By KEVIN HARRIS
SEYMOUR – The New Albany Bulldogs’ bid to repeat as Class 4A
state champions came to a disappointing end Saturday night at Scott Gym.
Despite a 44-point performance from junior standout Romeo
Langford, the top-ranked Bulldogs fell to No. 8 Castle in the Class 4A Seymour
Regional championship game 72-64. It was the Knights’ first regional title
since 2012.
“Pound for pound, they just
really hurt us in certain spots tonight,” New Albany head coach Jim Shannon
said. “We had a tough matchup from the get-go. But we thought after the first
half that we could play with them. We tried to speed the tempo up a little bit.
At times, it worked in our favor when we were trapping (on defense). We just
weren’t hitting. We just didn’t hit our shots.”
Castle (24-3) will face Indianapolis Ben Davis (21-5) in the
Class 4A south semistate next Saturday at either Scott Gym or Richmond’s
Tiernan Center. The Giants defeated Connersville in the Southport Regional
final 44-21. The IHSAA will determine the semistate site Sunday.
Langford’s 44 points were two short of his single-game
school record of 46, which he set last year in leading New Albany to the Class
4A Richmond Semistate crown versus Southport. He shot 13-of-34 from the field,
including 5-of-17 from 3-point range, and 13-of-16 from the free-throw line.
Langford also grabbed six rebounds.
It was the seventh time in Langford’s high school career
that the five-star recruit registered 40-plus points in a game.
As for the rest of the Bulldogs, they scored just a combined
20 points. Senior guard Isaac Hibbard had 15 points in his last contest in a
New Albany jersey. During his prep career, Hibbard helped the Bulldogs capture
four outright Hoosier Hills Conference championships, four sectional titles,
one regional crown, a semistate title and last year’s Class 4A state
championship.
Hibbard grabbed a team-high seven rebounds and was a perfect
8-of-8 from the stripe. He shot 3-of-5 from the floor and 1-of-2 from 3-point
range.
“Romeo and Isaac played their hearts out. I mean they really
did. What more can you say?” Shannon said. “Isaac was trying to get some shots
and get some looks. He ended up with 15, but we would’ve liked to have gotten
him some more. But they stuck to him like glue.”
New Albany (25-4) struggled to contain Castle’s front-line
players throughout the night. Six-foot-five senior forward Payton Mills led the
Knights with 22 points, shooting 10-of-17 from the floor. He also grabbed nine
rebounds.
Castle’s 6-11 power forward Jack Nunge, who will play at the
University of Iowa next season, recorded a double-double with 20 points and a
game-high 18 rebounds. Nunge connected on eight of his 16 field-goal attempts
and was 4-of-5 at the line.
Knight sophomore point guard Alex Hemenway ended up with 17
points and nine boards. Mills, Nunge and Hemenway helped Castle dominate the
glass against the Bulldogs by a 42-26 margin.
Leading 44-42 with about two minutes left in the third
quarter, the Knights scored the next five points to go up 49-42. But
back-to-back 3-pointers by Langford pulled New Albany to within one point at
49-48 early in the fourth.
That is when Castle responded in a major way.
The Knights went on a 15-4 run to take their largest lead of
the game at 64-52. Mills had seven points during that spurt, while Hemenway
chipped in six.
With Castle up 68-56, New Albany tried to make a huge run.
Langford converted a layup and Hibbard knocked down a 3 with 2:03 left in
regulation to pull the Bulldogs within 68-61. But New Albany could not get any
closer.
The Bulldogs shot 18-of-51 from the field (35.3 percent),
while the Knights shot better than 50 percent at 30-of-59 (50.8 percent).
The Dogs say goodbye to three seniors in Hibbard, guard Peyton
Martin and forward Seth Short.
Check out Southern
Indiana Preps later this weekend for a breakdown of the Class 4A Seymour
Regional.
CLASS 4A SEYMOUR
REGIONAL
CHAMPIONSHIP
CASTLE 72, NEW ALBANY
64
New Albany 15 18 12 19-64
Castle 16 16 17 23-72
New Albany (25-4):
Romeo Langford 44, Isaac Hibbard 15, Derrick Stevenson 3, Blake Murphy 2, Sean
East 0, Julien Hunter 0, Savion Southers 0.
Castle (24-3): Payton
Mills 22, Jack Nunge 20, Alex Hemenway 17, Brandon Eades 8, Jace Steiler 3, Triston
Wilkinson 2, Jordan Baker 0, Zach Messinger 0.
3-point field goals:
New Albany 7 (Langford 5, Hibbard 1, Stevenson 1); Castle 3 (Hemenway 2, Steiler 1).
Rebounds: New Albany 26
(Hibbard 7); Castle 42 (Nunge 18).
Turnovers: New
Albany 6, Castle 4.
Free throws: New
Albany 21-24, Castle 9-14.
Total fouls: New
Albany 15, Castle 17.
Fouled out: none.
Technical fouls:
Castle bench.
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