The Scottsburg Warriors and SB St. Joe's Huskies met up for the 3A state title game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Saturday. The Warriors were coming off a semi state win at Seymour against a hot Evansville Bosse squad and an experienced Guerin Catholic team to come out of the south while SB St. Joe's got through their regional by defeating Peru in the morning and Delta in 3OT at night. Scottsburg threw the first punch jumping out to a quick lead and looked to run away early. Sr. Jack Miller got to his spots and got himself established offensively. The Huskies neutralized the early Scottsburg run by finding the open corner for multiple 3s. At the end of the 1st it was Scottsburg to up 19-13 with Miller having 12 pts. already. In the 2nd quarter SB St Joe's just hung around and stayed within striking distance. For only scoring 40 pts in a multiple OT game last weekend the Huskies really showed they were capable to play a different style. By halftime St. Joe's took a 35-34 lead into the locker room. Miller and fellow classmate Kody Clancy led the Warriors at half with 19 pts and 12. pts. For the Huskies it was Sr. Jerry Barca that only averaged less than 2.3 ppg on the season step up with 9 pts. There were 10 combined 3 pointers in the half which is the way Scottsburg plays and their defense also gives up with their zone. The game went back and forth in the 3rd period as Huskie Jayce Lee got himself going and Miller continued to produce. The Wairrors have been playing with their starting 5 most every game of the tourney but 6'9 Sr. Wyatt Zellers picked up his 4th foul late in the 3rd, soph. Garrett Boling had to come in and give the Warriors big minutes. At the time St. Joe's was up 1 and looked to possibly start to control the game. Boling did a nice job of going after rebounds and sustaining for half of the fourth quarter. The game and pressure could've gotten to Scottsburg at that point with momentum on the Huskies side but 7 assists from Caden Richardson and a big 2 from Jr. Dare Bowles put Scott right there until Zellers returned. At full strength and well rested Wyatt's dunk with 1:47 left to go gave Scottsburg a 5 pt. lead. The ball handling of Bowles, Clancy, and Miller put this game and a state title on ice for Scottsburg as they go onto win their first boy state championship in school history, 67-57. Thr last few minutes with the game in the balance could've gone either way for both teams. Miller and Clancy just made the plays for Scottsburg all night to put them over the hump and end the game on a run at the right time. The Warriors finish the year with 25 wins which ties for a school record.

● 6'5 Senior Jack Miller picked the right time to have one of his best games he's had in a while. He's very capable of this kind of game offensively but on the biggest stage he stepped his game up another level. At 6'5 and long he's got the ability to have these games. He's the most athletic player on the team and is just hard to matchup against. Known more for being a defensive specialist his 32 pts tonight on 12/18 shooting and 4 rbs. solidified his name in the Scottsburg history books. Names like Vern Altmeyer, Bill James, BJ Watts were all Indiana All Stars fpr a storied Warriors program but none won a state title. Miller's name will be added for the performance he put on for Scottsburg on Saturday. His late drive down the middle skying and gliding for a dunk sealed it while the Scottsburg crowd exploded. Miller ended his career with the Warriors with a title and exchanges his purple and gold for Hanover  blue and red where he'll play for his father next season.

● 6'4 Sr. pg Kody Clancy has been the Warriors rock all season. Bowles may step up and have a big game, Zellers could have a monster game, but Clancy just does what Kody Clancy does. During the tourney run especially he has turned himself into a legitimate Indiana All Star candidate and as someone who's seen what all the state's senior class has to offer and now has a state championship, Kody Clancy would be on my ballot 100%. You can mark him down for 20 whenever he step on the floor. You can count on him to take care of the ball and limit turnovers. When the game was in the balance tonight the ball found Kody's hands. He gets to his spots and is tall enough to finish when he gets there. I understand the landscape of college ball and the transfer situation makes it hard for high school seniors to be recruited but it makes me pause when I don't see Clancy with any Crossroad League offers. If I'm Huntington or Grace, etc. I'm making the offer. He's going to help a college team and make their coach look real smart. He's got Wabash, Hanover, and a couple of others he's considering but I can't imagine walking out of last nights game without some more serious looks. Tonight he had 20 pts. on 6/12 shooting and surpassed former Warrior James Colwell on the school's all time made 3 pointers in a single sesson list with 82.

● 6'4 Jr. 2 guard Chase Konizcny came into this game as St. Joe's big name and recently named junior all star. Chase started off slow but he had Scottsburg'a full attention. His abilitiy to shoot the outside shot is something you have to pay attention to. He's a strong enough and athletic enough to drive the ball and get to his spots. The entire St. Joe's team rebounded well on Saturday night out-rebounding the Warriors, 35-17 with 18 of those being offense boards. Konizcny eventually got himself going hit big shots from thr outside on his way to 15 pts and 11 rbs. Chase has a few offers already and will be looking to add a couple more this summer. He looks to be solidly in the mid major D1 range.

St. Joe's returns a good number of their roster from this season so they look to be firmly in thr discussion for 3A North favorites going into next year. The Warriors however graduate 4/5 starters, 3 of which have been starters for 3 years with Clancy being a 4 year starter. Scottsburg also makes the move to 4A likely to join the Seymour sectional with Jennings County moving down to 3A. This group of Warriors is what Scottsburg has planned and hoped for since their middle school days. A pool of talented kids came through that school at just the right time and it all came together on Saturday night. A storied program like Scottsburg who's had their share of all stars and good teams in the past finally put any demons to rest by bringing a title back to the 'Burg. The last 20 years have been a "down period" in their boys basketball history with their last sectional title coming in 2005 before last season. There were years not long ago that the Warriors would only produce 4, 5, or 6 wins a season and I wondered if they would ever get back to their days of what I remembered in the 90s under coach Bennett. Saturday night, their 2024 group surpassed all others in Scottsburg boys basketball history and ushered in a new era of basketball, one that expects to be winners.

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