May, Hoosiers ready for southern rivals

By JEFF BARTLETT,
Times-Mail Sports Writer
OWENSBORO, Ky. — Indiana’s Mr. Basketball sent out a May-day signal Wednesday night during the Indiana All-Stars’ 121-81 romp over the Junior All-Stars at Mackey Arena.

Following his 11-for-11 shooting performance and game-high 23 points, Bloomington North’s Sean May sent out a verbal message that was easy to decipher: Indiana is in this thing for real, and the 6-foot-8, 260-pound center is heading south for tonight’s series opener in Owensboro with some serious intentions toward the Kentucky All-Stars. Indiana leads the all-time series, 68-40, after last year’s split, though Kentucky captured the opener at Owensboro, 103-90.

“We don’t really need to talk about it because growing up in Indiana, you watch the All-Star games every year and you know how big a rivalry it is,”said May, who is headed for North Carolina in a couple of weeks to start his collegiate career with the Tar Heels. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Roll Eyes]" src="rolleyes.gif" /> “We’re going down there for a business trip. It’s not just an All-Star game; we’re going down there to win, and if we don’t win we’re going to be very, very disappointed.

“So we’ve got to work very hard these next few days. We’ve still got things to work on and hopefully we’ll perfect our game going into Saturday.”

The Indiana All-Stars were nearly perfect, particularly in the first half, against the Junior All-Stars. The perimeter players came out and scorched Mackey’s nets from 3-point range, going 9 for 13 from beyond the arc. That opened all sorts of avenues inside for May, and the big guy dominated the paint. He was pleased to have the help from the guards in unclogging the lane, and hopes it continues against a Kentucky squad that features a couple of 6-8 kids (Mohammed Camara of Louisville Moore and Mark Surgalski of Ashland Paul Blazer), but nobody with near his bulk.

“For a big guy, if you don’t have guards who can shoot it’s going to be a long night,” May said. “Tonight the basket just looked huge to me. It was so wide open because there was only one guy on me. Our guards were shooting the ball really well, so we’re going to try to get them the ball as much as possible when that’s happening. Hopefully, they’ll continue with their confidence and keep shooting well, and then it will open it up inside.”

Paoli’s Evan Seacat was one of those perimeter poppers who tore up the twine, going 4 for 5 from the 3-point stripe, and May was appreciative of the effort.

“Evan and I played AAU the past three years against each other, and we got a chance to talk a lot then,” said May. “I just love his game. He’s a very smart player and he can shoot the ball really well. He’s going to be a good addition to Northwestern next year.”

May is very serious about winning this series, fully realizing that state pride is on the line, so he’s also assumming a very serious, very verbal leadership role.

“The first day nobody really understood what I was doing, or trying to do, but I had to try to take that leadership role,” he said. “Every team needs a leader and this team needs a leader. With me being Mr. Basketball and being fortunate enough to have that great honor, it’s kind of my duty to go in there and lead these guys, and I think they’re coming on right behind me at this point.

“We’ve been working real hard on our offenses and working on playing together as a team, not letting selfishness creep into it and materialize. We’re not playing selfishly at all. We’re working the ball around well, looking for the open man. Tonight I happened to be the open man and my teammates got me the ball.

“I thought we played really well, but we’re going to have to play even tougher on Saturday.”

Seacat has joined in with May in realizing the ramifications of Saturday’s performance.

“We haven’t talked much about them that much yet, really,” he said. “We’ve been busy getting ourselves ready, but they’re going to go scout them Thursday night against somebody (Kentucky’s Junior All-Stars), so we’ll know more then. But we know they’re not as big as our team.

“We haven’t actually talked about it very much, but we know how big a deal it is. We’re going to be ready for them.”

And if the inside-outside combination continues to click, the Hoosier boys could escape the Bluegrass State with a much-coveted victory.

“There’s no way they can cover us all,” May predicted. “We’ve got too many weapons. I could go one-on-one with a guy on my back, or I can move the ball opposite if they’re collapsing around me.

“I mean, we have Evan, Avery Sheets, and Seth Colclasure, man he can really shoot. I didn’t know he could shoot like that. So we’ve got too many weapons on this team to worry about anything.”

Bloomington North's May has his way

Mr. Basketball posts 30 points, 20 rebounds in Indiana's 87-82 win

By Andy Graham,
Hoosier Times

OWENSBORO, Ky.

Coach Joe Bergamini was asked the obvious question after his Kentucky boys' All-Stars fell to their Indiana counterparts, 87-82, Saturday night at the Owensboro Sportscenter: "What will you try to do, next week, to stop Sean May?"

Bergamini gazed as his inquisitor, managed a pained grin, and replied: "What would you do?"

May, the Bloomington North All-American, kept Kentucky looking in vain for answers all evening as he supplied game-high totals of 30 points and 20 rebounds — and tossed in four steals and two blocked shots.

"Is there any question for anybody in the state of Indiana who is Mr. Basketball?" Indiana coach Steve Brunes of Castle asked. "He's done nothing but prove that."

May helped the Hoosiers overcome 28 turnovers against the smaller, but lightning-quick Kentuckians. He hit 12-of-19 shots from the field, 6-of-9 free throws and made several crucial plays down the stretch as Indiana had the final run in a game of runs.

Indiana got off to a great start, 15-4 by the 15:18 mark, featuring six points from May and capped off by a steal by Northwest's Rodney Carney for his second dunk of the game.

Indiana then made mass substitutions and got sloppy with the ball. Gary West's 6-7 Keith Christmas unwisely tried to lead a break, which led to a 3-point play in transition at the other end by LaVar Carter which inaugurated an 11-0 Kentucky run. It was keyed by four straight Indiana errors.

After the hosts forged the 15-15 tie, May worked inside to draw a goal-tend and exited with his team up, 19-15, and 10:45 left in the half. But by the time May returned, at the 6:54 mark, Indiana was down, 24-21.

May immediately converted on a strong follow-up, then followed his own miss for a 25-25, then assisted Paoli's Evan Seacat for a 3-pointer that gave Indiana the lead back at 28-27. Once the turnovers abated a bit, the Hoosiers regained some control of the contest.

Carter, who had nine points to lead Kentucky in the first period, picked up his third foul at the 0:00.4 mark and Evansville Mater Dei's Matt Keifer hit a pair of free throws to send Indiana into intermission with a 38-32 advantage.

May already had a double-double by that time. He had 12 points to lead all scorers at halftime, having hit 5-of-7 shots, and 10 rebounds, five on the offensive end. He kept up that ratio — 10 of his 20, overall, caromed from the offensive boards.

Indiana's problems were turnovers (14 by halftime) and poor perimeter shooting (1-of-8 from 3-point range and 16-of-41 overall). The shooting got better after halftime (16-of-29), but the errors remained chronic.

"We shot ourselves in the foot with turnovers," Brunes said. "We wanted to push the ball upcourt, but we kept throwing it out-of-bounds."

Indiana miscues helped Kentucky start the second half with a 17-7 run, capped by a technical free throw by Johnny Mathias with 15:03 to play after the Indiana bench had objected to a charging call which negated a hoop by Castle's Dedrick Finn. That put the Bluegrass boys up 49-45.

Finn then scored on a break to start an 11-0 Indiana run that prompted a Kentucky timeout at the 11:33 mark, with the Hoosiers ahead 56-49. Indiana stretched it out to 68-58 with 7:34 left as Kiefer took a pass from May and scored on an up-and-under move.

Then the turnover bug bit again. Hard.

After Kentucky's Maurice Hampton scored on a nice cut to the hoop, he made a steal and a dunk. Then Donte Smith made a steal and dunk. Then, with it 68-65, Kentucky Mr. Basketball Brandon Stockton tied it with a 3-pointer from the right wing. It was all part of a 13-0 Bluegrass run that left the hosts ahead, 71-68.

Three lead-changes and a couple of ties inside as Finn and Brandon Cameron, a Penn State recruit from state champion Gary West, hit big 3-pointers for the Hoosiers. Cameron's play was especially valuable down the stretch after Finn left with a possible concussion, his head having hit May's knee after a collision with Stockton.

"I know it had to hurt Dedrick, because he hit square on my knee, and it sure hurt my knee," May said.

May proceeded to hurt Kentucky at crunchtime.

He hit a free throw to put Indiana up, 80-79, with 1:30 left. Then, after Smith missed at the other end, Carney rebounded and the Hoosiers called timeout at the 1:00. Everybody in the arena knew the ball would go to May, including the home team, but the Kentuckians couldn't do anything about it.

May took a feed and made a pretty 8-foot jumper in the lane to make it 82-78 at 0:50. Kentucky never got closer than three points thereafter. Cameron hit four straight free throws to keep Indiana comfortable.

Cameron finished with 13 points and Benton Central's Blake Schoen had 12 to augment May's production with double-figure scoring for Indiana. Hampton had 18 to lead Kentucky, which also got 13 apiece from Stockton, Smith and Mathias.

The series resumes next Saturday at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis with the Hoosiers holding a 69-40 margin all-time.

Bloomington North's May has his way

Mr. Basketball posts 30 points, 20 rebounds in Indiana's 87-82 win

By Andy Graham,
Hoosier Times

OWENSBORO, Ky.

Coach Joe Bergamini was asked the obvious question after his Kentucky boys' All-Stars fell to their Indiana counterparts, 87-82, Saturday night at the Owensboro Sportscenter: "What will you try to do, next week, to stop Sean May?"

Bergamini gazed as his inquisitor, managed a pained grin, and replied: "What would you do?"

May, the Bloomington North All-American, kept Kentucky looking in vain for answers all evening as he supplied game-high totals of 30 points and 20 rebounds — and tossed in four steals and two blocked shots.

"Is there any question for anybody in the state of Indiana who is Mr. Basketball?" Indiana coach Steve Brunes of Castle asked. "He's done nothing but prove that."

May helped the Hoosiers overcome 28 turnovers against the smaller, but lightning-quick Kentuckians. He hit 12-of-19 shots from the field, 6-of-9 free throws and made several crucial plays down the stretch as Indiana had the final run in a game of runs.

Indiana got off to a great start, 15-4 by the 15:18 mark, featuring six points from May and capped off by a steal by Northwest's Rodney Carney for his second dunk of the game.

Indiana then made mass substitutions and got sloppy with the ball. Gary West's 6-7 Keith Christmas unwisely tried to lead a break, which led to a 3-point play in transition at the other end by LaVar Carter which inaugurated an 11-0 Kentucky run. It was keyed by four straight Indiana errors.

After the hosts forged the 15-15 tie, May worked inside to draw a goal-tend and exited with his team up, 19-15, and 10:45 left in the half. But by the time May returned, at the 6:54 mark, Indiana was down, 24-21.

May immediately converted on a strong follow-up, then followed his own miss for a 25-25, then assisted Paoli's Evan Seacat for a 3-pointer that gave Indiana the lead back at 28-27. Once the turnovers abated a bit, the Hoosiers regained some control of the contest.

Carter, who had nine points to lead Kentucky in the first period, picked up his third foul at the 0:00.4 mark and Evansville Mater Dei's Matt Keifer hit a pair of free throws to send Indiana into intermission with a 38-32 advantage.

May already had a double-double by that time. He had 12 points to lead all scorers at halftime, having hit 5-of-7 shots, and 10 rebounds, five on the offensive end. He kept up that ratio — 10 of his 20, overall, caromed from the offensive boards.

Indiana's problems were turnovers (14 by halftime) and poor perimeter shooting (1-of-8 from 3-point range and 16-of-41 overall). The shooting got better after halftime (16-of-29), but the errors remained chronic.

"We shot ourselves in the foot with turnovers," Brunes said. "We wanted to push the ball upcourt, but we kept throwing it out-of-bounds."

Indiana miscues helped Kentucky start the second half with a 17-7 run, capped by a technical free throw by Johnny Mathias with 15:03 to play after the Indiana bench had objected to a charging call which negated a hoop by Castle's Dedrick Finn. That put the Bluegrass boys up 49-45.

Finn then scored on a break to start an 11-0 Indiana run that prompted a Kentucky timeout at the 11:33 mark, with the Hoosiers ahead 56-49. Indiana stretched it out to 68-58 with 7:34 left as Kiefer took a pass from May and scored on an up-and-under move.

Then the turnover bug bit again. Hard.

After Kentucky's Maurice Hampton scored on a nice cut to the hoop, he made a steal and a dunk. Then Donte Smith made a steal and dunk. Then, with it 68-65, Kentucky Mr. Basketball Brandon Stockton tied it with a 3-pointer from the right wing. It was all part of a 13-0 Bluegrass run that left the hosts ahead, 71-68.

Three lead-changes and a couple of ties inside as Finn and Brandon Cameron, a Penn State recruit from state champion Gary West, hit big 3-pointers for the Hoosiers. Cameron's play was especially valuable down the stretch after Finn left with a possible concussion, his head having hit May's knee after a collision with Stockton.

"I know it had to hurt Dedrick, because he hit square on my knee, and it sure hurt my knee," May said.

May proceeded to hurt Kentucky at crunchtime.

He hit a free throw to put Indiana up, 80-79, with 1:30 left. Then, after Smith missed at the other end, Carney rebounded and the Hoosiers called timeout at the 1:00. Everybody in the arena knew the ball would go to May, including the home team, but the Kentuckians couldn't do anything about it.

May took a feed and made a pretty 8-foot jumper in the lane to make it 82-78 at 0:50. Kentucky never got closer than three points thereafter. Cameron hit four straight free throws to keep Indiana comfortable.

Cameron finished with 13 points and Benton Central's Blake Schoen had 12 to augment May's production with double-figure scoring for Indiana. Hampton had 18 to lead Kentucky, which also got 13 apiece from Stockton, Smith and Mathias.

The series resumes next Saturday at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis with the Hoosiers holding a 69-40 margin all-time.

Congrats on beating Kentucky! anyone who beats them is ok in my book!

LL,
Thanks! Kentucky (and beating em') is always something IU and Duke will have in common ... lol <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="smile.gif" />

apparently your new coach said some off color comments about UK. I like him!

indiana stars 82, junior stars 75

Boys hold off junior stars

Colclasure, back from baseball, provides 3 3-pointers in closer win than week before.



By Steve Hanlon

steve.hanlon@indystar.com

June 20, 2002

SYRACUSE, Ind. -- After Wednesday night's 82-75 victory over the Junior All-Stars, Indiana All-Star Seth Colclasure of Bellmont spoke about his decision last weekend.

Instead of playing with the Indiana All-Stars against their Kentucky counterparts in Owensboro, Ky., Colclasure played baseball in the Class 3A state championship game.






After spending his entire life preparing for basketball and hoping to be an Indiana All-Star, the Valparaiso University-bound shooter said it wasn't that tough of a decision.

"I knew all along that I would play with my high school baseball team," said the 6-2 Colclasure, who went 0-for-3 and played shortstop in Bellmont's 4-0 loss to Vincennes Lincoln at Victory Field.

On Wednesday, Colclasure finished with 11 points -- including three 3-pointers -- at Wawasee High School.

In Saturday night's 87-82 victory over the Kentucky All-Stars, Indiana finished just 3-of-13 from the 3-point line. On Wednesday night, Indiana was 9-of-27.

"I just wanted to come out and find my rhythm and get back into it," Colclasure said. "That's what I tried to do tonight and it felt good to get going early."

With 4:31 left in the game, junior Peyton Stovall of Lafayette Jeff hit a basket and was fouled. After he converted the free throw, the Junior All-Stars were within 70-68.

Castle's Dedrick Finn hit 1-of-2 from the line, and Pike's Justin Cage hit Brebeuf Jesuit's Sonny Troutman on an alley-oop that Troutman put in over the outstretched hand of 6-9 Mr. Basketball Sean May.

When Cage hit a layup with 3:30 left, the Junior All-Stars took their first lead.

But with 2:13 left, Finn hit an acrobatic, twisting high-banking shot in traffic, drew the foul and took the lead back, 74-72.

"We wanted to play them as hard as we could and give them a run for their money," said Pike's Parnell Smith, who finished with 11 points and was pleased with a much tougher game than last week's 30-point loss. "Tonight it was a matter of confidence. Our coach stressed to toughen up against their big men and we caused them to take a lot of outside shots.

"They were hitting them early, but in the end they started missing some."

May led the All-Stars with 13 points and Gary West Side's Chris Hunter added 10. The Junior All-Stars were led by Stovall's 15 points, while Adam Liddell of DeKalb finished with 14.

The Indiana All-Stars will regroup for their final game against the Kentucky All-Stars on Saturday night at Conseco Fieldhouse.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

lol, LL,
That is right! Mike Davis did say something about UK earlier in the season. He also tried to smooth things out before IU played Duke .... I know i read an article on this, maybe I can find it ..?

-Lauren