By E. Shawn Aylsworth
Managing Editor
SOUTHPORT – In a contest fraught with ties and lead changes March 21, an 11-2 run to close the third quarter buoyed top-ranked Bloomington South to a tighter-than-expected 58-55 victory over Franklin Central at the Class 4A Southport Semistate.
The Panthers (25-0) move on to face sixth-ranked Fort Wayne Snider (25-1), a 63-60 Warsaw Semistate winner over No. 8 Munster, in the 4A state championship March 28 at Conseco Fieldhouse. Bloomington South will be shooting for its second state title, the first coming as Bloomington High all the way back in 1919 in an 18-15 defeat of Lafayette.
This game looked nothing like the first meeting between the two Conference Indiana schools, a 77-45 Bloomington South win at home Jan. 24. From a tie at 2-2, Franklin Central (21-6) went on a 10-4 run to lead 12-6 late in the first quarter before South hit a pair of free throws to make it 12-8 after one.
The game’s marquee players – Purdue-bound senior forward Patrick Bade of FC and the Panthers’ senior guard Jordan Hulls, an Indiana University recruit – both started off slowly as the 6’8” Bade had three points and Hulls only two heading to the second stanza.
A 3-pointer from sophomore guard Spencer Turner culminated a 7-0 spurt that gave Bloomington South its first lead at 15-12 at the 5:27 mark of the second period. There would be two more ties and four lead changes the remainder of the quarter before South settled into a 23-21 halftime lead.
Hulls and Bade both picked it up in the second stanza. The former went 3 for 5 from the field en route to six points in the period, the latter hitting 3 of 6 shots for seven points heading to the half. Despite hitting just one of eight shots from 3-point range in the first half – Bloomington South would finish a less-than-stellar 2 of 14 from long range for the game – the Panthers rallied on 7-of-12 marksmanship while limiting FC to 4 of 11 in the period.
A Bade three with 3:12 left in the third period drew Franklin Central into a tie at 30. That’s when Bloomington South finally showed its superiority by heading out on that 11-2 run spearheaded by Hulls.
After an off-balance driving bank shot by sophomore guard Darwin Davis Jr. got the lead back for South, the 6-foot Hulls maximized the Panthers’ next two possessions by hitting a long jumper following an FC turnover and converting a three-point play after FC sophomore guard Kyle James’ layin attempt was swatted away by South 6’8” junior forward Erik Fromm.
Hulls’ exuberant fist pump and subsequent free throw put the Panthers up 37-30. Bade answered with a determined drive to stop the run, but senior reserve Jake Mulinix made a layup on an assist by Fromm before Hulls inserted the dagger with a baseline jumper at :00.2 to make it 41-32.
That last play demonstrated Hulls’ headiness as he drove to the bucket, lost control of the ball, got it back, shuffled to the right, and drained the “j” as the buzzer sounded. The lack-of-panic possession finished off a fantastic third period that saw Bloomington South go 8 of 12 from the field.
Franklin Central, meanwhile, was in the midst of a deadly run of 7:25 without a bucket, and the lead grew to 13 at 49-36 with 2:35 to play. But this was a Mark James-coached team, remember, so there was no way the Flashes were going down without a fight.
How hard did FC battle in the game’s waning moments? The Flashes had a chance to cut South’s lead to two in the final 15 seconds, but Kyle James’ wide-open 3-pointer sailed over the rim and smacked the bottom of the backboard. Franklin Central then converted a layup with just a couple ticks left on the clock, but the ball rolled well out of bounds and South did not have to attempt an in-bounds play.
Hulls compensated for cold 0-for-5 shooting from 3-point land by hitting all seven of his two-point attempts in leading Bloomington South with 20 points. He was joined in double figures by Fromm, who had a game-high eight rebounds to go along with his 14 points, and Davis (12) as the Panthers hit an amazing 20 of 25 shots from inside the arc.
Franklin Central was led by the game-high 21 points of senior guard Casey Coons, who was 6 of 12 from the field and a perfect 6 of 6 from the foul line in addition to a game-high five assists. Bade finished with 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting but just a 3-of-6 effort from the stripe.
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