By KEVIN HARRIS
Kevin.Harris@newsandtribune.com
Indianapolis —
For the second consecutive postseason contest, the Jeffersonville boys’ basketball team appeared primed to knock out another top-three RANKED opponent from the 100th IHSAA state tournament.
But unlike No. 1 Bloomington South in last weekend’s Class 4A Seymour Regional final, No. 3 Indianapolis North Central refused to collapse against the pesky Red Devils on Saturday at Southport Fieldhouse.
On the strength of sophomore sensation D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera’s game-high 25 points, the Panthers ended Jeff’s thrilling postseason run with an 82-77 victory in the 4A Southport Semistate.
North Central (24-3) will face No. 6 Warsaw (23-2), a 58-53 victor over Fort Wayne Carroll in Saturday’s Huntington North Semistate, in next Saturday’s state championship game at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Despite the loss, third-year Red Devil head coach Tim LaGrange lauded his troops for gelling at the right time of the season. Jeff finished with a 22-5 record and entered the semistate with a 14-game win streak, which included claiming its first sectional title since 2006 and its first regional crown since 2000.
“The kids played their hearts out. We just couldn’t put it together at both ends of the court today,” LaGrange said. “I’m so proud of this group. You could see the fight in us today, and we didn’t have that in the middle part of the season. They became men and bonded together.”
North Central seemed to be ready to pull away from the Devils at the second half’s outset. Sophomore Ronnie Johnson nailed a 3-pointer 30 seconds into the third quarter to put the Panthers up 48-37.
Jeff whittled the advantage down to three points at 60-57 with 7:46 remaining in regulation when senior Drake Coleman converted a three-point play.
With the Red Devils trailing 64-58 at the 5:31 mark of the fourth quarter, Coleman got them within three points again by swishing a 3 from the corner.
That is when Smith-Rivera displayed the talent that is making several NCAA Division I college coaches knock on his door.
The 6-foot-4 guard scored all of his team’s points during a 9-4 spurt to extend North Central’s lead to 73-65. Smith-Rivera had three layups during the run, two of those coming off Johnson assists.
Veteran North Central coach Doug Mitchell said Smith-Rivera picked up the slack when the Jeff defense keyed on the Panthers’ leading scorer Terone Johnson, a Purdue recruit.
“When they went to the box-and-one (defense), we put Terone on the perimeter. That opened things up for D’Vauntes,” Mitchell said.
During the 9-4 run, Smith-Rivera said he wanted to attack Jeff senior center A.J. Adams.
“He’s a good, athletic kid, but I knew I had to take it to him,” Smith-Rivera said.
After the Panthers laid in two more buckets to up their lead to 77-65 with 1:09 remaining, Jeff made one last-ditch run.
Red Devil junior V.J. Billups tipped in a putback basket to start a 9-2 spurt. After Ronnie Johnson downed two foul shots, junior Evan Maschmeyer hit a runner and Coleman nailed a 3 to get Jeff within seven at 79-72. North Central then threw away an inbound pass, which resulted in a layup by senior Kegan Clark, a Wright State signee, to pull the Red Devils within five with 24 seconds left.
But Smith-Rivera, who scored 16 points in the final quarter, iced the victory by hitting 3-of-4 at the stripe.
“We had a hard time putting together consecutive runs and they had a lot to do with that,” LaGrange said. “We didn’t shoot the ball well. If we shot the ball better, it could’ve been a different fate.”
Five Jeff players scored in double figures. Maschmeyer tallied 18 points, shooting 3-of-8 from 3-point range and 5-of-6 at the stripe. Coleman chipped in 16 points, making three treys and shooting a perfect 5-of-5 at the line. Adams and Clark each scored 11 points in their final games wearing a Jeff uniform, while Billups poured in 10. Adams recorded game highs in rebounds (nine), blocks (two) and steals (two).
Mitchell praised the effort the Red Devils put forth on Saturday.
“They played their hearts out, and they’re well-coached,” he said. “We’ll try to enjoy this, but we still have a lot of work to do.”
Ronnie and Terone Johnson, who are brothers, each scored 15 points. Smith-Rivera and Terone Johnson each grabbed eight boards. Smith-Rivera dished out five assists, all of which came in the first half.
LaGrange and the Red Devil underclassmen said goodbye to their four seniors — Adams, Clark, Coleman and Dominique Catlett.
“The greatest joy for me is to be a part of the process of these kids becoming men,” LaGrange said. “That’s more important to me than wins and losses. I’m proud of the seniors and how far they have come.”
CLASS 4A SOUTHPORT SEMISTATE
NORTH CENTRAL 25 20 15 22—82
JEFFERSONVILLE 16 21 17 23—77
Indianapolis North Central (24-3) — R. Johnson 15, Smith 5, Latham 2, T. Johnson 15, Smith-Rivera 25, Bluitt 5, McFall 8, Bass 0, Ingram 7.
Jeff (22-5) — Adams 11, Clark 11, Coleman 16, Billups 10, Maschmeyer 18, Jon. Ellis 4, Jor. Ellis 5, Williams 2, Roland 0, Whaley 0.
3-point field goals — North Central 5 (T. Johnson 3, R. Johnson, Bluitt); Jeff 7 (Coleman 3, Maschmeyer 3, Jon. Ellis).
Rebounds — North Central 34 (T. Johnson, Smith-Rivera 8); Jeff 30 (Adams 9).
Turnovers — North Central 13, Jeff 14.
