Bloomington North's May has his way
Mr. Basketball posts 30 points, 20 rebounds in Indiana's 87-82 win
By Andy Graham,
Hoosier Times
OWENSBORO, Ky.
Coach Joe Bergamini was asked the obvious question after his Kentucky boys' All-Stars fell to their Indiana counterparts, 87-82, Saturday night at the Owensboro Sportscenter: "What will you try to do, next week, to stop Sean May?"
Bergamini gazed as his inquisitor, managed a pained grin, and replied: "What would you do?"
May, the Bloomington North All-American, kept Kentucky looking in vain for answers all evening as he supplied game-high totals of 30 points and 20 rebounds — and tossed in four steals and two blocked shots.
"Is there any question for anybody in the state of Indiana who is Mr. Basketball?" Indiana coach Steve Brunes of Castle asked. "He's done nothing but prove that."
May helped the Hoosiers overcome 28 turnovers against the smaller, but lightning-quick Kentuckians. He hit 12-of-19 shots from the field, 6-of-9 free throws and made several crucial plays down the stretch as Indiana had the final run in a game of runs.
Indiana got off to a great start, 15-4 by the 15:18 mark, featuring six points from May and capped off by a steal by Northwest's Rodney Carney for his second dunk of the game.
Indiana then made mass substitutions and got sloppy with the ball. Gary West's 6-7 Keith Christmas unwisely tried to lead a break, which led to a 3-point play in transition at the other end by LaVar Carter which inaugurated an 11-0 Kentucky run. It was keyed by four straight Indiana errors.
After the hosts forged the 15-15 tie, May worked inside to draw a goal-tend and exited with his team up, 19-15, and 10:45 left in the half. But by the time May returned, at the 6:54 mark, Indiana was down, 24-21.
May immediately converted on a strong follow-up, then followed his own miss for a 25-25, then assisted Paoli's Evan Seacat for a 3-pointer that gave Indiana the lead back at 28-27. Once the turnovers abated a bit, the Hoosiers regained some control of the contest.
Carter, who had nine points to lead Kentucky in the first period, picked up his third foul at the 0:00.4 mark and Evansville Mater Dei's Matt Keifer hit a pair of free throws to send Indiana into intermission with a 38-32 advantage.
May already had a double-double by that time. He had 12 points to lead all scorers at halftime, having hit 5-of-7 shots, and 10 rebounds, five on the offensive end. He kept up that ratio — 10 of his 20, overall, caromed from the offensive boards.
Indiana's problems were turnovers (14 by halftime) and poor perimeter shooting (1-of-8 from 3-point range and 16-of-41 overall). The shooting got better after halftime (16-of-29), but the errors remained chronic.
"We shot ourselves in the foot with turnovers," Brunes said. "We wanted to push the ball upcourt, but we kept throwing it out-of-bounds."
Indiana miscues helped Kentucky start the second half with a 17-7 run, capped by a technical free throw by Johnny Mathias with 15:03 to play after the Indiana bench had objected to a charging call which negated a hoop by Castle's Dedrick Finn. That put the Bluegrass boys up 49-45.
Finn then scored on a break to start an 11-0 Indiana run that prompted a Kentucky timeout at the 11:33 mark, with the Hoosiers ahead 56-49. Indiana stretched it out to 68-58 with 7:34 left as Kiefer took a pass from May and scored on an up-and-under move.
Then the turnover bug bit again. Hard.
After Kentucky's Maurice Hampton scored on a nice cut to the hoop, he made a steal and a dunk. Then Donte Smith made a steal and dunk. Then, with it 68-65, Kentucky Mr. Basketball Brandon Stockton tied it with a 3-pointer from the right wing. It was all part of a 13-0 Bluegrass run that left the hosts ahead, 71-68.
Three lead-changes and a couple of ties inside as Finn and Brandon Cameron, a Penn State recruit from state champion Gary West, hit big 3-pointers for the Hoosiers. Cameron's play was especially valuable down the stretch after Finn left with a possible concussion, his head having hit May's knee after a collision with Stockton.
"I know it had to hurt Dedrick, because he hit square on my knee, and it sure hurt my knee," May said.
May proceeded to hurt Kentucky at crunchtime.
He hit a free throw to put Indiana up, 80-79, with 1:30 left. Then, after Smith missed at the other end, Carney rebounded and the Hoosiers called timeout at the 1:00. Everybody in the arena knew the ball would go to May, including the home team, but the Kentuckians couldn't do anything about it.
May took a feed and made a pretty 8-foot jumper in the lane to make it 82-78 at 0:50. Kentucky never got closer than three points thereafter. Cameron hit four straight free throws to keep Indiana comfortable.
Cameron finished with 13 points and Benton Central's Blake Schoen had 12 to augment May's production with double-figure scoring for Indiana. Hampton had 18 to lead Kentucky, which also got 13 apiece from Stockton, Smith and Mathias.
The series resumes next Saturday at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis with the Hoosiers holding a 69-40 margin all-time.
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