No. 3 Lawrence North eliminates No. 4 North Central

By Kyle Neddenriep
Posted: March 8, 2009

drenched with sweat and his team cutting down the nets a few feet away, Lawrence North High School coach Jack Keefer looked down to where the North Central boys had left the court and said what most of the sellout crowd of 2,700 at Arlington were probably thinking Saturday night.

“It’s just stupid that team is going home right now,” Keefer said after third-ranked Lawrence North’s thrilling 73-68 win over fourth-ranked North Central that secured the Class 4A Sectional 10 championship. “It’s just stupid. They’re going home and there are teams that will win a sectional that don’t even have a winning record. Let’s seed the whole tournament.”
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Keefer will have to save that battle for another day.

Dominique Ferguson scored 21 points to lead the Wildcats (24-2) in a rugged contest between the Northside neighbors. Lawrence North led most of the second half, never by more than six until Stephan Van Treese made two free throws to make it 69-62 with 1:36 left.

North Central — which finished 1-2 against Lawrence North and 22-0 against the rest of its schedule — didn’t go away. As the Wildcats committed a turnover and missed 1-of-2 free throws, North Central got baskets from Patrick Ingram, D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera and Terone Johnson, the last of which cut the margin to 70-68 with 40 seconds left.

Lawrence North ran the clock down and Ryan Taylor missed a short jumper with 21 seconds left, but the ball went out of bounds to the Wildcats. Taylor was fouled with 15 seconds left and, with his team in the double bonus, hit both free throws to push the lead back to four.

“I was just thinking if I hit these, the game is over,” said Taylor, a sophomore who is one of four Wildcats who have either signed with or orally committed to the University of Louisville. “I just took my time and knocked them down.”

North Central missed a 3-pointer on the other end and Alonzo Bass made 1-of-2 free throws to provide the final margin.

The outcome provided a measure of revenge after North Central had defeated Lawrence North 91-77 in last year’s sectional championship.

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