Brunk Leads Southport Past Terre Haute South, Into Semistate

Eric Gardner

March 12, 2016 @ 08:34 PM

After knocking off North Central earlier in the day, it was going to be hard to do that one more time against a team just as good in Southport. In the end, Jaylen Minnett and Terre Haute South's luck ran out along with their shooting stroke and Southport advances on to Semistate with a 74-44 win. Trying to follow up his 39 point performance from this morning, Terre Haute South junior Jaylen Minnett started off struggling from behind the line going 0/4 with Paul Scruggs guarding him most of the first quarter. Southport got up 17-8 after the first and kept pulling away. Southport's star senior Joey Brunk was just too much in the post. South struggled to through guys at him effectively and he just kept scoring over and through them. After starting 0/9 as a team from behind the arc, Matt Deady finally broke the silence but it was short-lived with a Harold Bennett three of his own. Southport had a comfortable, 36-19 lead coming out of the half and they continued to push the tempo and feed the big man inside. Brunk had 20 points by the middle of the third quarter, Terre Haute South didn't have an answer. Brunk continued to be dominant and the lead just kept growing. Southport got a much needed win as they head on to Semistate next weekend. Player of the Game: Joey Brunk - 6'10 C - 2016 It was apparent very early on that South was really going to struggle defending Brunk in the post. Joey was in a mood to be physical and overpower anyone that they threw at him, including multiple guys. He looked a lot more mobile than even at the first of the year and that allows him to play a lot more away from the rim. He wanted this win and there wasn't much anyone on South was going to do to stop him. Completely dominating performance. Top Stat Lines: Jaylen Minnett (Terre Haute South) - 6 points (1/12 shooting) Jesse Brown (Terre Haute South) - 8 points (2/7 shooting) DeAvion Washington (Terre Haute South) - 10 points (2/6 shooting) Paul Scruggs (Southport) -17 points (7/10 shooting) Joey Brunk (Southport) - 27 points (10/16 shooting) Blake Evans (Southport) - 12 points (4/7 shooting) Next Up: Southport (22-6) will move on to Semistate where they await the winner of the New Albany vs. Evansville Reitz game next Saturday. Terre Haute South finished the season with a record of 22-7.