For The Republic
LOOGOOTEE — With time winding down, Edinburgh senior Travis Jones drained a three late in Saturday morning’s regional semifinal against North Daviess to reduce it to a one-point game at Loogootee’s Jack Butcher Arena.
There was only one problem. The clock read all zeroes, and time ran out on the Class A No. 7 Lancers (22-4), whose upset bid — and season — came to a heartbreaking end, 38-37, at the hands of the No. 2 Cougars (24-3).
“They’ve got nothing to hang their heads about,” Edinburgh coach Keith Witty said. “They put themselves in a position to win, and unfortunately, at the end of the day, one team’s got to win over the other.”
Witty lauded the Cougars for being patient, disciplined, pounding the ball well and not being able to be forced into many turnovers.
These two teams previously met on Feb. 19, and North Daviess got the better of Edinburgh then, 55-47. However, the Lancers set the tone with early defensive intensity after the Cougars won the opening tip.
Edinburgh stayed on the Cougars to not allow an early shot. The scoring started off slowly, with the Lancers holding a 9-5 edge after the first quarter.
“We switched up how we defended them from the other time,” Witty said.
“And having a whole week to prep for it helped us, and we knew there would be nerves on both sides, and we were hopeful that we’d be the ones that would kind of get settled down first — and we were, and we did.
“We just wanted to make it hard on them and make them have to make some jump shots because they dribbled a lot on us the first time — and for the most part, we did a pretty job of that,” he added.
Jones scored only four points in the first half, but he took over in the third quarter, scoring 16 of his game-high 20 points in the second half.
The Lancers managed to feed the ball more to him inside, working his magic in the paint for leads such as 19-14, 21-16 and 24-21. Jones also gave them a 28-25 lead in the fourth quarter, and junior Caleb Dewey dished him a pass for a 30-25 Edinburgh advantage.
“Travis is a big body,” Witty said. “He’s a guy that’s been a post player for us, kind of transitioned to guard a little bit this year, but at the end of the day, he’s a star post player, and we felt they couldn’t guard him down there because of his size and was able to finish — and it was really good when we needed it to be good.”
Things unraveled, however, after Edinburgh took a 32-27 lead with 4:53 to play. North Daviess went on a 7-0 run to take the lead back. Cougars junior Lance Wilson bookended the run, making two free throws to narrow the lead to 32-29 with 3:51 to go in the fourth, and his wide-open corner 3-pointer put North Daviess ahead 34-32,= as the Cougars’ student section came unglued following that shot.
Dewey tied it with a pair of free throws to make it 34-34 late in the game. He came into this one averaging 21.8 points per game, but the Cougars held him to six points.
“First off, they did a great job of wanting him not to have it,” Witty said. “And I’ll give Caleb credit, he was fine with other guys on the team scoring because we have other guys that can score. Caleb has become a real good team player for us, and as much as he wants to get his points. He wants to win.”
With it being a brand new game, junior Jaylen Mullen retook the lead for North Daviess off free throws, 36-34, with 17.8 seconds remaining.
Edinburgh still had the chance to tie or take the lead down 36-34. However, Dewey tried driving against senior Devin Collins of the Cougars, only to lose the ball out of bounds, with possession awarded to North Daviess in a tough break for the Lancers.
Cougars junior Logan Wilson put the game out of reach by making a pair of free throws for a 38-34 game.
Witty credited Dewey for playing well when the Lancers needed him to play well, and he also hailed his team for fighting until the end.
Saturday’s heartbreaker brought about the end of the line for a trio of senior starters — Jones, Landen Burton and Riley Palmeter. The Lancers went 6-18 two years ago, 18-6 last year and those three helped them to a 22-4 campaign that entailed sectional glory.
“I can’t say enough about them,” Witty said. “They’re three great kids off the court and on the court, and I give them a lot of credit for making that transition of not wanting us to be what we were two years ago. They came in every day and competed. In the summer, they were great, and they’re going be hard guys to replace — and they’re going to be very successful after high school.”
