Brownstown Central senior Jack Benter shoots a free late in the Braves’ win over Parke Heritage on March 16 in the Southport Semistate.
Tribune file photos
Brownstown’s Parker Hehman goes to the hoop with the smooth layup earlier this season.
Tribune file photos
Something is going to have to give Saturday when the Brownstown Central Braves and Wapahani Raiders battle for the Class 2A basketball state championship at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
After Bethesda Christian (23-7) and Fort Wayne Canterbury (18-9) play for the Class 1A championship at 10:30 a.m., Brownstown will play Wapahani at 12:45 p.m.
Both teams come into the game on a roll. The Braves (27-4) have won 18 straight since losing at Jennings County on Jan. 5, and Wapahani (26-2) has won 12 straight since falling at Delta on Jan. 26.
Brownstown is 10-0 against Class 2A teams and Wapahani is 14-0 against Class 2A schools.
“They’ve got a really good basketball team,” Braves Coach Dave Benter said. “They mirror us a lot. I think we’re bigger and want to play at a faster pace.
“They’ve got really skilled players at all five positions. Their offense revolves around (6-1 senior) Isaac Andrews. They’ve got really good players with him, and a lot of time will put five shooters on the floor so that makes them really difficult to guard.”
Andrews ranks 10th in the state on the Maxpreps scoring list with 639 points for an average of 24.6.
“He is a real difficult player to match up with because he can shoot up to 25 feet,” Benter said. “He knows how to use his body, he’s so skilled. You send a second guy at him, but they surround him with guys that can shoot.
“He is a guy we’ve got to figure how we can slow down, yet we also respect their other players and know how good they are.”
Camden Bell ranks second on the Raiders in scoring at 13 ppg.
Dave Benter does not list his players among the Maxpreps statistics, but if he did, senior Jack Benter would be fourth with 666 points for an average of 25.6.
Benter ranks 12th all-time in Indiana with 2,524 points and Andrews is 45th with 2,130 points.
“There will probably be a lot of 3s shot in the game from both teams. They are really good at chasing down long rebounds,” Coach Benter said.
In the final Associated Press Class 2A regular season poll Brownstown was ranked No. 1 and Wapahani was No. 2. In the final coaches’ poll that includes all classes, Brownstown was ranked No. 8 and Wapahani was honorable mention.
As far as defense, Benter said, “We’ll see how the flow of the game goes. They have good basketball players that have a great understanding of the game. They have great skill; they share the ball.
“There is a reason they are 26-2 and a reason they are playing for a state championship.”
On the offensive scoring list, Brownstown ranks eighth in the state at 69.13 points per game and Wapahani is 30th at 64.0
In defensive scoring, Wapahani ranks seventh at 40.32.
Wapahani leads the state in margin of victory at 23.68 and Brownstown is third at 22.26.
Parker Hehman ranks second for the Braves in scoring at 11.6 ppg and Colby Hall is averaging 10.6
Hall suffered an ankle injury against Henryville in the sectional. He missed three games but played in both games in the semi-state.
Benter said it was good to have last weekend off so Hall could get stronger. “He’s getting better,” Benter said.
“They are primarily a man team, but they’ve mixed in some other things throughout the year. We’ll be prepared for whatever they throw at us.
“In the last four years we’ve seen every defense imaginable. We consistently practice a lot of different things.
“We have to be efficient offensively. We can’t come down and waste possessions. We can’t have turnovers, we can’t take bad shots. We have to get what we want each possession.”
He said rebounding will be important.
“We’ve got to rebound. For their size, they are one of the best rebounding teams I’ve seen. They start four over 6-feet. It will be a game that at times we’re going to have to grind some possessions out.
“You don’t want to play from behind, especially against a team like that.”
Brownstown is the first Class 2A team to have both its girls and boys play for the state championship the same year. The girls lost to Fort Wayne Luers on Feb. 8.