[OSUBasketballJunkie]

link

3/23/06

Lawrence North on verge of making basketball history

By Steve Herman
Associated Press



INDIANAPOLIS -- Jack Keefer's not much of a history buff. What happens to his Lawrence North team for a couple of hours Saturday night means a lot more to him than what happened to Oscar Robertson and Indianapolis Attucks a half-century ago.

Still, if the top-ranked, unbeaten and heavily favored Wildcats manage one more victory, over Muncie Central -- another team loaded with history and tradition -- they'll have their third straight Class 4-A championship. It also would match Attucks' state-record 45-game winning streak, one of the great milestones in the history of Indiana high school basketball.

"I'd be very proud, I'm sure," Keefer said.

"But we don't talk about how many games we've won in a row or anything like that," he said. "Will we be significantly disappointed if Attucks still has the record if we lose? No. Will we be disappointed if we don't have the state championship? Yes. That's what we're striving for."

The Wildcats (28-0) have been unstoppable -- almost unchallenged -- winning by a state-best average of more than 21 points a game. Seven-footer Greg Oden has been constantly double- and triple-teamed, yet he's averaging 22 points, 10.5 rebounds and an incredible 74.1 percent field-goal shooting. Guard Mike Conley, like Oden an Ohio State signee, is averaging 16.3 points and 4.1 assists.

The supporting cast of Damian Windham, Brandon McDonald and Qadr Owen have stepped up when needed, too. And playing in Marion County and the tough Metropolitan Conference, Lawrence North has faced some of the stiffest competition in the state, including three wins over No. 2-ranked Pike and two each against No. 6 North Central, Indianapolis Arlington, Carmel and Bloomington South.

The Wildcats are shooting 55 percent to their opponents' 36 percent.

"Anytime you throw that ball up, there's a chance," Keefer said, trying to minimize Lawrence North's status as favorite. "It just takes two or three guys to hit a bunch of threes on you to beat you. ... It doesn't take much to change the complexion of a game, so we go into every game just as scared to death like everybody else."

Muncie Central (20-5) has won a record eight championships, but last year's appearance in the finals was its first since it won the tournament in 1988. Oden was 14 of 19 from the field and scored 29 points in Lawrence North's 63-52 victory, and coach Matt Fine lost all five starters from that team.

"The coach has done a great job getting a different team back there, but they play under the same philosophy. They run good stuff; they get shooters open through picks and double picks and screens," Keefer said.

The Bearcats won their first eight games, then lost four of the next five and dropped out of the state's Top 10. Still, their regular-season wins included ones over both Class 3-A finalists, Jay County and New Castle, and AA finalist Fort Wayne Harding.

Three Muncie players are averaging in double figures, led by Terry Jenkins at 17.6 points a game and junior Ben Botts at 14.5 points and 4.7 assists.

"We're going to have to shoot the ball well," Fine said. "Everybody says that; nobody seems to be able to do it against that tough defense. We're going to have to knock some threes down and really make them score in the half-court. They do a great job scoring in transition."

The three-point shot has been one of the Bearcats' strengths, and their 43.2 percent long-range shooting is the best among the eight teams playing Saturday. Jenkins has been particularly effective, hitting better than 49 percent of his three-point shots.

Still, Muncie Central's main concern isn't its own offense. The focus is stopping Oden.

"Obviously, we didn't do very well with the big boy last year," Fine said. "We're certainly going to have more emphasis -- not that we didn't last year -- but we're going to make sure our kids are surrounding him and try to make somebody else beat us."