Published: November 21, 2009 12:15 am         

BOYS BASKETBALL JAMBOREE: Big 4 hit the floor to ‘show what they can do’

TERRE HAUTE — Mike Saylor probably summed up Friday’s evening of high school basketball exhibition play at Terre Haute North the best.

“Kids at this age get excited,” the Terre Haute South coach said after seeing his team’s two quarters of jamboree play. “Everybody wants to show what they can do.”

With that in mind, and with 50 different players seeing action in 32 minutes of play, there was probably more excitement than disciplined play. But all four teams showed varying degrees of promise for regular seasons that begin as soon as Wednesday for West Vigo and North.

Those two teams combined to beat South and Northview 64-46 on the scoreboard, each of the winning squads scoring 32 points. And with the notable exception of North’s second five, which blitzed Northview at the end of the second quarter led by Jake Newton and Ross Sponsler, it was the returning veterans who led the way.

The only double-figure scorers, for example, were the two remaining starters from South’s four-man backcourt a year ago. Anthony McGill had 12 points and John Michael Jarvis scored 11 and grabbed five steals.

Two more returning guards, Scott West and Tyler Wampler, combined for 17 points for West Vigo, Wampler also leading his team with six rebounds; returning power forward Jacob Musgrave of Northview grabbed 11 rebounds, which may be a jamboree record; and two-year starter Justin Gant — still just a junior — had team-leading totals of nine points and four rebounds for North.

South and West Vigo were close in the first quarter until Jarvis, returning to the court with the Braves’ third group of players, had a five-point flurry in approximately 10 seconds during which he stole the ball, took a pass from McGill for a fast-break layup, then stole the ball again and nailed a 3-pointer.

“We tried to play everybody as equally as we could,” Saylor said. “I thought Jarvis looked good. He’s back to his old self [after an injury at the end of South’s sectional-championship season a year ago].”

Northview and North battled hard defensively for more than five minutes of the second quarter, but then the North reserves rattled off 12 unanswered points in a two-minute span.

Neither Jarvis nor McGill started the third quarter for South, with North pulling the Viking-Patriot team farther ahead early in that quarter, and West Vigo and Northview had an offensive-minded fourth period.

“I think we did some good things tonight,” said coach Todd Woelfle, whose North team won both its quarters. “Our energy level on defense was very good.”

Patriot opponents hit just 3 of 24 field goal attempts, in fact, although Woelfle didn’t attribute that entirely to his team’s defense.

“Both those teams have good shooters; they won’t do that [against North in the regular season],” he cautioned. “But I was proud of our effort.”

Junior point guard Chase Jones ran the Patriots assertively and confidently, and Woelfle added, “He’s an intelligent kid and he showed good leadership … everybody was involved with what we were doing tonight.”

West Vigo matched the Patriots in points, and coach Joe Boehler noted afterward, “Last year it took us six minutes just to hit a basket, and this year I think we scored in the first minute.”

The Vikings used three junior varsity players because Matt Flesher was unavailable with a church commitment and Dalton Mix, Cole Lydick and Jordan Houser have been bothered by injuries. Mix didn’t play either, although Lydick played sparingly and Houser wound up leading his team with three steals.

“I saw some things I definitely liked,” Boehler said. “We had some concerns coming in that we addressed, and we found out we can do a few things … I thought we played to our strengths and ran the floor pretty well.”

“We lacked patience offensively, and didn’t really commit to the concept we’re trying to play this year,” Saylor said, during the conversation about kids being excited. “We played hard, but we didn’t necessarily play in the spirit of just trying to win.”

Although his Knights didn’t win either quarter and didn’t shoot well, coach Ernie Maesch of Northview was upbeat afterward.

“You saw three months on the football field and 10 days of [basketball] practice,” he said, referring to the fact that Northview’s three returning starters were also football standouts. “The effort was there, and we took good shots. They just didn’t go in.”

Maesch’s reaction to Musgrave’s board work was revealing in that respect. “He can do that,” the coach said of his player’s rebound total. “We’ve just got to get him to do something with them offensively.”



TERRE HAUTE SOUTH (30) — Tanoos 0-0 1-2 1, Young 0-1 0-0 0, Worrell 0-1 1-2 1, McGill 4-12 3-4 12, Jarvis 4-7 0-0 11, Turner 0-1 0-0 0, Schwartz 0-1 0-0 0, Ulrich 0-2 0-0 0, Smith 0-3 0-0 0, Rose 2-2 0-0 5, Etling 0-0 0-0 0, McKenna 0-0 0-0 0, Lookebill 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 10-31 FG, 5-8 FT, 30 TP.

WEST VIGO (32) — Thornton 2-3 0-2 4, Kent 0-0 0-0 0, McCalister 0-1 7-8 7, Wampler 2-6 3-4 8, West 3-8 1-2 9, Crowther 1-3 0-0 2, Hauser 1-5 0-2 2, Lydick 0-0 0-0 0, Lyon 0-0 0-0 0, Lindsey 0-0 0-0 0, Gregg 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 9-26 FG, 11-18 FT, 32 TP.

NORTHVIEW (16) — Musgrave 0-0 0-0 0, Mershon 1-5 0-0 3, Bradshaw 2-6 0-0 4, Lancaster 2-9 0-0 4, Allen 0-0 0-0 0, Hyatt 0-2 0-0 0, Reynolds 1-6 1-1 3, Talbot 1-2 0-1 2, VanHorn 0-0 0-0 0, Hull 0-1 0-0 0, Rohr 0-0 0-0 0, Rodgers 0-2 0-0 0, Pestoff 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 7-33 FG, 1-2 FT, 16 TP.

TERRE HAUTE NORTH (32) — Gant 2-2 4-4 9, Shipley 0-0 2-2 2, Anderson 1-3 1-2 3, Jones 0-2 4-4 4, C.O’Leary 0-2 0-0 0, Marshall 0-2 0-0 0, Newton 2-2 0-0 5, Sponsler 1-1 2-2 5, Gauer 1-2 0-0 2, M.O’Leary 0-0 0-0 0, Blank 1-1 0-0 2, Bolden 0-0 0-0 0, Alexander 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 8-18 FG, 13-14 FT, 32 TP.

South-Northview 20 3 10 13 — 46

West Vigo-North 14 18 14 18 — 64

3-point shooting — THS 5-20 (Jarvis 3-5, Rose 1-1, McGill 1-6, Young 0-1, Worrell 0-1, Turner 0-1, Lookebill 0-1, Ulrich 0-2, Smith 0-2), WV 3-7 (West 2-4, Wampler 1-1, Houser 0-2), Northview 1-16 (Mershon 1-5, Hull 0-1, Hyatt 0-2, Lancaster 0-4, Reynolds 0-4), THN 3-7 (Gant 1-1, Sponsler 1-1, Newton 1-1, C.O’Leary 0-1, Marshall 0-1, Gauer 0-1, Alexander 0-1). Total fouls — THS 12, WV 6, Northview 11, THN 7. Turnovers — THS 6, WV 5, Northview 8, THN 8. Rebounds — THS 16 (Worrell 4, Tanoos 4), WV 19 (Wampler 6), Northview 21 (Musgrave 11), THN 18 (Gant 4). Assists — THS 3 (McGill, Turner, Rose), WV 5 (Wampler 2), Northview 4 (Bradshaw 2), THN 5 (Gant, Marshall, Newton, Sponsler, Anderson). Steals — THS 8 (Jarvis 5), WV 5 (Houser 3), Northview 1 (Hull), THN 0. Blocks — THS 1 (Schwartz), WV 1 (Crowther), Northview 2 (Lancaster, Rodgers), THN 1 (Gauer).

Next — West Vigo has a home game Wednesday against North Vermillion. North plays Wednesday at Evansville Central. South plays Nov. 28 at home against Evansville Reitz. Northview plays Dec. 4 at North.