Miners, thanks for another great season!
Well, the lights went out, literally and figuratively, on Linton-Stockton's 2015-16 basketball season.
The season ended with a disappointing 50-44 loss to Providence in the Paoli Regional championship game. The Providence Pioneers denied the Miners a second consecutive regional title.
Linton-Stockton was undone by shooting woes, hitting just 2 of 20 from the floor in the first half and falling behind 16-0 after the first quarter.
Despite a valiant comeback effort, the Miners came up just short
"We just dug ourselves too big a hole tonight. But it took a really good opponent to beat us," Linton-Stockton coach Joey Hart said.
The game was interrupted by a one hour, 10 minute delay due to a power outage in Paoli.
Providence coach Andrew Grantz said. "I don't think it (the lengthy delay) hurt either team."
If anything, it may have helped the Miners.
Linton-Stockton trailed 34-23 with 4:27 left in the fourth quarter when the lights went out.
When play resumed the Miners quickly got back into contention applying full-court pressure and forcing turnovers.
A pair of corner threes by Jacob Clothier and Pierce Jackson's old fashioned 3-point play got the Miners within five points. Providence needed every bit of Griffin Libs' and Eli Coker's 11 of 12 free throw shooting in the fourth quarter to hold off Linton-Stockton's charge.
A pullup 3-pointer by Josh Dieball cut it to four, but just 4.0 seconds remained in the Linton-Stockton's season.
And time ran out on the Miners' hopes.
"I'm as proud of this team as any team I've ever coached. Amazing team. It's the toughest group of kids I've ever coached. And you can't say enough about these seniors and the senior leadership we got down the stretch."
*****
Linton-Stockton started off winning six of its first seven. A 57-40 loss at 2A No. 1 Barr-Reeve was the only bump in the road.
The Miners lost twice in the Wabash Valley Classic to Terre Haute South and West Vigo. Linton-Stockton would get its revenge over the Vikings winning the regular-season finale 54-38 at Linton.
After the Wabash Valley the Miners defeated North Central, Eastern Greene and Bloomfield to claim back-to-back Greene County Invitational championships.
A week later, the Cardinals turned the tables, winning 35-30 at Bloomfield.
Linton-Stockton would not lose again in the regular season.
The Miners reeled off 10 straight wins. None of those were closer than 14 points. Linton-Stockton took a 20-4 record into sectional play.
*****
The Miners entered Class 2A Sectional 47 at North Knox in pursuit of a fourth straight sectional championship - unprecedented in school history.
Eastern Greene presented the first obstacle but Linton-Stockton prevailed 47-34.
Later that night, the South Knox Spartans slew the giant that was Barr-Reeve, taking down the top-ranked Vikings 43-40.
Coincidentally, 43-40 was the score of the marathon five-overtime dogfight between the Miners and the Spartans in the sectional championship game.
But this time it was South Knox with the 40.
Linton-Stockton's scoreless first quarter against Providence was nothing compared to the scoreless stretches both teams endured. Neither team scored in the last six minutes of regulation. It was midway through the second overtime period when South Knox ended its 12-minute drought. The Miners' dry spell reached 12:57.
Things looked bleak for the Red and Blue with 32 seconds left in the fifth overtime.
The Miners trailed 39-36 with the Spartans' Nathan Jones at the line for two shots. Jones hit the first but missed the second.
Josh Dieball grabbed the rebound, raced the length of the floor and drew a foul. He sank both with 28.1 seconds to go. On the ensuing inbounds, Meurer's lightning-quick strip steal and layup again evened the score.
Again it was Linton-Stockton's ball-hawking defense that came up huge in the fifth overtime session. Steals by Jackson and Clothier kept South Knox from getting a look at the basket.
And we all know what happened next. Pierce Jackson buried the game-winning 3-pointer and the Miners cut down the nets for a fourth straight March.
*****
And it was the defense that carried the Miners all year.
Hart bid farewell to 6-9 Austin Robertson and fellow seniors Trey Bedwell, Drew Witty and big Zach Johnson from the 2015 Class 2A semistate team.
The Dieball brothers Joe and Josh, Jacob Clothier and Pierce Jackson were the returning regulars from last year's Huntingburg Regional champs.
"Last year's team obviously was awfully good," Hart said. "But with Jake, Joe, Josh and Pierce nobody's going to be feeling sorry for us."
But there were roles to fill. And who would step up to fill those roles?
Hart plugged the hole in the middle with physical seniors Andrew Woods and Dylan Morris.
Hart credited Morris' defensive effort against North Decatur big man Evan Wallpe as the key to the Miners' 62-38 win in the regional semifinal.
"We put Dylan in there and he stemmed the tide. Dylan allowed the rest of the guys to do what they do which is help get after it," Hart said.
"He was a difference maker. We wouldn't have won the game without him. We needed a bigger base against their big kid. Dylan's been a great teammate and it was just another example of a great teammate stepping up."
Tyler Meurer filled in another missing piece.
The junior quarterback for Linton-Stockton's Class A football State Finalist team - who both rushed and passed for over 1,000 yards - did not play basketball as a sophomore.
He started the season on the junior varsity squad. His varsity breakthrough came in the season's fourth weekend.
Meurer provided a spark against Shakamak with 12 points off the bench. The next night he earned a start against Sullivan and was even better, scoring 18 points on 6 of 9 shooting.
After Meurer's coming-out party I wrote, "We may have seen the last of Meurer playing junior varsity minutes."
And we did.
Through it all, the defense remained the one constant for this Miner team.
"We'll defend and be tough to play against." I don't think we'll be fun to play against," Hart said before the season.
*****
With six seniors graduating Hart will again look to the junior varsity ranks to replace those players.
And this year's Linton-Stockton junior varsity squad enjoyed an undefeated season.
Not only did the Miner jayvees not lose - they only lost six quarters all year. And they won by less than double digits just once, a 56-51 win a Barr-Reeve in double overtime.
Junior varsity coach Noah Hawkins said, "The fun thing about our JV team this year is yeah we had an undefeated JV team which is cool, but what is even cooler we kind of had two undefeated JV teams."
Hawkins was referring to his system of playing five players in one quarter and then platooning five new guys the next.
"We had those 10 guys and to be honest all the way down from the guys who were freshmen this year to the juniors they're all going to be competing for varsity time."
Those 10 players were juniors Kendall Williams, Trey Passen and Bill Smith, sophomores Noah Clark and Noah Woodward and freshmen Sammy and Silas Robbins, Corey Anderson, Tucker Hayes and Evan Slover.
We've got juniors who can play. They're good players. And some of them still get some run on the junior varsity. But there is nothing wrong with that. I always tell them, 'Just wait til your times comes and make the most of it.'
Witty, Zach Riddell and Beau eaton are recent examples of players who did exactly that.
And Hawkins says the freshman "Class ould be special. It really could. There's a lot of talent there and a lot of pieces. And over four years a lot can happen We've just got to wait and see.
"You never know about kids that young but there's no denying the talent. There are good times ahead for sure.
*****
Terry's Final Rankings
1. Bloomfield (25-3, 7-0)
2. Linton-Stockton (23-5, 6-1)
3. Eastern Greene (16-9, 4-3)
4. Shakamak (12-14, 2-5)
5. White River Valley (3-21, 0-7)
Terry Schwinghammer is a sports writer for the Greene County Daily World. He can be reached by telephone at (812) 847-4487, ext. 27. He can also be reached via email at tschwing32@yahoo.com.
Posting a comment requires free registration:
- If you already have an account, follow this link to login
- Otherwise, follow this link to register