North's Cardiac Cats pull off another last-second stunner at regional

SEYMOUR — Over the past two seasons, the Bloomington North boys' basketball team has seemingly taken the post-season philosophy of "survive and advance" to a whole new level.

Consider a two-overtime win followed by an overtime win in last year's sectional, followed by rallying from nine points down with four minutes left in the third quarter against Franklin in the regional final.

Check back in with the Cougars this year and it's business as usual, needing a 3 at the buzzer to rally from down eight at half to beat Center Grove. Then Saturday, North had to get in gear in the third quarter again, this time to erase a 14-point deficit as JaQualon Roberts' three-point play with 3.7 seconds left capped a head-spinning 45-43 win over Columbus North in the Class 4A Seymour Regional.

It's not a road North (19-5) wants to keep going down, but North keeps going down the postseason road because of it.

"I'd like to think that they're super tough now," North coach Jason Speer said. "We've been through a long season. We've had a lot more wins than loses but again, making some of those plays there at the end.

"My goodness. They were 'have to's.' I'd say this group is definitely a 'have to' sort of team now."

North, amazingly, trailed the entire game, starting off with an 8-0 deficit, until a pair of clutch 3s from none other than Gavin Reed, and one of four free throw shooting by CN's Luke Hammons, set up the Cougars for the game-winner.

The ball was inbounded to Reed who dribbled to the top of the key against the 2-3 defense and found Roberts cutting to the middle of the lane. He pivoted, went up, missed the first shot but grabbed the board and pushed the ball through as he took a shove and fell to the floor to an explosion of sound from the North fanbase.

"We knew all we needed was a layup, so we wanted to try to get as close of a look as we can," Roberts said. "They knew what play we were going to run, but ultimately, we were able to get the play."

He sank the free throw. Columbus inbounded to Cooper Horn who had to squeeze by Dawan Daniels and then Roberts along the right sideline to get off a 30-foot runner that was wide left.

"Everybody had to get it going in the second half," Roberts said. "We knew coming in down 12, we had to be able to fight. To win a regional, you have to be tough. You can't give up."

It sends North to the semistate level, where and when and against whom will be unknown until 1 p.m. on Sunday when the IHSAA will reveal the draw. The Cougars will play either No. 1 Ben Davis (30-0), No. 8 Brownsburg (21-4) or No. 9 Jennings County (24-2), most likely at Southport or New Castle.

"We can't do that anymore," Reed said of the slow starts. "It's been serious the whole playoffs, but now, it gets real serious. They're all very solid teams and we can't come out flat like that. We've got to come out like we came out in the second half, starting the game."

Saved by the defense

The key to both comebacks was slowing down the Trojans and Bull Dogs after big starts. Both teams had just 28 points in the last 24 minutes. Horn, who led Columbus with 17 points, had just four after the break and none in the fourth quarter.

"Our zone helped a lot," Lindeman said. "We got a lot of stops and then we just played good transition defense as well and we were able to string some stops together."

More:'I like to play defense:' Dawan Daniels on point for Bloomington North

Columbus did shoot 56% (18-of-32) but took only 12 shots after halftime, to North's 24. The Cougars also won the glass in the second half, 15-6.

"I think the press did wear them down," Speer said. "So they didn't have the legs they had in the first half. So kind of had to weather the storm and we were more fresh at the end."

Another miserable first half

Columbus North owned the entire court in the first half.

The Bull Dogs jumped up 8-0 and it took 5:30 for Roberts to make the Cougars' first shot. Meanwhile, CN was getting to the basket, even scoring in transition, with Horn getting off to a red-hot start, going 6-of-7 for 13 points to build a 25-12 halftime lead.

North didn't score in the last 5:50, but partly because the Bull Dogs seemed to pull back a bit. They still finished on a 7-0 run after Damon Edwards' back door cut along the baseline with two seconds left.

"It's a really good zone and they were taking away our 3-point shot," Speer said. "They were closing out super well and they did a good job of taking away our middle drives. There were some things open on the baseline and we had to finish and make plays the whole time."

Another comeback

Again, it was a two-pronged approach, part strategy, part attitude.

"Coach Speer getting us motivated in the locker room, telling us what's on the line," Reed said. "We've been through way too much to go out like this. Going down 12 at half is unacceptable."

On defense, North's press rattled the Bull Dogs into six turnovers in the third quarter to fuel a 14-2 run.

On offense, the Cougars were a bit feistier in taking the ball to the bucket, attacking inside the zone and got a pair of and-1s from Roberts and Lindeman because of it. Lindeman had nine in the period as North got within 30-28.

"Attacking and hit the open (guy)," Lindeman said. "We were not doing much of it the first half. Once we got the ball moving, it got us more open shots."

But for the third time, Columbus set up a play and scored at the buzzer. Those six points looked like they might be the difference when the night was done, but the Bull Dogs undid that at the foul line, going just 5-of-11 in the fourth quarter.

Frantic finish

It also seemed like Columbus was playing not to lose and faded fast after taking a 38-31 lead with 5:43 to go. They made only one bucket the rest of the way.

"There is no magic wand," Speer said. "Your week of preparation is everything and then you want to come out and execute. We knew there was a chance we'd have to go to a full-court press if we got down. The guys did a really good job of speeding up Columbus North.

"And obviously, Luke Lindeman did a fantastic job in the third quarter, just playing much, much older than he is. And then Gavin Reed hitting those 3-point shots and then the play at the end there, JQ just willing the ball in the bucket. Those things, they all had to fall into place or we wouldn't have won. So super proud of the their effort."

More:IHSAA boys basketball regional scores, highlights: See who is on to semistate

The Cougars answered with five three-point possessions and unselfishness was key. The first was a hoop and foul on Lindeman off a feed from Roberts at 5:50. Next Roberts found Lucas Vencel for a layup. Then Reed banged home a 3 at the 3:30 mark.

With Columbus up 42-36 and just 1:16 left, Reed collected an offensive rebound and sank another triple with 50 seconds left. Next trip for North, an offensive rebound by Lindeman found its way to Reed for another 3 with 22 seconds left to make it 43-42.

"I just gotta start shooting them before then," Reed said. "Shooting them in the first half. I feel like we had good looks, we just weren't knocking them down. But we hit them when it mattered."

Two missed free throws four seconds later set up the latest in a string of North heroics.

"All you gotta do," Roberts said, "is win by one."

BLOOMINGTON NORTH 45, COLUMBUS NORTH 43

Bloomington North (43): Vencel f 1-2 0-0 2, Roberts f 5-13 4-4 16, Daniels g 0-5 2-4 2, Lindeman g 6-10 2-2 14, Reed g 3-8 0-0 9, O'Guinn 0-1 0-0 0, Dangerfield 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 16-41 8-10 45.

Columbus North (43): Edwards f 5-7 0-0 10, C.Horn f 8-13 0-0 17, Harmon g 1-2 3-7 6, Blythe g 2-4 0-2 4, T.Ferguson g 1-5 2-3 4, Shiefer 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 18-32 5-12 43.

Bloomington North (19-5) 7 | 5 | 16 | 17 — 45

Columbus North (17-9) 15 | 9 | 8 | 11 — 43

3-point goals: Bloomington North 5-17 (Reed 3-6, Roberts 2-4, O'Guinn 0-1, Lindeman 0-2, Daniels 0-4), Columbus North 2-7 (Harmon 1-2, C.Horn 1-4, T.Ferguson 0-1). Rebounds: Bloomington North 25 (Lindeman 9, Roberts 7), Columbus North 19 (Harmon 6). Team fouls: Bloomington North 15, Columbus North 13. Turnovers: Bloomington North 9, Columbus North 11.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: North's Cardiac Cats pull off another last-second stunner at regional