Two area boys basketball team accomplished on Saturday what no other boys’ teams have done in their school’s history: win a state basketball championship.
Brownstown Central won the 2-A title defeating Wapahani 55-36 while Scottsburg defeated South Bend St. Joseph 67-57 in the 3A state championship games played at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
The Braves jumped on Wapahani 18-7 at the first quarter break and extended their lead over the Raiders to 31-14 at the half.
A halftime locker room talk must have helped the Raiders as they held the Braves to seven points while scoring 13 of their own cutting the Brownstown Central lead to 38-28 after three periods of play. But the Braves regained control on both offensive and defensive end of the court in the final stanza outscoring the Delaware County school 17-8 to cruise to a 19-point victory.
Purdue recruit Jack Benter led all scorers with 25 points, Chance Coomer hit for 13 and Micah Sheffer rounded out the double digit scorers with 11 points for Brownstown. Brownstown was 20 of 41 from the field for 48.7% but were out-rebounded by Wapahani 25-23.
The Scottsburg boys had closer contest. After Scottsburg led 19-13 after the first quarter, South Bend St Joe outscored the Warriors 21-16 to tighten it to a 35-34 halftime score.
The Huskies outscored Scottsburg 16-14 to take the lead 50-49 at the third quarter stop.
But the Warriors defense held the Huskies to just seven final quarter points while pumping through another 18 points to win the school’s first boys state championship.
Jack Miller led all scorers with 32 points, Kody Clancey added 20 and Wyatt Zellers tossed in 10 points to close out the Warriors double digit scoring.
Scottsburg was 25 of 45 in shooting for 55.6% but were out-rebounded by the Huskies 35-17.
Brownstown Centrral and Scottsburg are members of the Mid-Southern Conference. When the two teams met head-to-head in conference hardwood action in December, Brownstown defeated Scottsburg 51-37 on the Braves home floor.