Indystar.com reports: At its best, the North Central High School boys basketball team hums with the beauty of a Maserati hugging the curves of the open highway.
In the first half of Saturday night’s Class 4A State Finals, Warsaw got caught watching from the side of the road. Third-ranked North Central earned its second state title in program history — 1999 was the other — with a 95-74 win over sixth-ranked Warsaw in front of 18,366 fans at Conseco Fieldhouse. The Panthersset a Class 4A championship game record for points scored, eclipsing the mark set in East Chicago Central’s 87-83 win over North Central in 2007. “That was fun,” North Central coach Doug Mitchell said. “I don’t know if we can fully enjoy it right now, but we will when we watch it on video (today).”
The Panthers (25-3) took all the drama out of Saturday’s late-night festivities with a 22-2 run in the second quarter. The lead swelled to 46-26 by halftime and North Central essentially played from a comfortable margin the rest of the way, never allowing Warsaw (23-3) closer than 17 points.
The second quarter was North Central at its finest — sharing the ball, causing havoc on defense and racing up and down the floor. On one possession, Terone Johnson passed to D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera on the wing. Johnson cut down the middle of the lane, taking the feed from Smith-Rivera in stride and laying the ball softly off the glass.
Simple basketball.
“That’s what we talk about,” Mitchell said. “Guys were cutting. We were making crisp passes. Our transition game was helped by our defense. We were turning them over.” Warsaw committed 18 turnovers in the first half and 24 for the game. North Central scored 33 points off those turnovers.
Nic Moore, Warsaw’s standout junior guard, finished with 28 points, but fouled out with 41 seconds left in the third quarter.”They are very athletic,” Moore said of North Central. “They have speed and they are deep. They play 12 guys and that kind of hurt us.”
That has been North Central’s plan all season, to run waves of players in and out of the game and wear down teams by the fourth quarter. Having two Division I talents at guard in the senior Johnson (26 points) and the sophomore Smith-Rivera (16 points) helps to keep the offense running.
But 95 points? Even the Panthers admitted that sounded unlikely coming in.
“We knew we had to come out here and score points and that’s what we did,” Johnson said. “It was phenomenal. I can’t explain how it feels. I’m just so happy with how the team came together and how we got things done.”
North Central shot 57 percent (36-for-63) and had 22 assists. Sophomore Ronnie Johnson had 17 points and five assists and freshman Darius Latham added 14 and six rebounds.
Warsaw was fighting an uphill battle after halftime.
“They are extra good,” Warsaw coach Doug Ogle said of North Central. “They are very deserving of the state championship. I was very impressed.”
Mitchell pulled Johnson out of the game with 46 seconds left and the veteran coach and his leader shared an embrace for a few moments. It was a moment Johnson had dreamed about since last summer, and even before that, shooting baskets in the driveway as a kid.
“I’m going to miss these guys,” he said. “They are like my brothers. But to finish it like this, it’s hard to put into words. It’s the way you want to finish it.”
Johnson’s mission complete, he smiled, then turned back to the court to celebrate with his teammates.
