By KEVIN HARRIS
Kevin.Harris@newsandtribune.com
SEYMOUR — After Class 4A No. 1 Bloomington South’s 86-55 shellacking of Jeffersonville in December, Red Devil head coach Tim LaGrange said he hoped his players learned a lesson in facing the best team in Indiana.
They learned their lesson well.
In the biggest upset in the state during the 2009-10 season and one of the most miraculous shockers in the storied history of Jeff basketball, the Red Devils rallied from a 53-41 deficit at the 6:49 mark of the fourth quarter to stun Bloomington South in the Class 4A Seymour Regional final on Saturday night, 58-56.
Jeff will play No. 3 Indianapolis North Central (23-3), a 54-53 overtime winner over Noblesville in Saturday’s Lawrence Central Regional final at Hinkle Fieldhouse, in the Class 4A semistate next Saturday at either Seymour or Southport. The IHSAA will decide the semistate site today.
The victory snapped the defending state champion Panthers’ 49-game winning streak.
“It means the world to us. It’s the greatest feeling in the world,” said Jeff senior Drake Coleman, who hit the game-winning free throws with 8.4 seconds left in regulation.
Six-foot-nine senior Erik Fromm gave South (23-1) the 12-point advantage by knocking down both ends of a one-and-one. Then Jeff (22-4) began its dramatic rally.
A V.J. Billups bucket and two Evan Maschmeyer free throws pulled the Red Devils within eight at 53-45. After South junior and Indiana recruit Matt Carlino nailed a pair of foul shots, Jeff reeled off six unanswered points, thanks to three straight Maschmeyer baskets, to pull within four at 55-51.
The Panthers upped its lead to five when senior Ben Whitlatch hit the tail end of a two-shot situation at the 2:36 mark. Jeff’s Kegan Clark answered with a bucket at the two-minute mark to trim the deficit to 56-53.
After Maschmeyer forced a turnover, Coleman missed a 3-pointer and Clark grabbed the rebound on the block. The 6-4 senior then whipped the ball out to Maschmeyer near the top of the key, where the Jeff junior swished a 3 to tie the game at 56 with 1:34 left. It was the game’s first tie since the 5:14 mark of the opening quarter when it was deadlocked at four.
On South’s next-to-last possession, Whitlatch drove the ball into the paint and decided to kick the ball out to the perimeter. But Jeff senior A.J. Adams intercepted the pass, and the Red Devils promptly called a timeout with 52 seconds remaining.
Once play resumed, Jeff went into a four-corner offense to run the clock down. With less than 13 seconds remaining, Coleman drove the ball to the hoop and was fouled by Fromm with 8.4 ticks left. Before Coleman stepped to the line for his two free throws, South signaled for a timeout to try to ice the veteran guard.
Jeff head coach Tim LaGrange did not mention a word to Coleman, his stepson, about the pressure-packed foul shots.
“You never talk to that free-throw shooter. I knew they were going in when he went up there,” LaGrange said.
With the crowd of 6,500 screaming at the top of their lungs at Scott Gym and directly in front of Indiana University head basketball coach Tom Crean and last year’s Indiana Mr. Basketball and Hoosier freshman Jordan Hulls, Coleman calmly sank both free throws for the deciding points.
“I knew they were going in when I stepped up to the line,” he said.
Whitlatch tried to win the game at the buzzer for South. But his 3 at the top of the key rimmed out, sending the Jeff fan section into a frenzy as the Red Devil students rushed the floor.
“We did something not very many people thought we could do,” LaGrange said. “We kept asking them to believe in themselves. We willed ourselves to victory.”
LaGrange thought a key moment in the contest was when South junior guard Dee Davis had to exit the game late in the third quarter with a leg cramp. The Xavier recruit re-entered the game, but he did not seem 100 percent healthy the rest of the way.
“It gave us some momentum. It changed our mentality,” LaGrange said.
Maschmeyer wound up with a game-high 20 points, with 11 of those coming in the fourth quarter. Clark scored 17 points, as he poured in 15 in the first half. Coleman ended up with 10.
Carlino led the Panthers with 19 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Fromm, a Butler recruit, had 17 points and Davis chipped in 10.
LaGrange said the South setback in the regular season was only a distant memory heading into Saturday night’s classic.
“We had to have selective amnesia. We had to pretend that game didn’t even exist,” he said.
SEMIFINAL
• Red Devils ease past Artesians: Red-hot shooting from the field and the line helped Jeff down surprising Martinsville in the first semifinal, 64-51.
For the game, the Red Devils shot 23-of-38 from the floor (61 percent) and 17-of-21 from the stripe (81 percent).
Jeff’s accuracy was in full force in the first half. The Red Devils were 60 percent from the floor (12-of-20) and they were perfect at the line, making 10-of-10 foul shots.
LaGrange was happy with his team’s opening-half defense as well. Jeff held the Artesians (6-17) to 10-of-29 shooting (34 percent), as it led 35-21 at intermission.
“We had a good start to the game. We executed our defensive game plan well,” LaGrange said. “We did a good job in transition and taking what the defense gave us. With the exception of the sectional championship, we’ve been shooting free throws well the past month. They are critical at tournament time.”
Martinsville made a run at the Red Devils at the start of the third quarter. The Artesians began the second half on an 8-2 spurt to pull within eight (37-29), forcing LaGrange to call a 30-second timeout.
“I didn’t like our body language,” LaGrange said. “We looked like a team that had the game won.”
The Red Devils got the message and responded by going on a 17-2 run to extend their lead to 54-31 with about seven minutes remaining in regulation.
Three Jeff players scored in double digits. Maschmeyer paced the Devils with 14 points, while Coleman scored 11. Adams chipped in 10 and Clark had eight points and a team-high six rebounds.
Junior Derek Krebs and sophomore Jason Ray topped the Martinsville scoring column with 11 points apiece. Bloomington South defeated Evansville Harrison in the second semi, 71-61.
CLASS 4A SEYMOUR REGIONAL
CHAMPIONSHIP
JEFFERSONVILLE 17 12 12 17—58
BL. SOUTH 16 19 14 7—56
Jeff (22-4) — Adams 3, Clark 17, Coleman 10, Billups 4, Jor. Ellis 0, Williams 4, Maschmeyer 20.
Bloomington South (23-1) — Carlino 19, Fromm 17, Whitlatch 8, Davis 10, Turner 2, J. Forney 0.
3-point field goals — Jeff 5 (Clark, Coleman 2, Maschmeyer 2); Bloomington South 6 (Carlino 4, Whitlatch, Davis).
Rebounds — Jeff 20 (Maschmeyer 5); Bloomington South 26 (Carlino 11).
Turnovers — Jeff 7, Bloomington South 16.
SEMIFINAL
JEFFERSONVILLE 21 14 16 13—64
MARTINSVILLE 10 11 10 20—51
Jeff (21-4) — Adams 10, Clark 8, Coleman 11, Billups 8, Catlett 0, Jon. Ellis 0, Jor. Ellis 6, Williams 7, Maschmeyer 14.
Martinsville (6-17) — Krebs 11, Dow 10, Cazee 0, Ray 11, W. Spina 3, Carter 0, Schneck 2, Barker 6, Myer 3, G. Spina 5, Downey 0.
3-point field goals — Jeff 1 (Williams); Martinsville 7 (Krebs, Dow 2, W. Spina, Barker 2, Myer).
Rebounds — Jeff 29 (Clark 6); Martinsville 23 (Krebs 7).
Turnovers — Jeff 15, Martinsville 10.
