Recently, we unveiled our plan to name area programs’ top five players of the 21st century, which sits at 25 seasons in both football and basketball.
Reminder, this is based on high school career performance ONLY. This is by no means a definitive list and, if anything, is encouraging debate on potential omissions to this list.
Through exhaustive research, reaching out to former coaches and players and our own personal opinion, here is the OTH Quarter Century Team for North Side boys basketball.
Note: The list is in alphabetical order
Keion Brooks Jr.
Keion Brooks Jr. made a name for himself early at North Side, where as a freshman he averaged 17.1 points and as a sophomore in 2017 he averaged 20.5 points and 7.4 rebounds per game, helping his team reach the Class 4A state title game for the first time since 1965. He became single game scoring leader on December 15, 2017 when he scored 52 points in a win over Snider. By season’s end, he averaged 22.9 points, 9.6 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.7 blocks per game. He finished his 3 years at North as the second all-time leading scorer with 1,664 points. He later transferred to La Lumiere for his senior year, then played in college at Kentucky and Washington before, in 2025, making his NBA debut with the New Orleans Pelicans.
Jaylen Butz
In his senior season (2016-17) he averaged 17.3 points and 12.6 rebounds per game, earned Indiana All-Star honors, and was named the 2017 News-Sentinel Player of the Year. As an anchor in the middle, he also led North Side to its first Indiana state title game appearance since 1965 and the Legends to their fourth straight SAC Holiday Tournament title. Butz also averaged a double double as a junior, averaging 16.1 points, 11.4 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game. He scored 1,116 points in his high school career. He went on to play at DePaul and Western Kentucky before starting a professional career.
Trevion Crews
Crews was well known in Northeast Indiana during North Side’s return to championship form, especially for his passing — as a junior he once delivered 16 assists in a game, breaking North Side’s assist records. As a junior, Crews averaged 13.1 points, 7.8 assists and 4 rebounds per game. During his senior season, Crews was named the News-Sentinel Boys Basketball Player of the Year as the Redskins set a program record with a .923 winning percentage by going 24-2 and winning SAC Tournament, regular season and sectional championships; he averaged 17.1 points and 7.4 assists per game. Crews went on to be an over 2,000 point scorer at Bethel before starting a pro career overseas.
Eshaunte Jones
Eshaunte “Bear” Jones was one of North Side’s most dominant high school basketball players and remains the program’s all-time leading scorer. In his senior season he averaged 27.7 points, 6.8 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 3 steals per game, ranking third in the state in scoring, and broke the school record with 1,759 career points while hitting 42 percent from three point range. He was a three-time First Team Summit Athletic Conference pick, area Player of the Year, an Indiana All-Star, and a McDonald’s All-America nominee. He went on to play at Nebraska and Northern Kentucky.
Justin Jordan
In his senior year (2008-09), he averaged 27.4 points per game, along with roughly 4 assists and 3.7 steals. He scored 1,398 career points, was named among Indiana’s Top 15 seniors, selected for the Indiana-Kentucky All-Star Game, and earned recognition from Hoosier Basketball Magazine. Jordan’s scoring total remains 3rd all-time for North Side boys. As a junior, Jordan averaged 24.1 points per game. After high school he played at Saint Louis and IPFW before finishing his playing career at Anderson.
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