Justin Harrison
The Herald Times
FRANKFORT, Ky. — It may have resembled a demolition derby as much as it did a basketball game, but the Indiana All-Stars\’ 94-91 boys\’ win over the Kentucky All-Stars at Frankfort\’s Farnham Dudgeon Civic Center Saturday night wasn\’t marred by lack of intensity. Dick Butkus would have been looking for a place to hide by the time this one was over. Fifty-three fouls were called, including a double technical and a double foul in the first half. “We fully expected them to come out and play a physical game,” Indiana coach Joe Otis said. “But I don\’t know the last time I saw two double fouls called in a half.” In his pregame comments, Otis mentioned that Kentucky would likely come out of the gates like a wounded animal. He wasn\’t kidding. Pride was on the line, and nobody in shorts and a tank-top was going to let anybody forget it. Kentucky led for most of the game, taking a 52-45 lead into the lockerroom at halftime and leading until under eight minutes were left in the second half. A pair of Kenneth Lowe free throws gave Indiana its first second half lead at 7:34, and from that point on the lead never grew to more than four points for either team. Indiana took the lead for good at the two-minute mark on a 3-point bank shot by leading scorer and Mr. Basketball Jason Gardner. Gardner\’s leaning 3 gave Indiana a 90-88 lead, which grew to 92-88 after he drilled two free throws 1 1/2 minutes later. Kentucky\’s Mr. Basketball, Rick Jones, responded. After being held to only five points up to that point, he buried a high-arching 3 over the outstretched arms of Indiana\’s 6-foot-8 forward Ricky Wright. The shot cut the lead to 92-91, but Gardner forced Kentucky to foul on the inbounds play. He calmly hit both free throws, and Kentucky\’s last-ditch effort to tie at the buzzer didn\’t go down.Gardner finished with 31 points, and Plainfield\’s Gavin Groninger chipped in with 14 of his own, including 4-for-8 from 3-point land. Wright scored only 10 points, but his 12 rebounds, three blocked shots and numerous shot alterations made him as much of a key to the win as Gardner.”Ricky was a really big factor for us,” Otis said, “not only scoring, but rebounding and by changing shots. He was a big key for us negating their big guys down low.”Another key for Indiana was free-throw shooting. After the teams combined to hit a paltry 34 of 82 attempts from the charity stripe at Indianapolis, both teams spent heavy practice time on the line. It resulted in a combined 49 of 62 performance — including 12 in a row to end the second half for Indiana.Kentucky\’s leading scorer was University of Kentucky-bound Derek Smith. The hulking forward went 5-for-8 from the field for 14 points, and he also added three rebounds. Michael Griffith added 12 points and Kevin Oaschal rounded out the double-digit scorers for Kentucky with 10 points.Bloomington South\’s Jon Holmes, who was held to two points on 1-for-4 shooting in the first game at Indianapolis, scored three points but added an assist and solid defense down the stretch. Holmes was a key element in Otis\’ decision to go with a small lineup for most of the second half.”I got more involved in this game,” Holmes said. “I got more into the flow of the game. My job isn\’t to score points, it\’s to get the ball to people who can score and to play some defense. I think I did that tonight.”I was a little ashamed of myself for coming out a little tentative in the first game, so I wanted to come out tonight with more intensity.”Holmes also commented on the intensity of the game in general — allowing that this “wasn\’t a typical All-Star game.” “You expect them to come out and play physical,” he said. “That\’s why people call this the biggest rivalry in high school basketball. Every possession counted.”The sweep gave Indiana a 64-40 lead in the all-time series.
Jon Holmes of Bloomington South