By RICHARD TORRES
For The Reporter
INDIANAPOLIS – Saturday night was supposed to be a coronation. The culmination of a repeat state championship for top-ranked Class 4A Fishers inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse in downtown Indianapolis.
Fishers’ Nathan Baker (42) had seven points, six rebounds and five assists. Also pictured is JonAnthony Hall, who collected seven rebounds. (Joshua Herd)
The crowning of the sixth 4A undefeated state champion and 15th overall in Indiana High School Athletic Association boys’ basketball state tournament history.
Instead, the Tigers (30-1) found themselves in a heavyweight bout with sixth-ranked Jeffersonville (24-5) that couldn’t be settled in regulation, and it was the Red Devils who delivered the knockout blow during the 115th annual IHSAA State Finals.
Up by as many as six points, 20-14, in the second quarter and down by nine, 45-36, in the third quarter, the Tigers grabbed their first lead of the second half, 60-58, with 1 minute, 3 seconds remaining, but the Red Devils kept coming.
A bucket by Wright State commit Michael Cooper tied the game, 60-60, for a fifth time in the final minute of regulation, and a layup by Elijah Cheeks off an assist by Northwestern commit Tre Singleton in overtime with 37 seconds left sealed the upset.
Jeffersonville, which was making its first state championship game appearance since 1995, defeated Fishers 67-66 in overtime to claim only their second state title in program history and first in 32 years (1993).
“You never want to lose, but they were certainly a worthy opponent. Hats off to them,” Fishers coach Garrett Winegar said. “As a coach, I’m always going to second guess some decisions and go back and try to get better, but they’re a really good team, and anybody thinking it wasn’t going to be like this hadn’t seen them since (Singleton) was back.”
Singleton was sidelined for three months since last September due to a broken ankle, and he sat out or played with limitations through Jeffersonville’s first 11 games before the Red Devils won 17 consecutive games leading up to the state championship game.
Justin Kirby scored 15 points for Fishers. (Julie Brown)
Their 18th straight victory proved Singleton was back at full strength. The 6-foot-9 forward scored a game-high 26 points with a team-high five rebounds to help head coach Sherron Wilkerson become the sixth individual to win a state championship as both a player and a coach and the 25th to lead his alma mater to a title.
This past summer, the Red Devils bested the Tigers during the Charlie Hughes Shootout showcase in Hamilton County, but the offseason loss didn’t derail Fishers’ in-season winning streak, which stretched to 43 consecutive games dating back to their 2023-24 state championship run.
Much like every game the Tigers have played the past two seasons, Winegar and his players believed another win was going to unfold despite Jeffersonville’s ability to match Fishers shot for shot.
Senior Millen McCartney, an Indiana Wesleyan recruit, nearly made it happen.
McCartney drilled a 3-pointer in overtime to put the Tigers ahead 66-65 with 1:07 remaining, and at the end of regulation sophomore Jason Gardner Jr. had a tough look at the rim for a layup that just refused to go down with the game deadlocked.
“This team has won (43) games in a row, dating back to the state title last year. We’ve been in a lot of those games, and we always find a way to win, so I knew when (Millen) shot it that it was going to go in. I fully expected us to get a stop,” Winegar said. “Hindsight is 20-20, maybe take a timeout to set the (defense), but we had the momentum, so yeah, I thought we were going to win at that point.”
Sophomore Jason Gardner Jr. both scored 15 points for the Tigers. (Joshua Herd)
Instead, the Tigers doubled down on Singleton late in overtime and their primary assignment found Cheeks streaking toward the basket for the eventual winning layup.
“When that happens, the next guy is supposed to rotate over, and we didn’t get to rotation. We need to force a skip, force a corner skip. We didn’t get to the X and the help line and force that skip, he gets a wide-open layup to take the lead,” Winegar said.
The Tigers trailed 30-24 at halftime after the Red Devils surged ahead behind a 16-4 run after Fishers led 20-14.
Three-point shooting where Fishers averaged .429 percent dropped to 31 percent (7 of 22) against Jeffersonville, which made clawing back until the third quarter difficult.
However, the Tigers’ collective effort pulled them back in a position to defend their title.
Both Gardner and senior Justin Kirby, a Miami (Ohio) commit, each had 15 points for the Tigers, followed by senior JonAnthony Hall with nine points and sophomore Cooper Zachary with eight points.
Senior Nathan Baker, a Taylor commit, had seven points, six rebounds and five assists, while Hall had seven rebounds and Gardner finished with five assists. McCartney and senior Logan Sigler, a DePauw commit, each added six points.
Jeffersonville countered by shooting 58 percent in the game and had three in double figures. Cooper had 15 points and senior Shawn Boyd provided 11 points. P.J. Douglas, a Wright State commit, contributed eight points. Cheeks had four with his final bucket proving the biggest.
“You see Logan hit a three. You see Baker hit a three. Jason gets some buckets. Coop hit a three. Millen hit a three. JonAnthony flying around on the boards and chasing Mikey (Cooper) around. It’s just everybody stepping up and making plays. I thought we had a chance there at the end when Kirby got downhill at the end of regulation to maybe win it right then, but he misses a layup that was a tough one, but one he makes a lot,” Winegar said. “Sometimes, the ball just doesn’t go your way.”
Millen McCartney scored six points. (Joshua Herd)
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