By RICHIE HALL
On Saturday night, the Carmel boys basketball team will be playing in a state championship game for the third time in four years.
And also for the third time in four years, the Greyhounds’ opponent will be a fellow member of the Metropolitan Conference.
Carmel takes on Lawrence North Saturday night in the Class 4A title game at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, with tipoff scheduled for 8:30 p.m. It will be a matchup between two of the top three teams in the state, as the ‘Hounds are ranked No. 2 and the Wildcats are No. 3.
This will be the third consecutive time that Carmel is playing for a state title. The Greyhounds made it to the final in 2018 but fell to Warren Central 54-48. Carmel returned to BLF in 2019 and beat Ben Davis 60-55 to claim the school’s fourth boys basketball state crown. It’s also the fifth time in the past nine years that Carmel will be playing in the state finals.
“We’ve been fortunate to be a part of this game more than once over the last nine years and we’re grateful for every opportunity,” said Greyhounds coach Ryan Osborn. “The history and tradition of high school basketball in this state has always been special and remains that way today.”
Last year’s state tournament, of course, was canceled after the sectional round due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thankfully, this year’s basketball season is ending with the state finals, although they were delayed a week to accommodate the NCAA men’s basketball tournament taking place entirely in Indianapolis.
“I was a little apprehensive about the extra week at first,” said Osborn. “Now that we’ve had time to digest the schedule and what those 14 days would look like, I feel good about what we’ve done and the way the players have handled the extra time. It’s allowed for us to regroup mentally, rest our bodies and prepare for the upcoming game.”
Carmel’s regular-season game with Lawrence North took place on Feb. 4, at the Wildcats’ gym. The Greyhounds won 63-49 and was their penultimate step towards clinching an unbeaten MIC championship. Carmel completed the perfect conference season two weeks later, beating Warren Central 56-47 on Feb. 19.
Lawrence North thus finished second in the MIC with a 6-1 record. But after losing that contest to the ‘Hounds, the Wildcats have been a roll, winning 12 straight games. That included LN’s final six regular-season dates, and the Wildcats have won all six of their tournament games. They are 28-2 overall.
“Lawrence North is a very good team,” said Osborn. “They’re talented, extremely athletic and playing well right now.”
Playing in the always-tough Sectional 10 at Arsenal Tech, Lawrence North beat No. 5 Cathedral 75-63, No. 7 Warren Central 46-45 in the semi-finals and North Central 62-49 in the championship. In the Southport regional, the Wildcats beat Ben Davis 58-44 in the semi-finals and No. 6 Plainfield 43-39 in the final. Osborn said LN has beat some good teams in the postseason and has “responded to every challenge.”
The Wildcats got another challenge at the Seymour semi-state when they played Bloomington South, in a contest that pitted the two winningest coaches in Indiana high school basketball history. Lawrence North beat the Panthers 54-52, giving Wildcats coach Jack Keefer his 848th career victory (787th at Lawrence North). Bloomington South coach J.R. Holmes, in 51 years of coaching, has 861 career victories, 718 of them with the Panthers.
Keefer has been coaching at Lawrence North since 1976 and has led the Wildcats to four state championships, the first one in 1989. Lawrence North also won three in a row, 2004-05-06, during the days of Greg Oden and Mike Conley Jr.
As for this year’s team, Osborn noted the Wildcats are led by three Division I seniors and “supported by other talented guys,” including another highly-touted D-I player.
The Wildcats have three players who are scoring in double figures. Senior Shamar Avance puts in 17.8 points per game, junior CJ Gunn (an Indiana University commit) is scoring 13.8 points per contest and senior DJ Hughes (a Butler University commit) adds 13.6 points per game. Hughes also leads the rebounds with 7.7 per game, followed by senior Donaven McCulley (an IU football commit) with 6.8. Avance hands out 4.3 assists per game, while senior Kayden Beatty dishes out 3.0 per contest.
“We’ll have to play well, defend at a high level, rebound and take care of the basketball,” said Osborn.
Carmel is 25-2 and played its share of tough games during the postseason. The Greyhounds won their own sectional – their seventh title in a row – with victories over Hamilton Southeastern 46-33 and Westfield 53-27.
At the Logansport regional, Carmel took down No. 1-ranked Homestead 60-49, then emerged out of a barn-burner with No. 8 Lafayette Jefferson 50-49. The ‘Hounds then played the semi-state at Lafayette Jeff, and that was another tough one: Carmel prevailed 53-50 in overtime against No. 10 Gary West Side.
Greyhounds senior Brian Waddell, who is receiving Division I offers, is averaging 15.6 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. Junior Peter Suder is next in line with 11.7 points, and tops the rebounding list with 6.7 per contest.
Senior Connor Gioia leads the assists with 3.3 per game, followed by Suder with 3.0. Junior Charlie Williams, at 6-10, adds 7.1 points and 4.2 rebounds, and junior Josh Whack has been solid on defense all season. Sophomore Samuel Orme leads Carmel in 3-pointers with 40.
“We have a phenomenal staff that works their tail off year-round to develop and prepare our players at every level (K-12),” said Osborn. “Most of the time and behind the scenes work they do is never publicized, but certainly puts us in a position to be successful. You don’t win consistently without talented basketball players, but I’m most proud of the way they’ve all gone about their business. We’ve been able to create a special culture here and the kids have bought into team success. Year-in and year-out, even our most talented guys have committed to being the hardest working, most coachable players. They all celebrate others’ successes and unanimously put the team first. It’s been a lot of fun to be a part of and even more exciting to see them excel as people and players after they’ve graduated from the program.”