Three Hamilton County players selected to 2026 Boys All-Stars

The REPORTER

Three Hamilton County boys basketball stars are among the 12 players that have been selected to join 2026 IndyStar Indiana Mr. Basketball Luke Ertel of Mt. Vernon on the 2026 IndyStar Indiana Boys’ All-Stars, All-Stars game director Mike Broughton announced Thursday.

Those chosen to the team will play three games in June — one exhibition game against the Indiana Junior All-Stars as well as home-and-home contests against the Kentucky All-Stars.

Carmel’s Evan Harrell, Fishers’ Kai McGrew and Noblesville’s Baron Walker are the local players that were selected to the All-Stars squad. They join Dane Caldwell of Silver Creek, Anthony Fresh of Charlestown, Ja’Shawn Ladd of Ben Davis,  Nick Shrewsberry of South Bend Saint Joseph and Cameron Webster of Lawrence North.

Ertel’s selection as Mr. Basketball was announced April 9 after he received the most votes from coaches and media from across the state. Dikembe Shaw of Crown Point, Brady Scholl of Northridge, Brennan Miller of Lawrence North and Noah Smith rounded out the top five in Mr. Basketball voting, and they will join Ertel on the team.

Hamilton Heights coach Chad Ballenger will serve as one of the assistant coaches. (Photo provided)

The 2026 boys’ All-Stars have two players who have been a part of state championship teams in Ertel (2026 4A) and Shrewsberry (2025 3A). The team has two additional players who have been a part of state runner-up teams in Shaw (2026 4A) and Ladd (2024 4A).

Ertel is the brother of 2017 All-Star Michael Ertel, also from Mt. Vernon. There have been numerous All-Star brother combinations over the years going back to Don and Ted Server, 1941 and 1950 from Madison.

Also of note, Ertel and Scholl were selected IBCA first-team Academic All-State. In addition, Ladd was recognized as IBCA honorable mention Academic All-State.

Todd Woelfle of Terre Haute North has been named head coach of the 2026 boys’ All-Stars. He will be assisted by Chad Ballenger of Hamilton Heights and Joe Bradburn of Mt. Vernon.

The Junior-Senior exhibition game is set for June 3 at Mt. Vernon. The first game against Kentucky will be June 5 at Lexington Catholic High School. The final game against Kentucky will be June 6 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

All three dates will be doubleheaders with the IndyStar Indiana Girls’ All-Stars, whose roster was announced March 18. The roster for the Indiana boys’ Junior All-Stars was announced April 1. The roster for the Indiana girls’ Junior All-Stars was announced March 9.

The Indiana Junior All-Stars will play two girl-boy doubleheaders this year — May 31 against the Kentucky Junior All-Stars at Charlestown and June 3 against the Indiana seniors at Mt. Vernon.

The Indiana Senior boys lead 107-46 in their series with Kentucky. The Indiana Senior boys lead 42-12 in games against the Indiana Junior boys. The Indiana Junior boys lead 9-5 in their series with Kentucky. The Indiana Senior girls lead 55-43 in their series with Kentucky. The Indiana Senior girls lead 42-12 in games against the Indiana Junior girls. The Indiana Junior girls lead 13-1 in their series with Kentucky.

The fourth annual IndyStar Indiana All-Star “Futures Games” doubleheader will be June 1 at New Palestine High School. The Futures Games will be a girls-boys doubleheader with Indiana-only squads of sophomores and freshmen in a North vs. South format. The Futures Games boys’ rosters were announced April 5, and the Futures Games girls’ rosters were announced March 26. The South boys lead the North 2-1. The North girls lead the South 2-1.

The IndyStar Indiana Boys’ All-Star Team is selected through a balloting process of coaches and media overseen by game organizers from the IBCA. The top vote getter is named Mr. Basketball, and the remainder of the team is finalized by Broughton after observing numerous games and events throughout the season, conferring with coaches, school officials and media across the state. Broughton also reviews votes submitted by coaches and media who each could recommend up to 10 players.