By Lewis Bagley, Special to IHSAA.org
INDIANAPOLIS – It will go down in South Bend Saint Joseph basketball history as the Electric Tip-Dunk.
Saint Joe senior Chase Konieczny stunned the crowd at Gainbridge Fieldhouse and Indianapolis Crispus Attucks by slamming home a follow-up shot to break a 50-50 tie and send the Huskies on to a 56-52 triumph in the Class 3A title game.
Konieczny, who had an off-night offensively as he was held to 10 points (well-under his 22-point average), made up for it in one fell-swoop.
Teammate Nick Shrewsberry put up a step-back 3-point attempt and, with Attucks’ 6-9 frontliner Dezmon Briscoe awaiting the rebound, Konieczny flew in over the Division-1 recruit and provided the key basket with :53 left.
“Whenever we needed a special play, special players came through,” Saint Joe coach Eric Gaff said. “For (Konieczny), it was rebounding, defense and the electric tip-dunk.”
“My shots weren’t falling, so I had to do what I could,” Konieczny said. “I was a little bit surprised myself. I just went and got the ball and slammed it.”
Konieczny’s effort helped give the Huskies (27-3) a measure of redemption after last year’s 67-57 loss to Scottsburg in the 3A title tilt. The Saint Joe program had previously appeared in the state finals in 1989 and 1993 without success.
The Huskies also are the first state championship team from a South Bend school since Clay (now closed) won in 1994.
Before Konieczny’s play that seemed to slam the door, the contest was an up-and-down, somewhat ragged affair, that saw Saint Joe hold a lead as large as 11 points before Attucks (22-7) fought back.
Saint Joe led, 35-24, early in the third quarter and still led, 50-41, after a Shrewsberry 3-pointer with 3:04 left in the game.
But, the Tigers again rallied, this time with a 9-0 run and tied the game on two Kayden English free throws with 1:11 left.
The next time down, Konieczny came through with the decisive play. From there, Brashaun Woods and Shrewsberry each hit two free throws to clinch the game.
Konieczny’s play seemed to symbolize the problems for Attucks and coach Chris Hawkins.
“The biggest thing is that we were out-rebounded and the offensive rebounds were big,” Hawkins said, referring to Saint Joe’s 11 offensive boards. “We had said all week everyone had to rebound, but they made the winning play and we didn’t.”
Attucks did get 17 points and 11 boards from Briscoe, who played all 32 minutes and tied a Class 3A game record with five blocked shots. English added 13 points for Attucks.
Shrewsberry and Elijah King led Saint Joe with 16 points each to go with Konieczny’s total.
Class 3A State Championship Records
Most Blocked Shots (Tied): 5 by Dezmon Briscoe, Indianapolis Crispus Attucks
Saint Joseph’s Brashaun Woods named Trester Mental Attitude Award Winner
Following the game, members of the IHSAA Executive Committee named Brashaun Woods of Saint Joseph High School as the winner of the Arthur L. Trester Mental Attitude Award in Class 3A 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.
Brashaun has a GPA of 4.03 and is a Saint Joseph Scholar for having a 4.0 GPA or better through seven semesters. Brashaun has helped lead Saint Joseph to back-to-back state championship game appearances. Brashaun is also an Academic All-State Honorable Mention. He is a part of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and Students against Drunk Driving (SADD).
He is the son of Darwin and Ieesha Woods of Osceola, Indiana. He is currently undecided on where he will attend college but plans to study Sports Management.
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 Saint Joseph High School in the name of Brashaun Woods.
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.