Phone: 317-846-6601 Fax: 317-575-4244 Website: www.ihsaa.org
Blake Ress, Commissioner
_________________________________________________________________________
March 22, 2008
LUERS WINS CLASS 2A STATE
CROWN OVER
Class
2A’s third-ranked Fort Wayne Bishop Luers came
up with key plays in the closing minutes to hold off No. 4 Winchester, 69-67,
sealing its first-ever IHSAA Class 2A state crown at Conseco Fieldhouse. The win capped a 24-3 season for Luers Head Coach James Blackmon, who was also inducted into
the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame on Wednesday in
Luers
opened the third quarter on a 10-2 run, led by sophomore DeShaun
Thomas to take a 42-41 lead with 5:45 left. There were six ties and five lead
changes in the second half alone. Koch helped Luers
push its lead back to 51-45 before taking a 57-54 advantage into the fourth
quarter.
Luers’
Troy Amos opened the fourth with a trey to tie the game at 57 all as the teams
began to trade buckets. Junior Jake Kuhn, who came in averaging just under
three points per game, got the decisive layup with 1:31 left, making the score
66-64. After a
Despite
facing constant double and triple-teams, the 6-foot-7 Thomas ended the game
with 20 points, five rebounds and three blocked shots and Barnett added 18
points and eight assists. James Blackmon’s nephew, Evan, chipped in 15
points and Amos scored 13 off the bench. Luers shot
better than 57 percent from the floor in the second half including 5-of-10 from
three-point range.
Koch’s
37 set a new IHSAA Class 2A state championship game record, eclipsing the
previous mark set by Batesville’s Jacob Garvin in 2001. He hit 15-of-24
shots and blocked three shots in defeat. Additionally, Morrison turned in 15
points and a game-high eight rebounds in 24 minutes as a reserve and Brock Ward
had six points and six assists.
The
following records were set during the Class 2A championship game: Luers matched a Class 2A single-game record with 16
assists, set by
LUCAS
WICKERSHAM NAMED TRESTER AWARD WINNER
Following
the game, members of the IHSAA Executive Committee named Lucas Wickersham of
The award
is presented annually to a senior participant in each classification who was
nominated by his principal and coach and has demonstrated excellence in mental
attitude, scholarship, leadership and athletic ability.
Wickersham
is ranked 16th in his senior class of 113, and has a 3.61 GPA. He plans to attend
Lucas is
part of the IHSAA Student Ambassadors Mentor and Role Model programs, as well
as the NCAA Stay-in-Bounds Program. He is a member of the National Honor
Society and serves as Student Council Vice-President at Winchester Community.
Along with
basketball, Wickersham has participated in football, track, and cross country
for the Golden Falcons. He is a nominee
for the 2007-2008 Wendy’s High School Heisman Award.
“After
coaching basketball for 20 years, I can honestly say that I have never coached
an athlete who works harder than Lucas,” says head coach Chip Mehaffey. “His work ethic has been an example for the
players in our program and helped lead us to a state runner-up finish last year, and a return to the state finals this season.”
He is the
son of Michael and Julie Wickersham of
Indiana
Farm Bureau Insurance, the IHSAA’s corporate
partner, will present a $1,000 scholarship to
The award
is named in honor of Arthur L. Trester, the IHSAA’s first commissioner who served the Association
from 1929-44.
VSN MEANS ACTION PHOTOGRAPHY
Visit our
friends at Visual Sports Network, the IHSAA’s official photographer for all state
championship events and one of the leading action photographers in the
CHAMPIONSHIP MERCHANDISE AVAILABLE
For t-shirts and other merchandise commemorating this year’s tournament or for any of our events, visit our friends at Morris, Inc.
STATE FINALS PROGRAMS AVAILABLE
Couldn’t
be there for the state finals? You can still purchase a copy of the official
souvenir program while supplies last! Programs are $3.00 if you purchase in
person at the IHSAA Office (
CLASS
2A POST-GAME QUOTES
James
Blackmon, Fort Wayne Head Coach
“I
think both teams poured their hearts out there on the floor. I tip my hat to our guys. We kept our composure when we got down. It was a hard fought game and we made plays
when we needed to.
“At
half, we talked about keeping our composure.
There are a lot of gimmick defenses thrown at Deshaun
(Thomas), sometimes
two or three guys on him. In sectionals
we saw a box-and-one. Other guys started
stepping up and hitting shots, but when Deshaun had
opportunities to get looks he knocked them down.”
“I
try to preach to my guys all year long that we have to play 32 minutes and
tonight we really needed it.”
(on Deshaun Thomas’
performance)
“When
you score 22-24 points on a stage like this that’s a good performance. Every time he touched the ball he had two or
three guys around him and had to work for every shot tonight. He made some good passes when the double and
triple teams came.”
“As
compared to 25 years ago, as a player you seem to have more control. As a coach I’d recognize what needed to
be done and try to get guys into the right situations to be successful. Sometimes it’s tough on those
sidelines.”
(on next year’s team)
“The
future looks awful good. Others may want
to talk about it(repeating) but I’m going to
enjoy this one and let it sink in for awhile.”
Chip Mehaffey, Winchester Head Coach
“I’m
really proud of our kids. They played
great and gave it everything they had. The
seniors are a great group. They have
been a lot of fun to coach over the years.”
“It
was a supreme effort by our players. For
their size, we out rebounded them. Our team
plays as hard as any team in the state.”
“Unfortunately
things like in life didn’t go as planned.
We worked all year to get back in this position.”
“The
travel at the end wasn’t a travel.
But I might not have done a good job on a couple of situations as a
coach. We missed on some block outs and
we missed a couple of rotations. It’s
all part of it.”
(on the last play of the game)
“We
practice that situation all year. Our kids
have prepared for that all year. We executed
it perfectly and we got the shot we wanted.
It just didn’t go in. If I had
a second thought, we might have gone for the three for the win. That’s the only second guess I’d
have.”
“We
play as a team, all the players have their roles. Lucas Wickersham’s job is to guard the
other team’s best player. He did a
fabulous job on one of the best players in the
“Tyler
Koch’s role is to score. He is the
quenticitial basketball player. He’s not had a bad practice or game all
year. As you got to see today he is an
amazing player. He’s just not an Indiana
All-Star, he’s a Mr. Basketball candidate for
next year.”