucket from 6-foot-9 center Erik Fromm and a driving score from Darwin Davis that made it 7-2.

The Bulldogs took another blow when senior Brett Martin was whistled for his second foul at the two-minute mark of the first period, but the bigger issue was South point guard Jordan Hulls. The Indiana University signee was held scoreless over the first eight minutes, but his ballhandling and penetration into the lane set up two more scores from Turner and Davis to push the Panther lead into double figures.

A pattern would begin to show early in the second quarter, as New Albany would find a way to fight back and quickly fall back into a hole. Six straight points from Martin and Donnie Hale closed the gap to 15-11 with 7:13 left in the first half. But less than two minutes later, a Davis 3 from the corner and Hulls’ first basket made it 24-12.

“I knew when we started chasing them that we’d be in big trouble,” Shannon said.

Despite their problems at the foul line, the Bulldogs nearly caught up, running off the next seven points and holding the Panthers (23-0) off the scoreboard for nearly three minutes. It should have been enough time to get even closer, but New Albany missed four free throws during the crucial stretch and prepared for halftime down just 24-19. That’s just not how it ended up.

Still, the attack seemed to put South on its heels and the Panthers elected to hold the ball for the final 1:36. As time wound down, Hulls’ teammates cleared out for their star and he headed for the rim, where he was met by the 6-7 Hale, who blocked the shot nearly to halfcourt. South retained possession after a scramble — drawing a chorus of boos from a mostly pro-New Albany crowd — but had just 0.6 of a second remaining on the clock.

No matter. The inbound came to Hulls, who fired from about 35 feet out and found nothing but net, sending Shannon to halfcourt to voice his complaints about the entire sequence.

“We made a mental mistake letting Hulls go backdoor,” said Shannon. “It was a big swing.”

With the momentum firmly in hand, South continued to build its lead when play resumed, seemingly answering every potential New Albany rally. A 3 by Bulldog reserve Tate Rohlfing trimmed the Panther lead to 34-23, but it was immediately returned by Turner on the next possession. New Albany scored just three field goals in the third, including a putback by TeNale Roland — his first basket of the game — that made it 40-27 heading into the final period.

A 59 percent team at the foul line during the regular season, the parade of missed opportunities continued to take a toll on New Albany.

South opened the fourth quarter on a 14-3 run that made it 54-32 with less than four minutes to play. Just like that, the chase was over.

“They (Bloomington South) don’t have any weaknesses,” said Shannon. “We watched about nine games trying to find one and we couldn’t. They shoot free throws, play great defense, they’re heady, scrappy. Just a great basketball team. Hopefully, we can learn from them.”

Though the outcome was seldom in doubt for much of the second half, the anticipated matchup of Indiana’s top-two teams often found ways to live up to its billing.

Few empty seats could be found in Seymour’s cavernous Scott Gymnasium despite the 10 a.m. tip — in a scene reminiscent of the site’s single-class glory days — and those fans got to see two of Indiana’s top players show off the skills that attracted the attention of top Division I coaches.

Hale finished with 12 points and eight rebounds, but emphatically swatted away several South field-goal tries to finish with three blocked shots.

Hulls was also impressive at times, fighting for a rebound under the New Albany basket, emerging from traffic with a behind-the-back dribble and coasting the distance of the court for a score. He had 12 points, seven assists and four steals. Fromm led South with 14 points and six rebounds.

Brett Martin battled foul trouble throughout, but still had 11 points, while Roland ended up with eight.

The loss sends New Albany back to the drawing board after its nearly perfect two-year run. It was the final game for seniors Roland, Martin, Erik Winburn and Taylor Klein, who hit a deep 3 at the buzzer to finish his career.

“Those four seniors did a great job of leadership all year,” Shannon said. “We didn’t have the high expectations this season, but those kids stepped up and made it possible.”



CLASS 4A SEYMOUR REGIONAL

SEMIFINAL

NEW ALBANY 8 11 8 23—50

BLOOM. SOUTH 15 12 13 21—61

New Albany (23-1) — Hale 12, B. Martin 11, Whitehead 5, J. Martin 5, Roland 8, Klein 3, Winburn 3, Benson 0, Rohlfing 3.

Bloomington South (23-0) — Turner 13, Fromm 14, Davis 10, Cooper 11, Hulls 12, Blackwell 0, Whitlatch 1, Etnier 0, Mulinix 0.

Three-point field goals — New Albany 5 (Roland, J. Martin, B. Martin, Winburn, Klein); Bloomington South 4 (Turner 2, Hulls, Davis).

Rebounds — New Albany 23 (Hale 8); Bloomington South 22 (Fromm 6).

Turnovers — New Albany 8, Bloomington South 8.