Prep Hoops: Survive & Advance
It was a message heard loud and clear in the Harrisburg locker room at halftime.
Randy Smithpeters preached many things to the Bulldogs, but the most important was reverting back to his presume speech.
It was a defensive effort, especially in the third quarter, that propelled the Bulldogs to a 47-38 past Johnston City in the semifinals of the IHSA Class 2A Regional at Davenport Gymnasium.
After playing nip-and-tuck basketball in the first half, where Harrisburg led 14-13 after one and took a 23-21 lead at the break, Smithpeters went into the Bulldog dressing room, addressing many of the same thoughts he had before the game started.
"We talked about 3-point shooters, which we knew they were a 3-point shooting team and we gave up far too many of those," Smithpeters said. "We talked about penetrators and we gave up penetration. We talked about offensive rebounds and how hard the Indians go to the boards and I felt like we gave up too many rebounds.
"There in lies a lot of our problems and I felt like we did a better job in the second half came out and took the threes away, took the penetration away and screened out better."
Johnston City shot 6-of-17 in the first half, while going 3-of-7 from behind the arc. The first half featured five lead changes and Harrisburg outscored JC 9-8 in the second quarter, where the Indians were limited to just one field goal that came at the 1:48 mark when Jordan Blankenship converted underneath.
It was a different sentiment of sorts in the second half however, Harrisburg came out of the gates on an 11-0 run, limiting the Indians to 1-of-11 shooting from the field, including a 0-of-5 mark from beyond the arc.
"The bucket just had a lid on it in the third quarter," Johnston City head coach Wade Thomas said. "We got some good looks at the rim, had good looks behind the line. The ball just would not go in. I thought our guys hung tough and continued to battle."
Jarren Goldman led Harrisburg (17-10) with a game-high 14 points, including eight in the first quarter, while Bahari Amaya reached double-figure scoring with 10.
The Indians put Levi Tanner in double digits as the senior guard had 11 for Johnston City.
Harrisburg finished 15-for-30 from the field and went 14-of-22 from the free throw line. Johnston City finished 13-for-41 and went 4-of-15 from behind the arc, while finishing 8-of-13 at the free throw line.
West Frankfort and Benton will play in the other semifinal game tonight (Wednesday) at 7 p.m. at Davenport Gymnasium. The winner will get Harrisburg in the regional championship Friday night at 7 p.m.
Michael Dann can be reached at mdann@dailyregister.com. Follow him on twitter: @spydieshooter.
Johnston City 13 08 02 15 - 38
Harrisburg 14 09 13 11 - 47
Johnston City (17-12): Zeigler 2-4 2-4 6, Tanner 3-7 4-5 11, McCormick 3-12 0-0 9, Smith 1-3 0-0 2, Davison 2-8 1-2 5, Burns 1-4 0-0 2, Blankenship 1-3 1-2 2. Totals: 13-41 8-13 38.
Harrisburg (17-10): Houston 1-5 2-4 5, Simerly 2-3 0-0 4, Goldman 4-8 6-9 14, Amaya 3-4 4-4 10, Scott 2-6 1-3 5, Crim 0-1 1-2 1, Batts 3-3 0-0 8. Totals: 15-30 14-22 47.
3-point FG: Johnston City 4-15 (Tanner 1-3, McCormick 3-12, Davison 0-1, Blankenship 0-1), Harrisburg 3-5 (Houston 1-3, Batts 2-2). Turnovers: Johnston City 13, Harrisburg 13. Rebounds: Johnston City 22, Harrisburg 21. Fouls: Johnston City 14, Harrisburg 15.