The Trinity Lutheran boys’ basketball team held their annual banquet and awards’ ceremony on Sunday evening. Another sectional trophy made its way back to Trinity after they defeated New Washington 49-33 in the sectional final.

The team turned around the season after sitting at 3-9, heading into a game on Jan. 6th, where they outlasted Henryville to win 60-57. After that win, Trinity went 10-3, including defeating Shawe Memorial, Medora, and the Mustangs to advance to the regional final before losing to powerful Evansville Christian 72-42.

Cougars Head Coach Mike Lang spoke about the season for the Trinity Lutheran boys’ basketball team.

“I thought our season was nothing short of a success,” Lang said. “Any time you are fortunate enough to win a sectional, you have had a good season. I am super proud of our guys for digging in around Christmas time and turning our season around winning 11 of our last 14 games.”

Hudson Lang led the team in scoring this season, averaging 15 points a game. Reed Mellencamp was second at 11.6 points per game, with Kowan Gross in third at 10. Gross led the team in rebounding at 5.3 per game. Mellencamp was second at 4.5 per game, with Peyton Pollert in third at 4.4 per game.

Levi Pottschmidt led the team in assists with 3.8 per game, Lang followed with 3.1 and Mellencamp was third at 1.8 per game. Lang also led in steals at 1.5 per game, with Pottschmidt in second at 1.1 per contest.

The best scoring performance from the team came against New Washington on Jan. 13th, when they dropped 83 points on the Mustangs in an 83-68 victory.

Trinity will lose five seniors this year in Pollert, Gross, Pottschmidt, Charlie Hackman, and Evan Christopher. Coach Lang spoke about the 2024 class of seniors.

“Our seniors are tough, resilient young men and I am extremely proud of them,” Lang said. “They experienced a lot of ups and downs their first 3 seasons, and it would have been easy for them to walk away having to go through another coaching change, and a new set of ideas and concepts in which they had to learn.”

Lang also spoke about how they finished their high school careers on the right note.

“One thing nobody will ever take away from them is that they concluded their high school career as sectional champions, and there are a lot of players who don’t get to experience that,” he said.

The team brings back its two leading scorers in Lang and Mellencamp, who are both freshman and have multiple seasons left at Trinity. One question will be rebounding, according to Coach Lang. Who loses two of the top three rebounding players from this year.

“Kowan and Peyton did a great job on the boards this past season and we have to have some guys step up and fill their role,” Lang said.

Lang is also excited for the continued development of the junior varsity team, who found a lot of success this season.

“One thing we are excited about is we have our two leading scorers returning in freshman Hudson Lang and Reed Mellencamp, to go along with some talented players on our JV team who finished 19-3,” he said.

The Cougars will look for continued success in the upcoming 2024-25 season.

Awards:

CO-MVP: Hudson Lang and Levi Pottschmidt

Cougar Award: Jake Holland

Senior Award: Evan Christopher, Kowan Gross, Peyton Pollert, Levi Pottschmidt, Charlie Hackman

Rebounding Award: Kowan Gross

Assist Award: Levi Pottschmidt

CO-Most Improved: Reed Mellencamp, Kowan Gross

Most Oustanding JV Player (Defense): Isaac Darlage

Most Oustanding JV Player (Offense): Braxton Sinclair