By Craig Pearson
The Tribune-Star
TERRE HAUTE
December 29, 2008 11:42 pm
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Terre Haute North used one of this year’s Pizza Hut Classic’s most dominant defensive performances to advance to its first championship game since winning its third title in four years in 2006.
The Patriots held Northview to 23.9-percent shooting from the field to turn Monday’s first semifinal game into a blowout. North led just 21-14 after one half, but it led 39-19 with 2 minutes, 25 seconds left in the third quarter.
The defensive gameplan started with Knights’ point guard Austin Akers, who led his team to a victory against North in both teams’ season opener. Akers earned game-high honors with 16 points, but he shot just 6-for-19 from the field.
“It was a tremendous defensive effort on our part by our entire team,” North coach Todd Woelfle said. “Austin Akers did whatever he wanted the last time we played. We had to make sure he worked for everything he got. We wanted to do that and keep them off the boards.”
North accomplished that second goal as well, winning the rebound battle 40-22. Sophomore Justin Gant had 10 points and 12 rebounds, and Thomas Anderson 12 points and eight rebounds. The 6-foot-8 Gant and 6-6 Anderson allowed few open shots in or around the paint, and Northview managed just five offensive rebounds.
“We’re a perimeter-oriented team,” Northview coach Ernie Maesch said. “When the ball doesn’t go in the hole [we’ll struggle], and [the Patriots] got a special thing with the ability to take away easy shots because of 6-9, 6-6.”
“Defensively, we did a pretty good job. Offensively, we never got going.”
Zach Harrison was one of several players to get it going offensively. with 15 points on 6 of 11 shooting. He hit a 3 to make it 39-19 and added an old-fashioned 3-point play for a 46-23 lead with 5:31 left in the game. North effectively ran out the clock after that made free throw.
The senior is ready to play for a Classic title with his team playing its best basketball of the season.
“We’ve been working hard and executing everything pretty well, a lot better than before,” Harrison said.
North also got four assists from point guard Chase Jones, who found teammates for layups after penetrating the Northview defense.
“We got good penetration and kicks and we’re getting the ball to our big men and they’re scoring. We’re executing things pretty well,” Harrison said.
North also got 10 points off the bench in the first half from Andrew Gauer and Jerrel Thompson. Also, Gauer and starter Scott Weatherford played most of the defense on Akers.
“We got a great lift off the bench,” Woelfle said. “Jerrel Thompson’s been giving us positive minutes the whole tournament, and Andrew Gauer played a great game.
“We won the game on the defensive end. We contained their good players. We put a game plan in defensively and we executed it perfectly.”
North will battle the Marshall Lions tonight in an effort to win its fourth Classic title since winning its first in 2003. Marshall was runner-up last season to Terre Haute South.
Terre Haute North 48
Player fg 3pt ft reb. s f tp
Jones 0-3 0-0 1-2 1 1 2 1
Harrison 6-11 2-4 1-1 7 1 1 15
Weatherford 0-3 0-0 0-0 3 0 0 0
Anderson 6-12 0-0 0-0 8 0 1 12
Gant 5-9 0-0 0-0 12 1 2 10
Gauer 3-6 0-2 0-0 5 1 2 6
Thompson 2-2 0-0 0-0 2 0 2 4
Bolden 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Marshall 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Taylor 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 0
Sponsler 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Shipley 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 0
Totals 22-47 2-6 2-3 40 4 11 48
Northview 28
Player fg 3pt ft reb. s f tp
Akers 6-19 2-7 2-3 3 1 0 16
Lancaster 2-9 0-1 1-3 3 0 0 4
Reynolds 1-7 1-4 0-0 2 1 3 3
Bradshaw 1-3 0-0 0-2 6 0 3 2
Musgrave 1-2 0-0 0-0 5 0 0 2
Mershon 0-3 0-1 0-0 0 1 0 0
Wilson 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Hyatt 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Allen 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Keller 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 0
Robertson 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 0
Sims 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Tanner 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0
Totals 11-46 3-13 3-8 22 3 7 28
Terre Haute North 8 13 18 9 — 48
Northview 2 12 5 9 — 28
FG percentage — THN .468, Nv .239. 3-point FG — THN .333, Nv .231. FT percentage — THN .667, Nv .375. Assists — THN 8 (Jones 4), Nv 4 (Akers 2). Turnovers — THN 8, Nv 5. Blocks — THN 5 (Gant 3, Gauer 1, Thompson 1), Nv 1 (Mershon).
Next — Terre Haute North (5-4) plays tonight against Marshall (11-0) at 8:15 p.m. in the championship game. Northview (4-4) plays Terre Haute South (8-1) at 6:15 p.m. in the third-place game.
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