Booker on fire, but Romeo, New Albany prevail

For one game, De’Ante Booker outperformed Romeo Langford – at least in the scorebook. Every time New Albany was on the verge of sealing the victory, Booker kept Harrison within striking distance.

Booker scored a career-high 31 points, but it wasn’t enough as the visiting Bulldogs defeated Harrison’s boys’ basketball team, 65-55, on Saturday night.

Langford, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard ranked the No. 2 junior in the country by ESPN, couldn’t please the crowd. In one sequence, he hit back-to-back 3-pointers. But when he missed his next 3-point attempt, Harrison’s fans cheerfully serenaded him with chants of “over-rated.”

Langford finished with 24 points for New Albany, ranked No. 1 in Indiana's Class 4A Associated Press poll and No. 13 in the nation in USA Today’s Super 25.

“Knowing we are No. 1 in the state and won state last year, we are going to get everyone’s best shot,” said Langford, who was 8-for-14 from the field, including 4-for-8 from 3-point range, and had six rebounds. “As far as hearing ‘overrated,’ I don’t really pay attention to that. The previous week we prepare because we know we’re going to get everybody’s best shot.”

New Albany extended its lead to 50-30 at the end of the third quarter, but the Warriors would not wilt.

“I was so proud of our effort and energy,” said Harrison coach Nathan Fleenor.

Booker hit jumpers to narrow the margin to 55-48 with 3:02 left and 59-50 with less than two minutes remaining.

“I keep reminding the team about energy,” he said. “I remind them it’s never out until the time clock says 0.0. We kept our focus.”

Booker, a 6-3 senior guard, was 10-for-11 from the field, including 3-for-4 from 3-point range, and 8-for-10 from the line.

“One night it might be me and another night it might be another teammate,” Booker said. “Tonight it happened to be me.”

Fleenor said Booker “played great. He had to get his basketball legs. It was a quick turnaround from football. He was aggressive. He did a good job of rebounding and making the shot fake in the middle and was in good rhythm.”

Robin Duncan also reached double figures for the Warriors (1-2) with 12 points. He also had a game-high six assists.

Isaac Hibbard complemented Langford with 20 points for New Albany (2-0).

Switching from a man-to-man to 3-2 zone to 1-2-2 zone at the end, Harrison never really let Langford go off. It seemed as if he had a relatively quiet 24 points. On the other hand, he soared for three blocks, which elicited a few gasps.

“Our goal was to keep them in front of us,” Fleenor said. “Romeo is so good getting to the rim.”