Seniors say farewell again

The Hoosier faithful were granted one last chance to see Tom Coverdale's fiery hair and ball-handling expertise, one last chance to see Kyle Hornsby's throwback crew cut and spot-shooting prowess, and one last chance to see Jeff Newton's 6-feet-9-inch frame, dunking and all-around skills here in Bloomington. \nThe seniors from the Hoosier basketball team are currently taking part in a 15 game Barnstorming Tour that will have them playing exhibition games all over the state. Just six games into their tour, the IU players took their last shots in a Bloomington gym at the Bloomington High School South gym Thursday.\nThe game itself had a more noble cause than simply displaying their skills. The players said they looked at the Barnstorming Tour as an expression of gratitude for the fans that have supported them throughout their careers.\n"It's been a blast; it really has," Hornsby said. "I've had a lot of fun with it, and I've experienced more than 99 percent of college athletes ever experience, and I'm grateful for it."\nIf the fans wanted to see a shoot-out, they got what they wanted as both teams drilled a combined 45 three-point shots with 24 falling from behind the arc in the first half alone. Such shooting from three-point land led to a high-scoring 137-114 win for Damon Bailey's team over the Hoosier Heat.\nSurprisingly it was not a member of Bailey's squad that led the scoring. Hoosier Heat player, former Bloomington High School South stand-out and University of North Carolina walk-on, Jon Holmes paced the offensive shoot-out with 27 total points off of seven three-pointers. Coverdale closely followed with 25 points, while Hornsby and Newton closely followed with 20 and 17 points, respectively. Newton hit two three-pointers of his own while entertaining the fans with two alley-oop reverse dunks for good measure. The former Hoosier mainstay Bailey also added 19 points of his own to the 23 point rout.\nHowever the numbers weren't the concern in the eyes of the players. Instead the focus of the game was to entertain the fans wanting to see the three players playing in Bloomington for the last time. With five minutes left in the second half, Coverdale decided to spice things up a bit by changing jerseys and even hitting a three pointer while playing for the Hoosier Heat. When asked why he would defect in the middle of the game, Coverdale said he only had one thing in mind: fun.\n"We had planned it before the game," Coverdale said. "So that I could play with my old teammates, it was just for fun."\nAll three of the Hoosier seniors said that they are grateful for the support that Bloomington has given them throughout their careers and that the Barnstorming Tour was just a chance to give back to the fans that loved them.\n"It's been fun. It's been real," Newton said. "I'm glad I got the chance to come out to entertain and play in front of the fans and give them a chance to see me play in person and show them a good time."\nWhile Coverdale, Hornsby and Newton's time in Bloomington is over, the Barnstorming Tour will go on for another nine games over the next two weeks to give fans a few more shots at seeing the Hoosier seniors in action. \nIn all of their experiences through four years of Division I college basketball, the run to the Final Four sticks out in the seniors' minds.\n"What (Bloomington) did last year is going to always be with me," Newton said. "They packed Assembly Hall even when we weren't there. They filled the streets when we won, and that will always be at the top of my head."\nWhile leaving Bloomington will be hard on them, all three seniors have come to grips with the fact that their tenure here in Bloomington is over.\n"I wish I had one more year to play, but there's nothing I can do about it," Coverdale said. "I wish I could play forever at Indiana, but it had to come to an end sometime"