It was built as the Indiana high school basketball game of the year. A postponement last Saturday increased the anticipation of Southport against Evansville Reitz. The game drew more than 7,000 people and the action lived up to the hype.

The match-up was classic. Reitz has been steam rolling teams this season. They entered Saturday's game scoring 94 points per game. High school games are only 32 minutes long compared to 40 minute college games and 48 minute NBA games. Their pace has been incredible. The drawback to the Reitz record, scoring and winning margin is that the Evansville competition has not been great this year.

Southport has played a tougher schedule facing most of the best Indianapolis area teams. The Cardinals lost back to back games in mid-January to Pike and Lawrence North. The schedule has eased up for the last month. Southport has a winning margin of 20 points per game this season.

It did not take long to see the game was going to be played at a quick pace. Reitz pushed the tempo and Southport gladly obliged. Reitz senior Nate Hansen got the Panthers going with a couple three-pointers early in the game. Paul Scruggs started the offense for Southport. He quickly scored seven points, but he picked up two fouls in the first quarter. Scruggs sat out most of the second quarter.

Along with a fast pace, Southport's dominance on the boards emerged early in the game. Reitz has a lineup all between 6-2 and 6-5, but no true post to match-up with 6-10 Joey Brunk. Brunk did a great job of owning the glass especially on the offensive end. He finished with 16 rebounds including six on the offensive end. Southport won the rebounding battle 39 to 22 for the game.

Blake Ruckman did his best Spike Albrecht impression in the second quarter as he stole the show with three triples. Ruckman scored 11 first half points to give the Panthers a boost. He provided production off the bench. Ruckman finished the game with 13 points.

Southport started to look inside to Brunk more in the third quarter. That strategy paid dividends immediately. Brunk scored 14 points in the third quarter. Brunk went 10 of 13 from the field in the game.

Southern Indiana-bound guard Alex Stein was much more aggressive in the second half. He made an impact with on the offensive glass and scoring in the lane. He finished with 22 points and nine rebounds including seven offensive. Stein showed a lot of toughness when Reitz was coming back in the third and fourth quarters.

It was interesting to see how Reitz would respond being down late since they have blown every opponent out this season. The Panthers handled it well. Their style allows them to put points on the board quickly and it seemed like they were well aware of that fact. It did not seem like there was any panic in Reitz.

Foul trouble was a problem for Scruggs all game. He ended up fouling out in the fourth quarter with 2:55 left in the game. He had 17 points, 11 rebounds and four assists despite playing just 21 minutes. Brunk also faced foul trouble as he picked up his fourth foul in the final period. Reitz was not immune from foul trouble either. The biggest problem was when Hansen fouled out with 3:23 left in the game. He creates a lot of offense for Reitz, not having him down the stretch was a major factor in the outcome.

Reitz took the lead with just over a minute left in the game, 80-79. Unfortunately for Reitz, they committed a foul in the back court which sent Malik Bennett to the line for free-throws. For Southport, Malik Bennett was the story in the fourth quarter. He scored 19 points in the period on his way to 30 points in the game. He answered every important Reitz basket down the stretch. Bennett's play was needed by Southport with Scruggs disqualified.

Another deciding factor in the contest was free-throw shooting. Southport shot 17 of 21 for 81% while Reitz went just 12 of 22 for 54.5%. Reitz is shooting 76% from the line on the season which is really good for a high school team.

Southport added free-throws late to push its winning margin to 88-80. Bennett led all scorers with 30 points. Joey Brunk finished with 24 points and 16 rebounds. Alex Stein led Reitz with 22 points. Nate Hansen had 16.

Despite the first loss of the season for Evansville Reitz, the game proves that they are a title contender in 4A. The Panthers had plenty of chances to pull out the victory even with Jaelan Sanford struggling on the offensive end. The Toledo-bound guard went just 1 of 14 from the field for four points. He is too good for that to happen many times at the high school level.

It also confirms that there are no heavy favorites in 4A this season. Sectionals start on Tuesday and Indiana's largest class seems open with about ten teams having a chance to capture the state crown.