FRANKFORT — North Montgomery put forth a complete effort in its IHSAA Sectional semi-final battle against Twin Lakes on Friday night, but fell to the Indians 36-34.
Twin Lakes freshman Keaton Miller slipped to the basket and scored his only points of the game with one second left on the clock to lift the Indians to their second last second victory so far in the state tournament.
“That’s a very good basketball team, and well coached,” North Montgomery coach Chad Arnold said. “They got us at the end on one of the sets we saw on film, and got us with a slip.”
After six turnovers to start the game, North Montgomery settled in. Twin Lakes led 5-4 after a quarter, while the game was tied 16-16 at the half, and 27-27 after three quarters.
Kelby Harwood tied the game at 31-31 with a basket at the 3:50 mark, before Jamison Ousley hit a 3-pointer just seconds later. Jarrod Kirsch tied the game with a three at the 1:50 mark — eventually followed by Miller’s game-winning shot.
“I’m real proud of them,” Arnold said. “They really competed. I thought we played hard the whole night and had some chances. We just didn’t make enough buckets, but our guys competed the whole night and really followed the game plan.”
While North Montgomery’s offense sputtered to start the game, its defense locked in.
“Defense will keep you in the game,” Arnold added. “Our guys just kept grinding in practice and just kept at it. We aren’t going to score a lot of points, so we’ve had to play defense to keep us in these types of games.”
The Chargers held the Indians 19 points below their season average, and limited Ousley, who averages over 20 points per game, to just 13 points. Gavin Businger added 13 points, including a 3-of-5 effort from beyond the arc.
Kelby Harwood led North Montgomery with 11 points, while Noah Hopkins added nine and Kirsch eight.
North Montgomery ends the season at 10-14, while Twin Lakes is now 19-6 and plays West Lafayette for the sectional title Saturday night at Frankfort.
The Chargers graduate seniors Hopkins, Kirsch, Ross Dyson, and Corbin Meadows.
Ross has been there all year running our point, and really proud of him and what he’s done for our program,” Arnold said. “Jarrod Kirsch has been our shooter since he got up here. He started off and couldn’t guard anybody, but then became a really good defender. Noah Hopkins had two ACL injuries and couldn’t play basketball until his junior year, and he’s just a competitor, and is going to fight you no matter what on every possession. And Corbin Meadows, he hasn’t played a lot of basketball, but has done a lot for us. He’s a leader, a great teammate, and our hype man.”
