By Todd Lancaster
LOOGOOTEE — Barr-Reeve and North Daviess fans have had a year to mull over last season’s controversial ending to the Sectional 63 that ended with a Cougar title. Well, the next 364 days will probably feature just as much conversation, as Barr-Reeve pulled out a last-second victory, that featured a controversial call and shot just before the buzzer that returned the crown to Barr-Reeve in 2010, with the 30-28 win.
The 21-3 Vikings battled with North Daviess (16-8) for 31 minutes and 58 seconds, before a shot thrown up by Viking senior Willie Helms found the bottom of the net after a Trey Hughes lay up missed its mark with 5.8 seconds left. Helms found the loose ball and drained the shot with about a second to go, setting off a frenzy of Viking excitement and Cougar depair.
However, setting up much of the excitement of the final seconds was a controversial call that led to the Vikings final possession. With just under 22 seconds left to play, Cougar freshman Nick Crays had a five-second turnover call after pressure from Helms led to the Viking possession and game-winning shot.
“I wasn’t really think on that shot, I just kind of threw it up there and it went in,” said Helms.
On the five-second call, Helms said he was just trying get something going for his team.
“I knew I couldn’t foul and we needed something, so I just ‘D’ed’ up.”
The sectional crown was the first for Barr-Reeve since 2008 and the 10th overall for the school.
Defense was the watch-word all night long as only 40 shots were taken in the game by both teams and every possession mattered.
“This game was exactly what I thought it would be,” said B-R coach Bryan Hughes. “We knew it was going to be tough for us offensively. We talked about having some composer. You can’t force a team to shoot the ball, you can only do so much. If we played tomorrow, would I do something different — maybe, but give our kids credit, they held their own. These seniors deserved this.”
“I appreciate that our kids battled so hard and we stuck to our game plan. We are not a flashy team and we have a certain style. When we play that style, we feel like we can beat anybody and we almost got it done,” said ND coach Brent Dalrymple. “As far as that call went, when you leave it in the officials hands, those things happen. Period. Congratulations to Barr-Reeve.”
Senior Christian Duncheon echoed his coach's thoughts.
“Forget the records and the rankings, we knew it was going to be a brawl. Give ND credit, because we struggled offensively because of want they did, but we buckled down defensively and got it done,” said Duncheon. “Without a doubt, this will be the most memorable game in my mind.”
B-R opened up with a 6-0 lead, with baskets from Duncheon and Hughes. The Vikes would go up 8-1 after a basket from Jordan Sinnott. This would be the biggest lead of the game, but a late 3-pointer from Crays cut the lead in half at the end of first quarter. Scoring was reversed in the second, as Duncheon and Hughes accounted for all the Viking second quarter scoring with four points to make it 12-6.
Cougar senior Kendall Wittmer then took the game in his hands and connected on four points to start the Cougar comeback. Stetson Townsend added a bucket to make it 10-12, followed by a basket from Wittmer to send the game tied at 12 in the half. Wittmer would end his high school career tied for the game-high total of 14 points.
The “slow-down” style marked play in the third quarter, as Helms came out and hit a trey to give B-R a 15-12 lead. The Vikes added a basket from Duncheon and Hughes to push B-R back into the lead, but ND answered with baskets from Crays, Nelson Graber and a traditional 3-point play from Wittmer, as the game went into the final eight minutes tied at 19.
“North Daviess does a great job of turning a team from an up-tempo team to playing their style,” said Trey Hughes. “When they want to hold the ball they do a great job and we kind of played into their hands. We worked on zone all week and they came out and played a physical man-to-man so that was a little surprising. Willie came up with the big plays and that made the difference.”
Hughes opened the quarter with a trey, that was immediately countered by Wittmer’s trey. Hughes made a pair of free throws, followed by Graber bucket to knot the score at 24. Hughes added a basket and again, Wittmer drained a pair of free throws to tie. Duncheon put the Vikes up by one, but Townsend then gave the Cougars their first lead of the game, 28-27 with 2:33 to play. Hughes then made one of two to tie, but ND looked like they would try to eat enough clock to give them a chance to win their second straight sectional. However, with 21.6 seconds left, Helms was able to force the turnover and eventually make the shot that delivered the win.
Helms ended the night with five points, while Hughes had just under half the Viking scoring with 14, Duncheon added nine and posted seven rebounds and a block. Sinnott had the only other Viking points. Wittmer posted 14, while Graber and Crays had five each and Townsend had five.
The Vikings now move on to the Loogootee Regional on Saturday and will play Tecumseh (10-12) in the first game.
