On Jan. 7, 1972 the Southmont and North Montgomery boys’ basketball teams battled for the first time and Friday night the two rivals will meet for the 92nd time.
That game 52 years ago went to the Chargers 79-63 as North Montgomery got out of the gates in its first year as a school on a fast start under head coach Chuck Kriston.
The Chargers entered the game with a sparkling 8-1 record and had four players enter the showdown averaging in double figures. Leading the way was Jim Tribbett at 21.7 points per game. Adding support were: Dave Newhouse (13.7), Hal Shelton (13.1) and Ross Foxworthy (12.9). The team entered the game averaging 77.2 points a game to lead the Wabash River Conference in scoring.
The Mounties entered the game with a 5-4 record and had just one player averaging in double figures. That player was Rick Petry who had a 10.1 average to pace legendary Pat Rady’s Mounties. While they may have only had one player in double figures the entire starting lineup was very balanced. Gary Evans checked in at 9.7 and was followed closely by Dan Wilson (9.0), Tony Johnson (7.8) and Mike Zimmerman (7.2).
On paper, the Mounties were facing an uphill battle as the Chargers had a three-to-four-inch height advantage at all five starting positions.
As expected, the two teams came out a little tight before the Chargers scored the final eight points of the quarter to take a 19-11 after the first quarter. The Mounties the trimmed the lead to 31-27 at the half.
The game was decided in the third quarter as the Chargers high-powered offense put up 26 points to the Mounties’ 14 and led 57-41 going into the final eight minutes of action. The Mounties never managed to get any closer than 12 points the rest of the way.
The winners were led by Newhouse’s 20 points, but once again excellent balance paced the Chargers. Tribbett added 15, Shelton chipped in 14, Foxworthy added 13 and Cunningham round out the starters’ totals with 10. The Chargers managed just seven points from its bench in the game.
Southmont was led by Johnson’s 15 points.
The two teams have battled every year (at least once) since that first year and the Chargers own the slimmest possible lead over their rivals to the south 46-45. A total of 13 of those games have gone into at least one overtime and three of those have been double overtime games. That included two double games in the same season. On Jan. 9, 2004 North Montgomery beat Southmont 53-46 at North Montgomery and then a month later (Feb. 7) the Mounties returned the favored and beat the Chargers 50-49 at Southmont.
In fact, from 2003 to 2005 four of the five matchups went into one or two overtimes.
From 2005 to 2010 the Chargers won 10 straight in the series. Southmont’s best run in the series has come in the last 11 meetings where they have won 10 of those 11 games.
You might want to get the Southmont early to get a good seat for a classic matchup. Both teams enter this early season game undefeated. Southmont is 2-0 and North Montgomery is 1-0.
And of course, we would like to congratulate Linden’s Daryl Warren on his recent accomplishment of being named to the 2025 Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame class. Well past due, but glad it has finally happened for the county’s all-time leading scorer.
Barry Lewis has been involved in Montgomery County sports for nearly 50 years. He has a passion for keeping its rich history and tradition alive.
