CLASS 4A
Homestead ran into a buzzsaw on Saturday morning called Northridge. But did they ever put up a fight against the Raiders, falling 46-39. Brady Scholl has been as good as anyone in the north half of the state for Northridge and the Spartans just couldn’t find the way to slow him down enough. He scored 23 points to lead Northridge, while Hayden Johnson added 11 for the Raiders.
Homestead finished with 12 points each from Mack Welker and Ryder Imel. It may seem like another disappointing exit for the Spartans after back-to-back Regional titles, but when you factor in how young their roster core is, there is alot of expectation that Homestead is back in this spot next season. Both Welker and Imel are back, as is Jake Coolman. Big things are still brewing for the Spartans.
Snider played close in a high scoring first quarter to follow the Homestead game. The Panthers trailed Crown Point 21-18 to start the second quarter but then Crown Point started to pull away and led 36-29 at the halftime break. The Panthers got comfortable in quality stretches, but never as comfortable as Crown Point seemed. The Bulldogs just got to the rim almost at will as they built the lead up to 18 on a 13-2 third quarter run, finishing the game 76-47.
CLASS 3A
There is certainly something odd about seeing two conference opponents square off for a semi state title, but that is exactly what we got on Saturday with rematch of New Haven’s three point overtime win from earlier this season against Columbia City.
New Haven won the early game at Logansport to get to the finals with a 63-49 win over Delta. The Eagles controlled the game early, which they have a tendancy to do because of their size. Delta led by as many as 10 early, but once New Haven turned it up to a second level, there was no answer. The game ended on a 50-26 run for New Haven to get the comfortable win. It was a great showcase of the Bulldogs’ depth as Daylen Jackson scored 12 and Marquaylon Johnson added 10; two guys who don’t ever seem to get enough credit for New Haven’s success. Tarvar Baskerville and Jadrien Ezell led the Bulldogs with 13 points each.
With their NE8 rivals in the title game, Columbia City did their part early in the day too. East Chicago Central basically stood no chance as the Eagles clicked on almost every level. Columbia City shot 37.5 percent from the field but had assists on 17 of their 28 baskets and pulled down a massive 34 rebounds in the win. Landon Richmond continued his double double machine work with 21 points and 14 rebounds, while Owen Marshall added 15 points and six rebounds of his own. When we talk about depth helping on Saturday, look no further than Trey Deckman, who flirted with a triple double for the Eagles, finishing with 8 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds. If you needed another reason to know how legit Columbia City was this season, running clock on a semi state opponent is a massive sign.
There is a lot of good to be said about the championship game, a 57-55 win for New Haven. But to start anywhere other than the fourth quarter work of Baskerville would be a mistake. The junior was highly uninterested in New Haven’s season ending and he made sure everyone felt that. Baskerville scored 15 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter, the best of which coming with 2.4 second remaining. In a tie game, with a trip to state on the line, Baskerville absolutely bullied his way to the rim for the go ahead score.
It is New Haven’s first ever state finals appearance. Behind Baskerville, Ezell scored 16 for New Haven. Richmond led all scorers with 21, while Marshall added 13 for Columbia City.
For those keeping track, of the 5 teams (girls and boys) that the area has sent to the state finals in basketball this season, three of them are from the Northeast 8….
CLASS 2A
….and the other two are from the NECC with Westview’s semi state title win over Bishop Luers.
To get there, Luers had to upset semi state favorite Oak Hill in the first game of the morning. The Knights handed the Golden Eagles just their second loss of the season as Carmani Davis scored 26 points to continue his stellar – and in some ways – breakout senior season.
Westview played a tight early game with Lapel to reach the title game. The Warriors led 22-18 after one. Lapel kept it close all game long and got off a shot to try and force overtime that was off, giving Westview a 65-62 win and improving the Warriors to 26-1 before a battle with Luers in the night cap. Lapel kept it interesting late, missing a couple of key shots and making good defensive plays on Westview standout Austin Schlabach, but they just couldn’t get it done in the end despite winning the second half 33-28. Schlabach scored 23 in the win as Kaden Grau added 20.
For as good as Schlabach was in the morning, he turned it up for the title game, scoring 27 in a 69-48 win over Luers to advance to the state finals. Schlabach started hot and there was nothing that the Knights could really do to turn him back. He outscored Luers 14-13 himself in the first quarter and scored seven in the fourth to close it out. The Knights were outscored in every quarter, never putting up more than 13 points in one of the 8 minute segments.
The Knights held Davis to a 3-of-10 start from the field while Schlabach and Yoder poured in strong first half offense. Grau added 15 and Yoder 13 for the Warriors, while Luers was led by 11 each from Davis and Ayle Taylor, while TJ English added 10 points. Westview hit eight threes in the game to take them to 15 three point makes on the day.
It was the first time that Luers and the Warriors had met since 2008, that was also in the semi state round. That time, Luers legend Deshaun Thomas sank Westview to send the Knights to the title game.
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