Holmes says Kokomo 'like us'

By Rex Kirts

Kokomo coach Brian McCauley said. "We have some really good basketball players."
South coach said the same thing in a different way. "They're a lot like us. They all can play, and everybody guards you."
The South coaches also compared Kokomo favorably to Fort Wayne Snider, whom South beat in a struggle for the 2009 state championship.
So it sort of looks like Saturday's class 4A state basketball championship game could be a tight one. South comes in at 25-2, Kokomo's Wildkats at 23-2.
These teams actually know quite a bit about each other because they met in a tournament at Carmel in the summer. South won when it held Kokomo scoreless in the fourth quarter.
"It was a struggle," Holmes said.
THE PANTHERS played without Joey Forney in that summer game, and Kokomo was without a forward, too, 6-3 senior Parker Salinas, who averages 7.7 to Forney's 9.5.
Kokomo features junior point guard D.J. Balentine, who averages 16.2 points per game. He's the only scorer in double figures, but six others average at least 6.5, giving the Kats real good
offensive balance.
Kokomo has good average size and is similar to Indianapolis North Central in that it scores a lot of points on offensive rebounds.
The Wildkats have shown they can win with any style. Against a pretty good schedule they were scoring a lot early in the season. Opponents have slowed the ball against them in the regional and semistate, and they handled that, too. They have clutch players, also, with two different players hitting late game-winners in the regional and semistate finals.
"We're playing really well right now," said McCauley, 32, in his fifth year with a 72-41 record.
"I'M PLEASED with our defense and our offensive execution. We beat a very good Munster team (Munster had been undefeated) in the semistate. We defended well and made plays on offense when we had to."
South had met several great point guards this season, and Balentine is another.
"He's extremely skilled," McCauley said. "He's a good passer and good shooter, a good combination. He has outstanding hands on defense.
"Balentine draws a lot of attention, so that opens things up for the other players. We wouldn't be here if we didn't have others. We have outstanding balance."
TICKETS AND TRAFFIC: Tickets are on sale at South. They are $15 for the two games at night and $25 for all four games at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis (South and Kokomo will play about 8:30 p.m.).
South fans are urged to avoid taking highway 37 all the way to I465, where there can be a bad traffic backup because of road construction. Instead, take Southport Road or Epler Road and go east to highway 31. Go north and it takes you right to Conseco.
KOKOMO NOTES: The Wildkats are in the finals for the first time in 50 years, since winning its only title in 1961 . . . They have won more sectionals than any other school, 71. Lafayette Jeff and Vincennes are second with 68 . . . McCauley's second cousin is David Cooke, the American Idol winner in 2008.
OTHER NOTES: The only previouis meeting between Bloomington and Kokomo teams was in the 1919 state tourney quarterfinals, with Bloomington winning, 23-14, on the way to the states championship . . . Bloomington and Kokomo are among the 15 charter members of the IHSAA in 1903. The others are Anderson, Alexandria, Eaton, Fairmont, Goshen, Huntington, Indianapolis Manual Training, Indianapolis Shortridge, Marion, Noblesville, North Manchester, Salem and Wabash.