On Saturday, Westview will seek out its first state title since 2000 as Parke Heritage is seeking its first state title of any kind in school history.
The second game of the day, the Class 2A state title game will tip off appox. 12:45 on Saturday afternoon at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
TWO STORYLINES
THE WINNING STREAK
Westview has won 26 games. No typo: 26 of their 27 wins have come in a row. Since December 1’s loss to Northridge came by 12 points and it made Westview 1-1. Then they just ran by mostly everyone on their schedule and hold a 66 to 43.8 scoring difference this season.
That kind of unbeaten streak is not one to be ignored. The other win streaks of teams in the state finals: 11, 10, 6, 6, 13, 15, 18. But nobody at 26. In fact, last season’s Class 2A state champion Manchester went 26-2 but only finished their season with an eight game winning streak. 26 straight wins just does not happen.
During the course of that run, Westview has won by single digits just 5 times – NorthWood by 8, Angola by 3 in OT, Blackhawk Christian by 1 and then Gary 21st Century by 4 in the Regional and Lapel by 3 in semi state. During the run, they scored a season best 85 points against Churubusco and 70 twice in wins over Bethany Christian and Garrett.
While kudos obviously go to the players for this streak, respect too for coach Chandler Prible, who has led the Warriors so well for four seasons to an 82-24 record; so losing isn’t exactly something the Warriors do as they have also won Sectional titles in all four of those seasons.
THE WOLVES HAVE BEEN SO CLOSE
Remember how close you’ve been, Parke Heritage? That isn’t easy for all of the Wolves roster as they haven’t been there for the previous six seasons completely, but coach Rich Schelsky has and the community remembers.
The Wolves have been so close so many times to capturing their school’s first state title of any kind in any sport. In coach Schelsky’s second season they won the Sectional title but Covid ended that run with three losses. A year later, they were in the state finals in 2021 but fell to Blackhawk Christian. Prior to this season, Parke Heritage went to the semi state round three straight seasons, but couldn’t find their way back to Gainbridge Fieldhouse despite just 11 total losses in 2023-24 and 2024-25.
So now they are back, postseason champions of some kind in 6 of the last 7 seasons, getting to at least semi state in five of those. This is a program that knows how to win and knows how to play at the highest level. What will it take for them to get over the hump and get a state crown?
FOUR PLAYERS TO WATCH
AUSTIN SCHLABACH, WESTVIEW
Schlabach has been an opposing team nightmare all season but that seems to have turned up in the postseason, including his massive game to topple Gary 21st Century for a Regional title, scoring 33 points per game. Schlabach leads Westview in four oft he five major statistical categories: 19.7 points, 1.7 steals, 5.6 assists and 1.1 blocks per game, while being second in rebounding at 5.4 per contest. Those numbers only show a bit of how good Schlabach has been, but the fact that they are all consistent is a testament to his work.
TREIGH SCHELSKY, PARKE HERITAGE
A big senior guard, Schelsky leads the Wolves with 15. 9 points per game, but like Westview’s Schlabach, also is a strong pass first option with 3.5 assists per game and adds 1.3 steals per contest. He scored a season best 32 points in a win over Northview, but has had one of the best scoring streaks of his career since a February win over Fountain Central, where he scored 21 on 8-of-11 shooting, not scoring lower than 13 and hitting 20 or more four times. He also has three games with 5 or more three pointers made including a 7-of-10 outing from deep against North Vermillion.
KADEN GRAU, WESTVIEW
Grau has diversified his game in many more ways during this his senior season. He has become Westview’s best shooter, but Grau’s activity in and around the basket may be the most captivating part of his game. His 5.1 rebounds per game is third on the team, but he does lead Westview in offensive rebounds at 1.4 per game and shoots 53.1 percent from two point range. Grau is second on the team with 18.5 points per game and in steals with 1.1 per contest.
ISAAC PICKEL, PARKE HERITAGE
There is one thing that you can’t teach and that is 6-foot-9. Pickel proves to be a matchup issue, especially for teams without a traditional post player like Westview. The senior leads the Wolves with 7.7 rebounds per game (including three offensive rebounds per contest), adding 10.4 points per game. Pickel has six double doubles on the season including a season best 12 rebounds against North Vermillion. He posted three blocked shots in the semi state title win over Linton Stockton.
KEY TO VICTORY – WESTVIEW
Westview has to lean on the three point ball, but not to a fault. Teams who are always good shooting teams tend to live by the three sometimes but also die by the three if the shot isn’t falling. You throw in the fact that the background of a shot at Gainbridge Fieldhouse has a different depth perception and shooting in the state finals is just different.
But don’t expect Westview to shoot themselves out of the game, they may be too educated for that. What they can do is shoot the ball with a chilling success. The Warriors are arguably the best area team in three point shooting this season. They hit a ton of them every game and are averaging 7.4-of-17.5 three point shooting on the season. That may seem like a lot, but the Warriors are connecting on 42.3 percent of their triples on the season, led by 51.1 percent from leading three point shooter Kaden Grau and 42 percent from second leading three point shooter Pierce Yoder.
KEY TO VICTORY – PARKE HERITAGE
Using their depth is key for the Wolves in this game. They have eight players who have played in 21 or more games with five who have appeared in all 30 on the season. By the time you get to this stage, you want to be able to have a developed bench and the Wolves seem to have that.
Behind Schelsky, there are five more Wolves with 7.4 or more points per game, including 13.7 and seven rebounds from junior Carter Crum. While Crum and Pickel make up 14.7 of Parke Heritage’s 27 rebounds per game, Schelsky and junior Leyton McMullen each chip in a couple boards a game and Parke Heritage’s top 8 all average 1.4 rebounds or more. The numbers for everyone may not be huge, but the Wolves have the depth and experience to favor them in that department.
We’ve seen in this postseason (and the ongoing NCAA Tournament) that teams who get deeper without depth or the ability to rely on their bench struggle. That is an area that should be Parke Heritage’s strength on Saturday.
BOUNCE’S PICK
This is an interesting battle that, on the surface, looks like Westview’s guard and shooting strength against a Parke Heritage team that is really good in and around the rim. But both teams can do both things well.
The intrigue here lies both with Schlabach versus Schelsky but also with how Westview plays Parke Heritage’s bigger players with the Wolves often playing 6-9, 6-4 and 6-4 and Westview without a “traditional” big man. Grau can certainly hold his own with size, Kaine Reinhold has been known to play big and Daniel Yoder leads the Warriors in rebounding despite his guard stature. The interior battle could really be the story here, whether or not Westview hits at their usual high rate from three.
BOUNCE PICKS WESTVIEW, 58-52
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