Scottsburg Beats Reigning State Champs North Daviess 47-45

It was a cold snowy day outside, but inside Lloyd E. Scott Gymnasium in Seymour was red hot as the North Daviess Cougars and the Scottsburg Warriors battled it out with a chance to go to the Semi-State Championship on the line. A near capacity crowd was on hand to witness the majesty of Southern Indiana high school basketball and these teams did not disappoint. Scottsburg would take the victory 47-45 in a hotly contested game.

Here’s how it all went down…

Scottsburg won the opening tip and attempted to attack the match-up zone of North Daviess. They were able to get into their spots in the zone for a good shot but, as would be the story of the first half, simply could not connect. North Daviess was content to block up the middle and allow the Warriors to take some open 3’s. The problem for Scottsburg was they just couldn’t hit many of them. The Warriors were able to grab many offensive rebounds, however, and get a few easy looks at the rim to keep the deficit somewhat manageable throughout the first half.

North Daviess would come out looking like the defending state champs. Jaylen Mullen and company looked as if they were going to roll in this one. Mullen scored 11 of his game high 19 in the first half. The Wilson twins added 3 3’s between them and at the break it was North Daviess with the commanding lead 27-19.

Now I dont know what kind of speech Coach Richardson gave his team in the locker room, but this was a totally different Warrior team in the second half. All of a sudden those shots that weren’t falling in the first half, started to trickle in. Their defense absolutely came to life forcing North Daviess into extremely tough shots and some very untimely turnovers. Jack Miller scored 5 of his team high 16 in the quarter. Kody Clancy added 6 and Wyatt Zellers 4. The Warriors outscored the Cougars 15-8 to come roaring back and only trail by 2 at the end of 3.

This transformation would continue into the 4th quarter. North Daviess just couldn’t get up good shots. Scottsburg and especially Jack Miller would continue the onslaught eventually gaining a 4 point lead. North Daviess is used to playing in close games though and there is no quit in that team. They fought through the tough D and had a chance to tie it up on a somewhat controversial foul call on a buzzer beater at the end of the game. Scottsburg was up 2 and Lance Wilson would go to the line for the Cougars with the clock reading all 0’s. He would miss the first and the celebration would begin for Scottsburg. They move one step closer, and are one semi state championship game away from gaining that all too elusive invitation to Gainbridge Fieldhouse for next week’s State Championship.