The stage is set, the mold cast. The New Albany Bulldogs are sectional-bound, and everyone knows what’s coming.
A sold-out senior night house at Bloomington North got a good look on Friday night as the visitors rolled past the home-standing Cougars, 86-47.
Romeo Langford continued his recent scoring onslaught with 46 points, and Sean East added 21.
“At this point of the season, you want to play well,” New Albany coach Jim Shannon said. “You don’t wanna go back to practice and say, ‘Well, we laid an egg last night, what’s up?’ We didn’t. We played well.
“We won, we played pretty well, and we didn’t get anybody hurt, so those were the three things I was most concerned about on a night like this. And I think across the state, that’s probably what everybody’s thinking, because usually your last game of the year, unless it’s senior night, it’s not that meaningful. You’re trying to get to the tournament. So, mission accomplished.”
Langford scored 17 in the first quarter and 32 in the half on a mix on three-pointers, pull-up jumpers and slashing drives that led to left- and right-handed finger rolls off the glass — or fouls. Langford was 13 of 17 from the stripe to go with 15-of-29 from the field (3 of 9 from three-point range). He added 16 rebounds.
East made 8 of 14 shots, including 4 of 8 three-pointers. “He played well,” Shannon said.
Langford added another dunk to his years-long highlight reel, this time a two-hand baseline slam over a hapless Bloomington North player in the first half, and had a nifty and-one in the second half after a defender knocked the ball loose and he recovered it in mid-air. Langford also blew Shannon’s mind after a Bloomington North steal.
“When he fumbled around with it a little bit and it looked like kids were gonna take it from him, I just watched him, and he somehow got it back,” Shannon said. “It was really unfair, because the kid guarding him did eveything he’s supposed to do, and Ro just took it back.’
The season finale capped a string of nine blowouts in which New Albany has won by an average margin of 88 to 48. Langford has averaged just shy of 41 points per game during the stretch and now totals 2,851 points, No. 4 on the all-time career scoring list.
Things get tougher now as the No. 3 Dogs (21-1) turn their sights to winning their second state championship in three years. That quest starts Friday night at the Seymour Sectional — home to three of the state’s top six 4A teams — against the winner of Tuesday’s rivalry game between Jennings County (6-18) and Seymour (11-12). Seymour won those teams’ regular season matchup at Seymour, 65-37 on Dec. 16.
No. 4 Floyd Central (22-1) and Bedford (15-8) also have a rematch on Tuesday; the Highlanders won 46-42 at Bedford on Feb. 1. The winner advances to Friday’s first game against No. 6 Jeffersonville (20-3).
Floyd won at home over Jeff during the regular season, 55-51 on Jan. 16. Jeff beat visiting Bedford 74-47 on Jan. 28.
With New Albany holding easy wins over both Seymour (76-33 on Dec. 15 at New Albany) and Jennings (102-52 in North Vernon on Feb. 1, when Langford poured in a school record 63 points), it’s hard to imagine not seeing them in Saturday’s final.
Many fans, of course, anticipate a rematch with the Highlanders, who dealt the Dogs their only loss, a 49-47 overtime affair on Dec. 8 at Floyd. But that’s getting ahead of ourselves.
What we do know is that New Albany is flowing into Seymour like a team on a mission, its M.O. writ large: Langford will attack from the jump and will get a bulk of the team’s shots. East will work the seams and is a threat to sink deadly daggers from deep, mid-range pull-ups and crafty floaters in the paint. The rest of the squad will score when the opportunity presents itself, battle on the boards and help create havoc within New Albany’s pressure defense.
No secrets. Stop it or perish.
“We’re playing really well,” Shannon said. “If (somebody’s) gonna get us, they’re gonna have to play good. It can be done — our kids gotta be ready. But they’e gonna have to bring their A game. Our kids are playing really well right now.”
