Page 20 - 2015-16 Boys Basketball State Finals Program

Last Year’s State Finals in Review

Homestead works overtime for Class 4A triumph over Evansville Reitz
The Homestead Spartans were percent from the field.
making their school’s first-ever
appearance in the boys basketball The Spartans also outrebounded
state finals, but they played like Reitz by a 44-24 margin. Swanigan
tested veterans of pressure games in led Homestead rebounders with 14
squeaking out a 91-90 overtime vic- while Batt had 11.
tory over Evansville Reitz in the Class
4A championship game. Coach Chris Johnson’s Spartans,
ranked 4th in the AP Poll, finished
Homestead’s Jordan Geist hit a pair of 29-2.
free throws with 9.2 seconds left in the
OT. The second one proved to be the Reitz, ranked second, came into
winning margin when Reitz’s Jaelan the game as the state’s highest-
Sanford buried a 3-pointer in the final scoring team with a 92.2 average. The
few seconds. Panthers’ total in the championship
game combined with Homestead’s to
Tahj Curry’s late-game performance set a new record for scoring in a state
for Homestead won’t soon be forgot- final. Coach Michael Adams’ Panthers
ten. He scored his team’s final two finished 29-2.
buckets in regulation time off of in-
bounds steals by the Spartans, tying it Homestead totaled five players Alex Stein led Reitz with 26 points.
at 73-all. He added seven more points in double-figure scoring. Caleb Sanford had 24 while Dru Smith
in the extra session and wound up Swanigan had 20, Geist contributed scored 13 and Jacob Norman added
leading the Spartans with 23. 18, Dana Batt had 17 and Teddy 10.
Ray added 11. Homestead shot 57.4
Guerin Catholic tops Griffith, wins second Class 3A title in four years

After six ties and 16 lead changes, winning the 3A crown in 2012.
the Class 3A boys championship game
boiled down to one final run. The Griffith had four players in double-
Guerin Catholic Golden Eagles made digit scoring – Tremell Murphy with
sure it belonged to them. 17, Anthony Murphy and Anthony
Quintero with 12 each, and Anthony
Using a 12-3 scoring flurry over the Harris with 11. Harris also grabbed
final 2 ½ minutes, the Golden Eagles 10 rebounds for a double-double.
dealt a blow to a persistent Griffith
squad and pulled out a 62-56 victory. Griffith started the season with a
Guerin Catholic helped its cause by 13-3 record. Following a Feb. 7 in-
hitting 12-of-19 field goal attempts game fight with Hammond, Griffith’s
(63.2 percent) in the second half. remaining games were forfeited by
the IHSAA, including state tourna-
Guerin Catholic’s Matt Holba ac- ment participation. The Panthers
counted for his team’s last five points, were reinstated to the postseason
including two on a breakaway dunk tournament by a Lake County
that brought the Golden Eagles’ court order before the sectional.
crowd to its feet. Holba turned in a Coach Gary Hayes’ unranked team
double-double with 29 points and 14 finished the season 19-11.
rebounds. Christian Munson added 12
points for Guerin Catholic.

Coach Pete Smith’s unranked Golden
Eagles completed the season at 22-8.
The victory was Guerin Catholic’s
second boys basketball title after also

20 IHSAA State Basketball Tournament presented by the Indiana Pacers and Indiana Fever