Eagles are Final Four Bound!

Much like a state map that typically fails to include the small town of Osgood, the so-called “experts” in the high school basketball realm failed to give Jac-Cen-Del boys basketball much of a mention when it came to Saturday’s IHSAA Class A Regional Tournament at Martinsville. In terms of chances to win the regional, it was almost comical how low of a percentage those same experts gave the Eagles.

By about 10 p.m. on Saturday, it was Jac-Cen-Del getting the last laugh. In methodical yet dominant fashion, the Class A No. 10 Eagles from start-to-finish put to bed both “favorites” in the afternoon and evening respectively including a 71-54 romp of Class A No. 9 Indianapolis Lutheran in the title tilt to claim the Class A Regional Championship for the first time since 2009.

For the Eagles it is their fifth regional championship in program history and marks their third appearance in the Final Four of the state tournament, all of which have come since 2000. The last Jac-Cen-Del boys team to punch its ticket to the semi-state was the 2008-2009 Eagle team that won the state championship.

After disposing of Class A No. 8 Bloomfield (20-7) in the afternoon semifinal, Jac-Cen-Del was pitted against a Lutheran squad that prided itself on its speed and ability to put up a lot of shots but in the end it was the Eagles who had their way on both ends of the floor and eventually was never threatened in a 17-point win.

Much of that dominance had to do with Jac-Cen-Del’s physicality that played a hand in many facets of the game while the rest of the advantage was within the Eagles able to easily slash their way through the Saints defense and score. Jac-Cen-Del couldn’t have dreamed up a better start to the championship contest and scorched the nets for an early 20-12 advantage and the lead only blossomed from there.

Sure Lutheran (19-6) was able to put up points as they dropped 14 points in each of the final three quarters but the Eagles answered right back and maintained control. Jac-Cen-Del continued to penetrate for easy looks and get to the free throw line, scoring 15 points in both the second and third quarters as a 35-26 halftime lead went to 50-40 heading into the final period. The final frame resembled that of the opening stanza as Jac-Cen-Del’s fast start was duplicated and turned into a strong finish in the final eight minutes.
The Osgood crew finished the night on a 21-14 surge, blowing the game wide open and keeping its season alive by the eventual 71-54 final score. It was Jac-Cen-Del’s second postseason win over Lutheran in the last seven years as the Eagles defeated the Saints 53-36 in the regional semifinal at Martinsville back in 2015.

A big strength on Saturday night for Jac-Cen-Del was its 22-of-30 performance from the free throw line. Of those 30 attempts, 16 came from senior Wyatt Day who connected on 13 freebies en route to leading all scorers with 30 points with his remaining 17 points being totaled up by a lone three-pointer and seven hits from inside the arc. Caleb Simon added 14 points to the cause and Justin Swinney was a double figure scorer at 10 points along with a 5-of-8 clip from the charity stripe.

Matt Dickman was big early on for the Eagles and finished with eight points and Devin Grieshop scored seven points. Ryan Wilson connected on a field goal and rounded out the scoring with two points. Lutheran was led by Montasi Clay’s 17 points and LJ Ward was in double figures with 13 points. The Saints had defeated Indianapolis Metropolitan 63-54 to advance to Saturday night.

Jac-Cen-Del’s win over Bloomfield in the afternoon came by a 63-54 decision as the Eagles again started the game strong and finished it the exact same way. Jac-Cen-Del led 15-11 through one quarter before pushing the margin out to 29-22 by halftime but Bloomfield put the game back down to two possessions at 44-38 by the end of the third quarter.

The Cardinals tossed in another 16 points in the fourth period but defense would not deny Jac-Cen-Del and its offense which finished the game shooting nearly 70 percent from the field and 55 percent from the three-point line. The Eagles hit for 19 points inside the final frame, pushing the lead back out to three possessions and settling on a nine-point win to advance to the title game.

Simon had the hot hand in the semifinal round and the senior went for 25 points in the Jac-Cen-Del win as he too continues to trek upwards inside the Top 10 of the career scoring list at the school. Day added 14 points while Dickman and Grieshop put in seven points apiece. Swinney chipped in five points, Wilson had three points and Nathan Hoffman came off the bench to score two points.

Baylin Graf led Bloomfield with 18 points.

Jac-Cen-Del (22-5) heads to the Class A South Semi-State on Saturday at Seymour with a trip to the state finals on the line. The Eagles will clash with Class A No. 2 North Daviess (25-3) at 4 p.m. in what will be the second meeting all-time between the two schools. Jac-Cen-Del’s 2009 state finals run saw a 38-32 win over the Cougars in the semi-state round that season.

North advanced to the semi-state this year after defeating Class A No. 7 Edinburgh 38-37 in the regional semifinal before besting Class A No. 16 Borden 43-32 in the championship game.