INDIANAPOLIS— Home-game sellouts and a sizable contingent of fans at Saturday’s Class 2A state championship confirmed the intense interest inspired by this year’s Brownstown Central boys basketball team.

The Braves rewarded their fans by successfully completing their quest for the 2024 state title with a convincing 55-36 victory over Wapahani. The win gave Brownstown, and Jackson County, its first-ever state basketball crown.

Among Brave Nation loyalists, it’s difficult to imagine anyone watched the team’s journey with more interest than Marty Young and Michael Leitzman. The two BC assistant coaches were members of 2004 and 2009 squads that also earned trips to the state finals but fell just short in their effort to bring home the title.

For both, Saturday’s win was the satisfying culmination of a consuming, nearly life-long effort.

“The feeling was, we finally got it done,” Young said of his thoughts when the final horn sounded on the Braves’ victory. “We’ve been coaching this group since they were six years old. We’ve been working up to (a state title). We’ve wanted one, we’ve been close a few times, and we finally got it done.”

Young was the starting center for the 2004 team that won 24 consecutive games while compiling a 27-2 season record. Like this year’s team, the ’04 Braves entered the tournament as favorites in nearly every game and expected to win with a high-powered offense.

The big difference, Young said, was the win-or-bust expectation applied to this year’s team.

“We didn’t know we were going to be one of the top teams in 2A that year,” Young said. “We knew we were going to be pretty good. We had a lot of people returning, but we didn’t think we were for sure going to state. This year, going into it, there was a lot of pressure. It was like, you’re either going to state or your season’s not complete.”

Leitzman and the 2009 Braves were the opposite of the ’04 team and this year’s team. The ’09 club ended the regular season with a loss to Orleans and a relatively modest 15-6 record before heating up in the postseason.

“Unlike Marty’s team and this year’s team, we kind of did it more on the defensive end, we were more of a low-scoring team,” Leitzman said. “We kept games in the 40s and 50s, and were able to upset several teams in the tournament to make our run.”

Despite the differences, Leitzman said he sees one key similarity between the ’09 and ’24 teams: mental approach.

“We weren’t favored in any game in that tournament, so we weren’t looking ahead,” Leitzman said. “This year’s team was favored in every game, but they also took it one game at a time. I think that’s the biggest comparison. Both groups took it one game at a time, and just focused on that game, and made sure we survived, and made it to the next one.”

In 2004, the Braves averaged 73 points but scored just seven points in the opening 14 minutes of the state final against a physical, defensive-minded Jimtown team. BC recovered and led by two midway through the fourth quarter, but couldn’t hang on in an eventual 63-59 loss.

“We started that game so poorly,” Young said. “That was something I stressed to our guys this week: once that ball goes up, we’ve got to play our basketball game and forget about everything else that’s going on.”

In 2009, the Braves again started slowly offensively. After falling behind in the first half, BC clawed back and held a one-point lead in the third quarter before Deshaun Thomas, who ended with 3,018 career points (third all time), scored 34 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead Luers to a 67-49 victory and a second straight state title.

“The nerves going into the game were obviously high, but we were a pretty heavy underdog,” Leitzman said. “We wanted to make sure that we played extremely hard and competed and stuck to the game plan as well as we could, just to kind of stay in the game.”

The 2024 Braves heeded the lessons from the past Braves by avoiding a slow offensive start. BC made its first four shots from the floor on Saturday and jumped to an early 12-3 lead. Though Wapahani made an inspired run in the third quarter and narrowed the difference to six points, Brownstown’s control of the game was never fully threatened.

“We knew (Wapahani) had a run coming,” Young said. “They’re a scrappy team and we knew they had some fight in them.”

Young and Leitzman said their former teammates followed this year’s Braves closely. In the week leading up to the state final, the past players recorded video messages meant to encourage and inspire the current players.

“The biggest thing about this group is they’re easy to cheer for,” Leitzman said. “They play basketball the right way. They’re very unselfish, very together. On top of that, they’re just really good kids. They’re a very humble group. I think there’s even more excitement just because of who this team is and how they are, even more excitement from former players and the community.”

Young said seeing BC head coach Dave Benter reach the pinnacle was special.

“It’s a great accomplishment for him to finally get this state championship,” Young said. “It kind of puts a cap on a historical career, probably a Hall of Fame career. He’s had a big impact on my career. Obviously, I respect him very much. I’m thankful that he had enough confidence in me to ask me to come back and coach with him. Each year I feel like I grow a little bit more from his knowledge.”