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First off, our thoughts and prayers go out to Griffith High School in Northwest Indiana. Griffith was on its way to play in today's semi-state at Lafayette Jeff when they bus was involved in a terrible rollover accident on I-65 near mile marker 230:
All 27 passengers aboard the bus â 21 students and six adults â were taken to area hospitals, State Police said, but none of their injuries were life-threatening.
An assistant coach on the Griffith High School boys basketball team was airlifted to a Chicago hospital, following the crash Saturday afternoon near DeMotte, about two hours northwest of Indianapolis.
Their semi-state game with Marion was postponed for now as they assess the severity of the injuries involved. There are several reports that they were lucky no one was killed. Griffith made last season's state finals after receiving a reprieve in the form of an appeal after the entire team was banned from the postseason after a fight during a late season game. Now they have to deal with this.
It is not known if there will be a make-up date for the semi-state or what the next step is.
Class 4A
McCutcheon 40, Warsaw 37
McCutcheon is headed to its first state title game in Boys Basketball after a hard fought game against Warsaw. Robert Phinisee had 16 points as Warsaw slowed things down. I know McCutcheon coach Rick Peckinpaugh, however, and that is just fine with him. The win sets up a great matchup for the 4A title next week between the two best sophomores in Indiana because...
New Albany 82, Southport 64
Romeo Langford, the top 2018 player in Indiana, Went. Off. He had 46 points and pretty much personally destroy Joey Brunk and Paul Scruggs of Southport. Langford was 8 of 12 from three, 15 of 24 overall, and 8 of 10 from the line. It was a school record for points and he only had three in the fourth quarter. There is even some video:
I have seen multiple people say Langford is the best they have seen in Indiana, which is high praise. He is only a sophomore and he is lighting things up. With two years left in his career he already has 1,275 points and he is averaging 29.7 per game. His team will play a 27th game this year, and say they play 27 each of the next two years. He can approach the state record for points scored by the time he graduates.
Scruggs had 19 points for Southport and Brunk (who is going to Butler next year) had 22. Painter needs to go HARD after Langford. Like "commit all kinds of recruiting violations" hard. Imagine if we get both Langford AND Phinisee.
Class 3A:
Marion vs. Griffith Postponed
Evansville Bosse 74, Tri-West 71 2OT
Jaylin Chinn had 17 points for Bosse and Tyler Watson had 34 for Tri-West in a game that sounds like it was a classic. Bosse hit 11 free throws in the second overtime to seal the win.
Class 2A
Lapel 55, Fort Wayne Canterbury 49
Lapel is back in the state finals after winning the class A title in 2005. They led by 6 going into the fourth quarter and protected the lead by hitting free throws and holding on to the basketball. John Ross Richardson led them with 16 points.
Indianapolis Howe 70, Providence 62
Howe is in the state finals for the first time as the reopened school is having a great sports year. Their football team reached the semi-state, now their basketball team is in uncharted territory. Brian Warren had 18 points as this was a foul-filled game. Providence was called for 36 fouls as they had a hack-a-player strategy. Tony Hopkins also had 17 for Howe.
Class A
Liberty Christian 103, Gary 21st Century 80
After two straight years of losing the semi-state Liberty Christian breaks through in a big way. Liberty Christian hit an astounding 72% of their shots in the first half and just under 70% for the game as they just ran over Gary. Franklin Nunn and Caleb Hardy each had 25 points for Liberty Christian in the win. Eugene German, the state's top scorer, had 42 points. He is signed to play at Northern Illinois.
Bloomfield 58, West Washington 53
Bloomfield returns to the state finals for the first time since 1998. Chris Gilmore had 24 points and 12 rebounds for the Cardinals.