By Rich Torres, Special to IHSAA.org
INDIANAPOLIS – What was billed as a potential Class 4A heavyweight bout Saturday night inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse lived up to the hype during the 115th annual Indiana High School Athletic Association Boys Basketball State Finals.
With the lead changing hands six times and the score deadlocked seven times, the top-ranked Fishers Tigers and the sixth-ranked Jeffersonville Red Devils needed overtime to decide a winner in a 4A title game destined to join state tournament lore.
Neither defending state champion Fishers (30-1) nor Jeffersonville were able to maintain a longstanding advantage, as both traded momentum-changing buckets throughout.
At least that was until the Red Devils (24-5) pushed past a 60-60 tie at the end of regulation and two more stalemates in bonus period with an eventual go-ahead layup by Elijah Cheeks.
The junior guard cut down the lane towards the rim and hauled in an assist from senior Tre Singleton, who passed out of a double team with 37 seconds left in overtime, setting up the final points of the night, 67-66, to seize Jeffersonville’s second state title all-time and first since 1993.
“I had to finish this for my guys, you know. This is what we’ve been working on, so when I saw the ball coming towards me, I knew I had to finish it. I couldn’t miss it,” Cheeks said. “We stayed together as one unit, as brothers to complete this goal of ours.”
Their goal required what Jeffersonville coach Sherron Wilkerson, a 1993 McDonald’s All American and Red Devils state champion, called a “believe to achieve” mindset.
Despite losing hold of a nine-point second-half lead late in the fourth quarter, Jeffersonville charged back from a 60-58 deficit following an and-1 by Fishers’ Jason Gardner Jr. with 1 minute, 3 seconds remaining in regulation.
A takeaway by Wright State commit Michael Cooper tied the game, 60-60, with 58 seconds left.
In overtime, Jeffersonville led 63-60, but the Tigers knotted up the score again before senior Millen McCartney put Fishers in front, 66-65, with a 3-pointer at the 1:07 mark.
“They’re defending state champs. They’re not just going to go away, and they didn’t. Hence, the reason it went to overtime,” Wilkerson noted on the message he delivered to his players. “When you have a team like Fishers that is ultra-aggressive and puts pressure on you both ways, 84 feet offensively and 84 feet defensively, it makes it really tough to make tough plays when it really counts. That was the thing that we challenged our guys with all week. It was going to come down to tough plays, not made shots.”
Defense and a healthy Singleton, a Northwestern commit, were equally as paramount against the Tigers, who had won 43 straight games dating back to their 2023-24 state title campaign.
Singleton, who stands 6-foot-8, was sidelined with a broken foot he suffered this past September, which cost him nearly three months and 11 games of the regular season.
Upon his return in late December, his minutes were limited, but in the state finals three months later he tallied a game-high 26 points, five rebounds and four assists with a block.
“He missed the first 10 or 11 games, which was difficult for everybody, and then you throw in the fact we weren’t for sure how he was going to respond to that injury. It was tough, but he responded very well. Rehabbed himself. Got himself back in game shape, and then after Christmas we were able to get our momentum and get ourselves back here,” Wilkerson said.
Jeffersonville was making its first state championship game appearance since 1995 and had two runner-up finishes in 1935 and 1974 through the single-class state tournament format.
The Red Devils won 17 consecutive games to reach the state finals in their ninth appearance overall, and winning No. 18 was a tug-of-war.
Both teams tied three times in the first quarter before Fishers pulled ahead 11-8 after the frame and 20-14 midway through the second quarter.
A 16-4 run by Jeffersonville fueled by Cooper, who finished with 15 points, Singleton and senior Shawn Boyd, who had 11 points, put the Red Devils in front 30-24 by halftime.
In the third quarter, the Red Devils built their largest lead, 45-36, but the Tigers clawed back to cut their deficit, 45-42, by the fourth after McCartney buried a 3-pointer with 5 seconds left, capping a 6-0 run.
“A lot of teams come out and try to play conservative and timid against their pressure, and we knew we had to come out and match their intensity and their pressure,” Cooper said. “It took everything out of us. We knew that was the only way they could beat us if they out hustled us and out played us. Down the stretch they made some tough plays that could have turned the game around, but I feel like we responded in overtime.”
The Tigers continued to trail until Gardner Jr., who had a team-high 15 points along with senior Miami (Ohio) commit Justin Kirby, supplied Fishers with its first lead since the second quarter in the final minute of regulation.
Fishers shot an uncharacteristic 31 percent from 3-point range (7-for-22) and 3 of 12 after three quarters. The Tigers averaged 42 percent from behind the arc this season.
“Everybody was talking about their five losses, but their five losses were when Tre Singleton was out or when he was on a minute restriction. Since he’s been back, they’re 17-0, winning by an average of 17 points per game, so they’re an undefeated team, too, if you ask me,” Fishers coach Garrett Winegar said. “We played them this summer. We knew how good they were. They’re very well coached, and they have three Division I players. I think we’re the two best teams in the state, and it came down to overtime.”
The Tigers shot 45 percent overall from the floor compared to the Red Devils 58 percent, and both teams combined for 78 points in the paint.
“They’re a great team. They’re 30-0, but the only thing that mattered were those 32 minutes on the floor. We came out tonight, and we showed them,” Singleton said. “We know we’re the better team. They’re a great team obviously, but we had more, and we knew that.”
The Red Devils’ confidence stemmed from a win they posted against Fishers this past summer during the Charlie Hughes Shootout showcase in the offseason and a humbling, eye-opening 50-point loss to Indianapolis Cathedral in Wilkerson’s first game as coach in 2022.
“We realized we could compete at Charlie Hughes. When we were able to beat Fishers. I don’t mean that arrogantly,” Wilkerson said. “They had set the standard for the state, and that’s what we were chasing, so even if it’s summer basketball. From a mental standpoint, it lets you know you can compete. That was one of the things we used in our point of emphasis in our preparation. ‘Hey fellas, we know they’re really good. We know they’re ranked nationally. We know they’re defending state champs, but you guys beat’em.’”
The Tigers struggled to slow down Singleton, and when they focused on the Jeffersonville big man, senior and Wright State recruit P.J. Douglas (eight points, four rebounds), Cooper and Cheeks were ready.
“This means a lot because we were doubted the whole season. We started the season without Tre, but when we got Tre back, we got in our role and started working,” Cheeks said. “That’s when we started clicking on all cylinders.”
Fishers had three opportunities to reclaim the lead in the final 30 seconds of overtime, including two out of bound sets in the last nine seconds, but missed each shot attempt as Jeffersonville’s defense tightened.
A contested McCartney 3-pointer in the final 2.1 seconds fell short and made Wilkerson the sixth individual to win a state championship as both a player and a coach and the 25th to guide his alma mater to a title.
“As a young man, I had some hurdles to get over. To be able to come back in this fashion is divine intervention. It’s God’s plan, and I was the vessel. I will continue to say that,” Wilkerson said.
“I’ve coached a lot of student-athletes over the last 26 years, but this group is special, fellas, for a couple of different reasons, but probably the most important reason is they’re Jeffersonville guys. I’ve been to Madison. I’ve been to Logansport. I still consider myself part of those families, but to come back to your home family, man, is something special.”
Class 4A State Championship Records
None
Jeffersonville’s Shawn Boyd receives the Trester Mental Attitude Award
Following the game, members of the IHSAA Executive Committee named Shawn Boyd of Jeffersonville High School as the winner of the Arthur L. Trester Mental Attitude Award in Class 4A Boys Basketball.
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.
Shawn is a three-year team captain of the Red Devils basketball team and has helped lead Jeffersonville to two sectional championships, two regional championships, and a semi-state championship. Shawn participates in many school organizations and is also a member of the WJHI student sports broadcast crew which televises all Jeffersonville High School events and is originating a radio broadcast here tonight.
He is the son of Shawn Boyd and DeWanda Hunter of Jeffersonville, Indiana and plans to attend Hanover College to study Operational Management, Accounting/Finance/Marketing. Shawn is the second Red Devils basketball player to earn the Trester Award joining Mark Inman, a member of the 1972 state finalist team.
The Indiana Pacers and Indiana Fever, the presenting sponsors of the IHSAA Boys Basketball State Tournament, presented a $1,000 scholarship to the general scholarship fund at Jeffersonville High School in the name of Shawn Boyd.
The award is named in honor of the late Arthur L. Trester, who served as the first IHSAA commissioner from 1929 to 1944 as a guiding force after the Great Depression.