New Haven put on a great battle Saturday evening in the Class 3A state finals, but experience and stamina helped play a role down the stretch as Indianapolis Cathedral picked up the 71-61 win.
Cathedral shot 36 free throws in the game, going 15-of-22 in the fourth quarter from the charity stripe. New Haven, on the other end, shot just two fourth quarter free throws as Cathedral outscored the Bulldogs 22-10 in the final frame.
New Haven jumped out to an early 5–3 lead in the first after toying around a bit and switching to a matchup‑zone. However, unforced Bulldog turnovers and hustle plays by Cathedral powered an 8–2 run for the Fighting Irish. They increased that lead to 19-7 before an 8-0 New Haven run made it a game again; a Jadrien Ezell three point attempt to close the quarter missed and Cathedral led 21-15 at the first break.
The second quarter started in favor of the Bulldogs too, who tied the game up at 22 on a Shane Rogers-Smith score, but Cathedral again answered with another big run. The Fighting Irish got back to back scores from Skylar Rodgers and Owen Peterson to spark another 11-2 run that was finished off with a Keaton Aldridge three at the 2:25 mark of the second and Cathedral led 33-24. As was the theme of the game though, New Haven would not go away. A deep triple from Ezell with just over a minute to play in the half cut the deficit to six before Aldridge scored again to give Cathedral a 37-29 halftime lead.
It took a full minute of the fourth before an Ezell free throw put either team on the board in the second half. Ezell missed the second, but a big offensive rebound from Lavell Ledbetter led to a Demarcus Wright triple and the Bulldogs seemed to be rolling early. A bucket from Tarvar Baskerville with just over six minutes to play cut it to a one possession game before four straight Ledbetter free throws gave New Haven a 41-39 lead with 4:35 left in the quarter. New Haven and Indianapolis Cathedral then traded blows the rest of the period with the biggest lead of the frame coming at 49-45 on a Ledbetter and-one with 1:34 to play.
After three, New Haven led the Class 3A state finals 51-49.
The Bulldogs’ third quarter surge had Cathedral in all kinds of trouble, but fatigue and fouls played a bigger role in the fourth quarter. Skylar Rodgers and Julien Smith each went 5-of-6 from the free throw line in the final frame, while Keaton Aldridge went 4-of-6 from the line in the fourth. New Haven’s final lead of the game came at 55-53 on a steal and dunk from Ezell, a very similar play as Westview’s Austin Schlabach had in the 2A game to give the Warriors their last lead of the game.
A Jayden Kennedy three early in the fourth gave Cathedral a 53-51 lead before Baskerville tied the game with a layup and Ezell threw down the previously mentioned dunk. Cathedral would take the lead for good with on an Aldridge bucket with 6:02 play, 56-55. After that basket, the Fighting Irish would hit 13 more free throws to close out the win and a state title.
Baskerville had a team high 20 points in the loss, adding five steals. Ezell scored 15 points and Ledbetter added 9 points and 7 rebounds for New Haven. Cathedral was paced by a game high 21 from Smith to go with 9 rebounds. Two Fighting Irish players did finish with double doubles as Aldridge had 17 points and 11 rebounds and Owen Peterson had 11 points and 10 rebounds.
New Haven’s Demarcus Wright was named the Class 3A winner of the Arthur L. Trester Mental Attitude Award.
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