ELNORA — For North Daviess, revenge was a dish best served at sectional as the Cougars knocked off Loogootee, 57-47 on Tuesday.

The Cougars (17-5) started the game with a 15-2 run and ended the contest with a 15-4 run to get the home win against the Lions (12-9).

Loogootee beat North Daviess during the season on a controversial buzzer-beating 3-pointer that replay shown to be a clear two.

Coach Brent Dalrymple said it was not the loss that motivated his team but a change in style that has helped the Cougars to an 11-game winning streak.

“We felt we were a completely different team than we were in January,” Dalrymple said. “Tonight was about winning the sectional game and advancing.”

Tuesday, the Cougars came out of their cage running, with a 15-2 run to start the game. North Daviess was led in the first by Thomas Nugent, scoring eight of his team-leading 16 points in the opening frame.

But the Cougars did not make it easy. The Lions fought back with treys from Roland Slaubaugh and Tyler Trambaugh. Slaubaugh led all scorers with 17 points.

Loogootee had cut the advantage back to a tie with 3:35 in the second frame. Lions coach Mike Wagoner said it was a “typical start” for his team lately.

“I looked up and saw it was 15-2 and I kept hearing people say ‘Call time-out,’” Wagoner said. “I did not feel uncomfortable. I felt really calm and felt they are hitting everything up there and sooner or later we will start getting back into the game, which we did.”

The game was a hard-fought physical match up for most of it as the Lions and Cougars traded buckets and threes and turnovers for most of the second half. A combined 14 points were scored in the third.

Then, just like they started the game, the Cougars heated up behind a couple treys from Logan Wagler. At the 6:04 mark in the fourth, Wagler hit another 3-pointer to cap off a 7-0 run. The run continued to 15-4, when Loogootee had to foul to save time.

“All that was people stepping up and making shots,” Dalrymple said. “We don’t rely on one guy. We don’t rely on two guys. We rely on all five to step up and make big shots.”

The Cougars also had big efforts from Kendall Wittmer and Jacob Miller. Miller ended up with 15 points and Wittmer had 12 points. Wagler finished with eight points, Lucas Swartzentruber added five and Nelson Graber chipped in a free throw.

For Loogootee, Patrick Bowling scored eight points , while Brett Mattingly and Trambaugh added six each. John Baugh had four points and Ben Hogan contributed three points.

“Like I said, if we would have had a lead, we would have strategize differently but give North Daviess credit, they made good shots, they took care of the ball and I thought our defense was good in the middle quarters,” Wagoner said. “They hit the free throws and good teams hit free throws.”

Wagoner, in his first year as head coach, praised his six seniors — Mattingly, Bowling, Trambaugh, Slaubaugh, Tyler Bratton and Jared Mann — for the effort they gave during the season. Loogootee improved to 12 wins this season, versus four the previous year. It was the first time since 1993 that a team other than Barr-Reeve has beaten Loogootee in the sectional.

“I told our six seniors a while ago that we couldn’t have won 12 games without them,” Wagoner said. “We couldn’t have won our season-opening tournament without them and we wouldn’t have had as much fun without them.”

Up next for North Daviess is another rematch with Buggy Bowl rival Barr-Reeve. The Cougars kept the buggy for a second year with a 50-44 win on Jan. 23. Dalrymple said he expects the Vikings to be “fired up and try to avenge the loss in January.”

“It’s something the fans get pumped up and ready for,” Dalrymple said. “We have a motto: ‘Do what we do.’

“That’s what we are going to do Friday night.”

The North Daviess-Barr-Reeve game is the first on Friday’s doubleheader at 6 p.m. Gates open at 4:45 p.m. The winner of the first game will take on the winner of Shoals and Vincennes Rivet in the final, to be held on Saturday or Monday, depending on the winner of the second game.



Rivet 61, WC 34

ELNORA — Although the Washington Catholic Cardinals (7-15) have played some of their best basketball recently, the Vincennes Rivet Patriots showed that only a team at the very top of its game would have what it takes to knock of the explosive Pats.

Vincennes Rivet (17-5) used a 27-point night from sophomore Kendall Vieke to help eliminate WC, with a 61-34 win on Tuesday in the Cougar Den.

Vieke, and his brother Tyler, used quick hands all night, to post a 20-8 turnover advantage. The Pats not only stole the ball, they also converted on the steals, with TOs leading directly to six transition buckets and 22 total points.

The Cards were hurt by some bad luck as well, as the team’s two top scorers, Austin Jarrett and Jon Costello both came into the game under the weather. Although Jarrett was able to contribute 18 points, Costello was limited to just over 10 minutes of action.

“Not to make any excuses, because Rivet is really good team and (coach) Tim (Vieke) does an excellent job with them. They have put the time in and they have gotten better,” said WC coach Bill Brown. “We talked about facing adversity and we faced it tonight with Jon being sick as a dog. He tried, but he just couldn’t go. AJ (Jarrett) was sick and its tough when your two best players are sick and we didn’t have anyone who stepped up and it showed. We collapsed without our ballhandler out there.

“We turned the ball over and never got into our offense.”

Rebounds were also an issue all night, Although the totals were close at 29-24, Rivet had a 10-1 advantage on the offensive glass.

“Turnovers and offensive rebounds, along with just not being mentally prepared was the biggest difference,” added Brown.

The Cardinals hung tough through the first quarter. Jarrett opened with WC’s first seven points and a late basket from Harrison Holmes looked like it would cut the lead to just three, but Rivet’s Kendall Vieke nailed a 40-footer at the buzzer to extend the lead to 15-9.

“I think that took the wind out of our sails a little bit,” said Brown. “We had fought hard and then that happened.”

Rivet then pushed it into overdrive in the second quarter.

WC turned the ball over nine times and went just 2-5 from the floor as the Pats built a 30-15 lead at the half.

WC played some of its best ball of the night in the third quarter. Adam Joyce scored four points, Austin Deem and Matt Stuart had a pair each, but Rivet still went into the final quarter with a 41-22 lead.

Both teams turned up the scoring in the fourth quarter. Rivet got eight points from Kendall Vieke on the way to a 20-12 run. Jarrett picked up his final six points of the night, while Stuart scored two of his four total points, Billy Strange added a late bucket and Luke Mitchell, who was playing his first game since fracturing a finger several weeks ago, also scored.

Jarrett led WC with 18, while Stuart and Joyce had four each.

“AJ is always ready to play. He has been that way all year long,” said Brown. “When we started the third quarter, I told them ‘you are the team next year so give it everything.’ We are still young but we are maturing.”

With the win, Rivet moves on to play Shoals in the second semifinal game Friday.