2021 Indiana High School Basketball State Tournament: Purdue Commits Win State Titles

What a run for Caleb Furst and Trey Kaufman-Renn. Both were robbed of a chance to repeat as state champions for their respective schools in 2020, but they remained undaunted. Despite losing a shot at a second title in their junior seasons they got the repeat anyway by both winning state championships today in Indianapolis. Here is the recap from the day at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Class A

Barr-Reeve 64, Kouts 48

Barr-Reeve was able to finish the deal this year, winning their second state championship and first since 2015. Bellarmine bound Curt Hopf closed out his Barr-Reeve career with a monster game of 23 points and 19 rebounds. Hagen Knepp added a double-double as well for Barr-Reeve with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Cole and Cale Wireman combined for 36 points for Kouts, but Barr-Reeve pushed out to a 12-point lead by halftime and never looked back. Jamison Miller earned the Mental Attitude Award for Barr-Reeve as well.

There were a couple of records here too. Hopf’s 19 rebounds is a record for the Class A title game. Brycen Graber only scored two points for Barr-Reeve, but tied the all-time record for assists in any state game across any class with 13 dimes.

Class 2A

Ft. Wayne Blackhawk 55, Parke Heritage 40

It was a clean sweep for Caleb Furst, and his next stop is West Lafayette. He earned a second state championship in his career, this one even more impressive as his team is playing up one class (and will now likely become the first team in state history to play up TWO classes). He finishes with 20 points, 7 rebounds, and an assist. He went 9 of 16 from the floor and hit his only 3-point attempt. for good measure he also took home the Mental Attitude Award.

Connor Davis led Leo with 18, but like Barr-Reeve in the 1A game, Blackhawk pulled away as the game went on. They used a 14-1 run after trailing 5-4 very early on and never looked back. Furst was dominant in the second half with 18 points. He finished with 105 wins in his career, two state titles, and more than 2,000 points scored, reaching the top 50 in state history.

Class 3A

Silver Creek 50, Leo 49

Trey Kaufman-Renn and Silver Creek also earned a repeat in a nailbiter. He struggled, going 5 of 17 from the floor, but finished with 13 points, 10 rebounds, and 4 blocks. Silver Creek went scoreless in the last 2:46. Strangely, Leo did not go for the tie with 5 seconds left and settled for a layup while out of timeouts. Since the clock does not stop after a made basket in the high school game Silver Creek did not even need to inbound the ball.

Not only was it a second straight state title for Silver Creek, they completed the double as their girls won the 3A title a month ago. Kaufman-Renn finishes his high school career with 1,819 career points and two state titles. His teammate, Kooper Jacobi, won the Mental Attitude Award, and is headed to Toledo. Either Furst or Kaufman-Renn will be named Mr. Basketball this year (I have an official ballot and gave my vote to Kaufman-Renn).

Class 4A

Carmel 51, Lawrence North 46 OT

As I said earlier in the week, Carmel is inevitable. Only in this one Lawrence North did them a lot of favors by missing a ton of free throws. Lawrence North was 6 of 17 from the free throw line. CJ Gunn did hit two with 30 seconds left in regulation to send it to overtime, but once there Carmel pulled away. Josh Whack hit a pair of free throws with 1:17 left in overtime to put Carmel in front 44-42, He would hit 7 of 8 in the final 77 seconds to seal the deal.

Brian Waddell had 20 points to lead Carmel while Gunn led Lawrence North with 18. Connor Gioia of Carmel wont he Mental Attitude Award, and this was Carmel’s fifth title over all and fourth since 2012.