The Greensburg bench erupts after a big basket in the third quarter of the 3A championship game. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)
INDIANAPOLIS – Four teams were granted basketball immortality on Saturday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse as the 104th Annual IHSAA Boys Basketball State Championships tipped-off.
It was a day full of the very best that the state had to offer in boys hoops with some of the state’s top recruits being put on display as well as a local team making its first appearance in Indianapolis since 2000.
The Class 1A championship kicked the day off in style with an overtime thriller between Barr-Reeve and Michigan City Marquette Catholic. Barr-Reeve held a 10-point 51-41 lead with just over six minutes to play but slowly watched its lead disappear before finally finding itself in a 62-60 hole with just over two minutes to go. Ryan Fazekas gave Marquette the lead after converting a lay-up off of a steal.
Barr-Reeve managed to tie the game up and go to overtime tied at 62. In the bonus frame it was all Marquette. The Blazers outscored the Vikings 8-4 in overtime to claim the school’s first state title. Fazekas finished with a game-high 34 points and 10 rebounds.
Class 2A did not live up to the hype set by 1A. The day’s first sessions was capped by the most lopsided game of the entire Finals as Westview fell to Park Tudor 84-57.
Park Tudor jumped out to a big lead early only to watch that disappear towards the end of the second quarter. Westview managed to climb back from an 18-point deficit and trail just 35-27 at the break. Unfortunately for Westview, Park Tudor was not going to just roll-over.
The Panthers absolutely dominated the third quarter, outscoring the Warriors 30-14. Park Tudor was led by its top player, Trevon Bluiett.
Bluiett is the top recruit for Xavier University heading into next season and a top candidate for this year’s Mr. Basketball award. The senior made sure everyone knew why he was so highly touted with his 38-point outing on Saturday afternoon. The performance was a record-breaking one for the Class 2A Finals. Bluiett also pulled down 12 boards, the only player to have double-digit rebounds in the game.
Westview was led by Chandler Aspy’s 19 points and Jordyn Bontrager’s 10 points.
Class 3A gave fans the only repeat champion as Greensburg claimed its second 3A title in a row by defeating Bowman Academy 89-76. Bowman Academy won the 2A title in 2013.
Greensburg gave fans perhaps the best all-around team performance of the day with its 55-percent shooting performance from the floor and a three-point success rate of 57-percent. The Pirates had three players score 21 or more points with totals of 27, 23 and 21 from Sean Sellers, Collin Rigney and Ryan Welage, respectively. Bowman had five players score in double-digits, led by Davon Dillard’s 21, but the Eagles could not keep pace with the efficiency of the Pirates. Bowman shot just 41-percent from the floor for the game.
Greensburg’s Finals appearances in 2013 and 2014 are the school’s first since 1931.
The best was saved for last as the 4A championship featured one of the state’s top players in Arsenal Tech’s Trey Lyles.
Lyles and the Titans appeared in the school’s first State title game since 1966 and gave the school its first championship on the hardwood with a 63-59 victory over Lake Central.
Momentum was controlled by Tech for the majority of the game and stared to get out of hand in the third quarter when Lyles, a Kentucky recruit, started to show why he should be crowned as Mr. Basketball. Lyles had a high-flying dunk that sent the Tech crowd into a frenzy at the peak of a monster run by the Titans that gave them a 23-point advantage. Lyles finished with 16 points.
Tech held an 15-point lead with just 1:59 to play in the game and the previously loud and obnoxious Lake Central crowd had become quiet and disappointed with the game seemingly out of hand. But the players were not through.
The Indians put on a clinic of offensive efficiency in the last two-minutes of the game, chipping away at the Titans lead to eventually make the game a three-point nail-biter with just 17 seconds left to play. The miracle did not become complete however as Lyles hit a late free-throw to give his team a four-point advantage with just under 10 seconds to play to help clinch the the title for the Titans.
Micah Bullock (Barr-Reeve-1A), Jamar Weaver (Westview-2A), Macy Holdsworth (Greensburg-3A) and Trey Lyles (Indianapolis Arsenal Tech-4A) were all named recipients of the Arthur L Trester Mental Attitude Award for their respective classes following each championship game. $1,000 scholarships were presented to each player’s school in the name of the player by the Indiana Pacers and Indiana Fever.Click to view slideshow.