BY GREG MENGELT
Greg.Mengelt@newsandtribune.com
SEYMOUR — Evan Maschmeyer has always been a player that has made the plays to help his team win games.
On Saturday night at Scott Gym, the 6-foot-3 junior gave Jeffersonville its first sectional title in four years.
Maschmeyer nailed a 8-foot baseline jumper with 9.6 seconds remaining in regulation, and New Albany’s last-ditch game-winning attempt misfired, giving Jeff a 59-57 victory in the Class 4A Seymour Sectional final.
The Red Devils (20-4) will face Martinsville (6-16), a 57-50 winner over Terre Haute South in the Plainfield Sectional final, in the first semifinal of the Seymour Regional at 10 a.m. next Saturday.
Maschmeyer’s game-winner broke a couple of losing streaks against the hated Bulldogs (19-3). The Red Devils snapped a seven-game skid in the rivalry and a 3-game losing streak in the sectional final.
All those sectional losses came against New Albany.
“It feels better than I thought it ever would,” Maschmeyer said. “We’ve finally done it and we got this off our back. Hopefully, we can make a little run in the tournament.”
The game-winning sequence started with 28 seconds left.
New Albany guard Chris Whitehead drew the fifth foul on Jeff’s V.J. Billups and nailed two free throws to tie the game at 57, prompting a Red Devils timeout.
Once play resumed, Maschmeyer drove to the right baseline and knocked down the jumper.
New Albany’s final attempt came when Adam Stotts fired a 3-pointer on the left wing, but the shot rimmed out as time expired. That prompted the Jeff students to rush the floor and celebrate the school’s 35th sectional crown.
“I decided to go right and make something happen,” Maschmeyer said. “We’ve had our ups and downs this season, but in the end we made it. It feels amazing.”
Jeff head coach Tim LaGrange, who captured his first sectional title at the school, thought Maschmeyer did a great job of taking what the New Albany defense gave him.
“It’s exactly how we drew it up, but he just made a great read,” LaGrange said. “He’s been doing that all year. He’s a confident kid and he made the play.”
Holding a 41-39 lead at the start of the fourth quarter, the Red Devils connected on their first four shots to go up 50-41. After Bulldog center Donnie Hale made 1-of-2 free throws, Jeff took its largest lead at 52-42 when A.J. Adams downed two foul shots.
Then New Albany made its run, outscoring the Devils 15-5 in the next three minutes and six seconds to knot the game at 57.
The determining factor for the Bulldogs was their free-throw shooting in the final stanza. They converted only 7-of-15 from the stripe in the final eight minutes.
For the game, New Albany was 13-of-26 at the line.
“The kids played great, but the free throws we missed were a disappointment,” Shannon said. “In the past in the tournament, it has been our Achilles’ heel. But, I thought our effort was great.”
New Albany also had to battle with foul trouble, especially with Hale. The future Purdue Boilermaker collected three fouls by the 2:54 mark of the first quarter and he got his fourth foul at the 6:08 mark of the third.
“We wanted to attack him,” LaGrange said. “For us to play that long without him in there was big.”
When Hale earned his third foul, he sat on the bench the rest of the first half with Jeff leading 15-10. But the Red Devils could not take advantage of New Albany’s misfortune as the Dogs only trailed by six at halftime, 31-25.
“We were feeling great and that’s what we told (the Bulldogs) at half,” Shannon said. “We had some kids step up off the bench and give us a boost.”
When Hale got his fourth foul, Shannon made a gutsy move and kept Hale in the game until the 2:34 mark of the third. He also decided to go to a rare 2-3 zone defense, which the Bulldogs do not even use in practice.
“We didn’t want to take him out because I thought they would take off against us,” Shannon said. “The zone kept us out of foul trouble. It worked and sometimes you have to adapt to situations.”
Jeff senior Drake Coleman scored a game-high 20 points, connecting on 6-of-9 from 3-point range. Maschmeyer scored 14 points and Adams chipped in 11.
Chris Whitehead paced the Bulldogs with 19 points after scoring a career-high 30 in Friday’s 66-63 semifinal victory over rival Floyd Central.
Teammate Jordy Martin helped keep New Albany in the game with 14 points, shooting 5-of-7 from the field and 3-of-5 from 3-point range. Hale scored 12 points in his final high school game.
Shannon thought Friday night’s hard-fought 66-63 semifinal victory over rival Floyd Central had no effect on his players against Jeff.
“No,” Shannon said. “Getting in four trouble hurt us, and missing free throws killed us.”
New Albany still leads the all-time series with Jeff, 75-73.
CLASS 4A SEYMOUR SECTIONAL
CHAMPIONSHIP
JEFFERSONVILLE 19 12 10 18—59
NEW ALBANY 14 11 14 18—57
Jeff (20-4) — Adams 11, Clark 5, Coleman 20, Billups 4, Catlett 0, Jon. Ellis 0, Jor. Ellis 4, Williams 1, Maschmeyer 14.
New Albany (19-3) — Toliver 4, Whitehead 19, Benson 2, Martin 14, Newbolt 0, Stotts 2, Rohlfing 3, Hale 12, Meyer 0, McDaniel 1.
3-point field goals – Jeff 6 (Coleman 6); New Albany 7 (Whitehead 2, Martin 3, Rohlfing, Hale).
Rebounds – Jeff 29 (Adams 8); New Albany 25 (Rohlfing 5). Turnovers – Jeff 9, New Albany 10.
