If you can’t bring the energy, you can’t win in the postseason in Indiana.
Is it an opinion or is it fact?
The proof is the pudding to make it fact following Wednesday night’s Class 3A games at Woodlan. Well, the proof is kind of everywhere else this week so far too. At East Noble, it was an energetic overtime stint that pushed North Side over Carroll. At Misssissinewa, there have been three games so far and all three have ended on buzzer beaters. The energy has been massive.
But we are talking about the Sectional at Woodlan. Even on Tuesday, the energy was good as Cole Hayworth posted a career high 39 points in Concordia’s win over Garrett. Wednesday night surpassed expectations that were set the day before as Heritage upset Bishop Dwenger 50-46 and Leo played out of their minds for three quarters to beat out host Woodlan 64-54.
D’vontaye Washington deserves heaps of praise for how he helped slow down Bishop Dwenger’s Caleb Lehrman throughout major portions of the Wednesday night opener. He was spry and physical on cutting Lehrman off and keeping him from getting too low close to the rim, something that has made Lehrman among the area’s best big men all season. Even with high defensive energy senior Kobe Meyer in some foul trouble, the Patriots were able to force some ancillary Saints shooters into being more assertive and Heritage was able to cut them off well.
Once that liveliness is rolling, it is hard to cut off unless you have a substantial game changer of a player. The Saints simply could not keep up with the energy that Heritage was drawing from having an edge on a SAC program like they did. There was no give up for Heritage even when the Saints pulled even late in the fourth and that isn’t something that you can fake. Come late February and early March, you can either bring it in the pivotal moments with fire and passion and you can’t. For all the spirit that Bishop Dwenger brought late, Heritage just had more.
Washington finished with 11 points in the win and Meyer and Braden Walter each scored 10. It is the first Heritage postseason win since 2019 with the Saints being the team that closed out the Patriots just last season.
In the second game, the student sections brought a new level of energy to the gym with all do respect to the first game and a Heritage student section that was pretty solid. Both Woodlan and Leo brought it with student section energy including a late game “this is our house” chant by the Lion faithful that was a pretty solid dig when ending a team’s season in Sectionals on their own home court.
On the court, the return of Nolan Hiteshew to the lineup was massive. He hit three triple on the night and two in the first quarter. Whatever rust Hiteshew had wasn’t on display after missing several weeks of action and being a bit of a surprise return. To miss the time he did, then step back in so aggressively is nearly impossible. He started, his minutes were back to normal, there was no easing Hiteshew back into things and his energetic response lit up the Woodlan defense and really encouraged his team and the Leo crowd behind him.
With 2:51 to go in the first, a Jackson McGee steal leading to a wide open Trey Hiteshew fast break score put Leo up 18-10 and all things were clicking. It certainly wasn’t the last time that Leo stripped the ball clean from Woodlan to convert in the fast break. The pace that the Lions set from the get go was a very good combination of frantic, yet controlled. When the Lions play at this specific pace, they remain quite scary.
Five straight points from McGee started the second quarter the perfect way, but it was the tremendous work of Solomon Richard to get to the paint and draw defenders so he had little dump off passes for scores that stood out. The recipient of multiple of those passes was Jaxon Keller, who has stepped up big as of late after injury took Brock Schott out of the lineup and Landon Ruoff missed time will an illness. The bench and the crowd gets excited about Keller scoring, nearly as excited as he does when he brings that big-football play energy and semi-celebration on every basket and defensive stop he gets. Early in the game, Woodlan relied heavily on post Oliver Adams so when Keller came in and helped slow Adams be being the lead man in some doubles, it only helped the excitement for Leo.
But the funny thing about energy is it shifts easy sometimes.
Woodlan completely changed the game in the third and wiped away a big deficit with pure will and desire coming out of the halftime break. Braden Smith hit a quick three after scoring just four in the first half, followed by another triple from Mason Moore and a couple of Leo turnovers. With 2:50 to go in the third, Adams threw a long outlet to Smith for a transition basket where Woodlan was 2-on-1 with Moore streaking hard on the opposite side of the floor to make it 40-37, showcasing how much of a beat Woodlan had on Leo at that point. Smith hit a step back a minute later to tie the game, but Leo ended the quarter on a 4-0 run that had them in control to start the fourth.
And like seasoned vets, even though many of them are not, the Lions took the third quarter drought personally.
Back-to-back threes from McGee and Nolan Hiteshew pushed the lead back to 10 and Woodlan spent the rest of the game just trying to keep pace with the energetic Lions, who never took their foot off the gas.
At the end of the day, Leo had those big emphasized points much more than Woodlan. They brought the energy, the manufactured the excitement and it puts the Lions as a team on the prowl heading into the Sectional final four.
That prowl hits Heritage on Friday as the two teams meet up at Woodlan, with the Lions holding a win against Heritage early in the regular season. Does that game matter now? Not at all and I’m sure that’s being discussed at Leo and at Heritage alike. Leo needed a big impact intense win and Heritage pulled off a solid upset to get to their rematch Friday. It should be a doozy.
As should the rest of the balanced area Sectionals, where just the right boost at the right time will make all of the difference in the world in the postseason.
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