Closing out the Season

The Bluffton News-Banner has a couple of articles on the 23-1 Bluffton Tigers.

Tigers' Record Season, no fluke!

Tigers' best season ever ends in loss to Luers

Bluffton 64, Luers 66

What an exciting game. We were at a Euchre tournament at St. Therese, but I was able to catch bits and pieces on my transistor radio.... a nice cheer went up for Luers at the end. Brock Woodward scored 18 for Bluffton, playing injured, and even on the radio I heard the crowd crow when Woodward stuffed a DeShaun Thomas shot near the end.

Bluffton called two timeouts before Jared Johnson’s long three-pointer hit the back of the rim and bounced out.

“Bluffton is a great team, and we underestimated them,” [Luers Coach] Barnett said. “People were saying we were going to blow them out, but we weren’t thinking that. We got lucky and came out with the win.”

A tip of the hat to Bluffton for a great season... I suspect these two teams will find themselves back face-to-face next year since they both have many underclassmen on the starting five.

Bluffton, like Woodlan before them, double teamed Thomas most of the game and only allowed him 15 points; but Bluffton tired near the end, which allowed Luers to ourscore them 17-7 in the final quarter.

Luers will face either Oak Hill, or Tipton next week. Bluffton ends their stellar season 23-1.

Bluffton vs. South Adams

14-11 Bluffton at the end of the first quarter. Cody Cochran for Bluffton has 12, I think, of the 14.

22-15 Bluffton, Brock Woodward hurt his ankle, Cochran has 17. Bluffton in foul trouble already.

30-19 Bluffton at the half. Woodward has not returned to the game, Cochran has 19 points.

Woodward still out at the start of the 2nd half... he is not even on the bench.

37-22 Bluffton. Cochran has 25 points. He's dropping 3 after 3.

47-27 Bluffton, Cochran has 28 points. Bluffton's big men are out, Woodward injured, Trent Herman with four fouls.

49-29 at the end of three.

54-34 Bluffton with 5:40 to go. Cochran with 29 points. Herman back in.

Woodward has ligament or cartilage damage to his left knee. Bluffton has the game well in hand. South Adams is starting to foul to get the ball... one starter just fouled out.

58-36 Bluffton, Cochran with 31 points with 3:something left in the game.

64-49 Bluffton, 30 seconds left, fouls every trip down the floor.

65-52 Bluffton wins.... but loses 6'7" Brock Woodward for the all important Sectional Championship against Bishop Luers tomorrow.

Bluffton looked better than Luers, but it's hard to compare since Woodlan's whole goal was to stop DeShaun Thomas and they were forced to play a very messy game.

Can Bluffton Beat Bishop Luers

A nice article in the Berne Tri-Weekly about the Adams Central (0-20) vs. Bluffton (22-0) game on Wednesday.

[Bluffton Coach Wayne] Barker was asked what separates a team from going undefeated, as his team has done thus far, and a team that manages to go an entire season without tasting victory.

"We've been lucky at times, and I don't mean to discount our players' talents, because we've got good players, but there have just been times that we've been fortunate," he said.

Perhaps Coach Barker was just being generous in the interview, and sensitive to Adams Centrals' fans. But, in fact, Bluffton has been lucky, taking a couple of very close games it might not have taken on another night. There was a nice article in the Banner a few years ago about Big Wells County Games of the past, it's the type of article local newspapers should pursue more often to help their bottom line. Luers isn't a Wells County team, but Wells County residents are students there. This will be one of those Big Games.

Anyway, it's perhaps dangerous to assume that Bluffton will get past South Adams and Luers will get past Woodlan to face each other on Saturday, but let's be dangerous. Can Bluffton Beat Bishop Luers? Can number 1 defeat number 3? Bishop Luers is averaging nearly 73 points a game and has won their last eight games. Bluffton is averaging about 60 points a game and has won all their games. But to whom did Luers lose? Luers lost three games on the season 1) 4A South Side by 2 points, 2) 3A Indianapolis Howe by 16 points, and 3) 3A Harding by 10 points. All three are tough teams above the 2A level with winning seasons.

Luers had only three games all season at the 2A, 1A level (2A Woodlan, 1A Canterbury and 1A Blackhawk). Luers crushed Woodlan 69-46 and Canterbury 82-42. Bluffton, on the other hand, had only 1 4A contest this year (9-12 Connersville) compared to Luers 7 4A match ups. Bluffton had 11 games against 2A and 1A opponents. In fact, of all of Bluffton's 22 wins this season only Leo (11-10), Northfield (12-8) and Southwood (12-9) are over .500 this year... Leo barely qualifies at 11-10 and counts as one of Bluffton's lucky wins. Of Luers' 18 wins, 11 were against teams that are over .500. Luers, despite the three losses, seems far more battle-tested that Bluffton.

Lastly, in that article above about "Big Wells County Games of the Past," take note of the 1965 game between Ossian (17-1) vs. Garrett (17-1). The game that had to be moved to the Coliseum in Ft. Wayne because the Ossian Gym could not hold the over 8000 fans who showed up to watch. Ossian could not stop Chuck Bavis (who went on to star at Purdue with Rick Mount) and ended up losing in a blowout (87-56).

Who in the Bluffton lineup is going to stop the Mr. Basketball bound DeShaun Thomas.

Bluffton: 20-0

Bluffton beat New Haven last night to move to 20-0 on the season with only 2A Southwood (12-7) left on their schedule.

Adams Central -- poor, poor Adams Central, sitting at 0-18 on the season, get's stuck playing Bluffton on February 26th in the opener of the Woodlan sectional. South Adams gets a bye, forcing Bluffton to play three games to win the 5 team sectional, while Luers would only have to play 2.

Bluffton moves to 19-0

Bluffton 70, Mississinewa 41 and I didn't even realize they had a game on Saturday night.

The Bluffton Tigers set themselves out from other Bluffton teams by becoming the first to win 19 games without a loss in a season.

The Tigers did that with a 70-41 romp over the Mississinewa Indians (8-11) Saturday night at the Tiger Den, led by [Norwell's] junior forward Brock Woodward's season-high, 34-point effort.

Next up, New Haven away, tomorrow night.

Bluffton vs. Luers Again

It was the Bishop Luers girls who knocked the Bluffton girls out of the Sectional... it appears the Bluffton boys will have to get by Bishop Luers (and DeShaun Thomas), as well. Bluffton though, is trying not to look ahead

In Class 2A, the area has three of the top four teams in the rankings with Bluffton at No. 1, Westview at No. 2 and Bishop Luers at No. 4.

While Bluffton is preparing for the playoffs, it also has the task of keeping its undefeated record alive (19-0).

The Tigers do it against five 3A teams in the month of February and knowing a matchup against 2A No. 4 Bishop Luers could be coming in the sectional finals.

"We are preparing to play over these (last) four games really against Luers because we know they have the most talent in the sectional," Bluffton coach Wayne Barker said. "That is going to take a huge task for us."

Bluffton vs. Bellmont

Bluffton (17-0) leads Bellmont 19-16 at the half. It's a rough, ragged game thus far.

It's Bluffton 35, Bellmont 27 after three quarters. Norwell's Woodward has 14 points for Bluffton.

Bluffton wins, 50-41

Bluffton’s top-ranked and unbeaten juggernaut made it 18 in a row Friday night.

The Tigers journeyed to Bellmont, always a tough place to play, and came away with a hard-fought 50-41 victory.

Bluffton’s 18-0 start matches the best in school history. Bellmont fell to 8-9.

Luers Girls Defeat Bluffton

Fort Wayne Bishop Luers 54, Bluffton 46

Bluffton Squeaks by Leo

Bluffton 54, Leo 53 in a scorebook error overtime game. Bluffton remains undefeated, 17-0 and wins the ACAC regular-season championship.

Just as the Tigers were making a run and seemed to get within one at the end of three quarters, the officials met with the official scorekeeper and decided the score was tied at 34 instead of 35-34 in Leo's favor.

The scorekeepers ruled Taylor Pufahl made only 1 of 2 free throws toward the end of the third after he clearly made 2 of 2. Although both scorebooks were checked and had Pufhal making 1 of 2, only the home scorebook is considered official.

"It really wasn't one play that got us beat," Cogdell said.

Videotape after the game confirmed Pufahl made both foul shots. An appeal could be made to the IHSAA.

"I don't know if there is anything we can do about it," Cogdell said. "It is a tough thing when both scorebooks are wrong."

What was it Mr. Dormire used to say to the Tennis team? "The better you are, the luckier you get."

Bluffton's Run

The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette has a nice article on the undefeated Bluffton boys basketball team

Not only will the toughest part of the Tigers' schedule begin with a road game at Leo today, the matchup against the Lions will also decide the ACAC regular-season champion. The Class 2A No. 2 Tigers (16-0), winners of the ACAC tournament, and the Lions (11-6) both are 6-0 in the conference.

"That is never been something as a team we have been trying to go undefeated," Barker said.

"Sure, if we were playing at the end of the year still undefeated versus Southwood (the regular-season finale), then it would be important to us. It is more important to win the Leo game."

"We have too many games left to be talking about going undefeated. We are approaching each game doing the best in those games and get better. We are not thinking about (perfection) at this point."

Anyone out there want to wish Bluffton good luck? They do have a Norwell player on their team, so it might be OK. I'll have to check the feuder's rule book.

Luers vs. Bluffton

The Bishop Luers vs. Bluffton Girls Basketball sectional matchup should be a good one. Luers seems to be peaking at just the right time, rolling over Wayne on Saturday 70-32 to close their season 13-7. Bluffton is 13-8, but allowed 1A Canterbury to pummel them in their final game of the season, 29-52. The Bluffton Coach turned down the Luers coaching position in the off season to remain with the Tigers.

Luers is ranked #4 in 2A, Bluffton is ranked #21 and Canterbury is ranked #3 in 1A.

As an aside, where are all the female girls basketball coaches?

More than a decade ago, 11 schools in northeast Indiana had women leading girls basketball programs. That number has dwindled to five for the 2007-08 season. Two of the conferences in this part of the state – the SAC and NHC – don't have any women coaching girls basketball.

North Side athletic director Dale Doerffler recently had a hiring process to replace Greg Friend, who moved over to Bishop Luers [to replace Sevens member Teri Rosinski who moved out of state]. After not receiving any résumés from female applicants, Doerffler interviewed former Northrop coach Greg Rahrer, former Wayne coach Mike Smith and former Bellmont standout Kip Jones for the position before hiring Rahrer.