Special honors keep piling up for Jack Benter, a senior basketball player at Brownstown Central High School.

His latest honor was being named an Indiana basketball All-Star, announced in a news release Thursday afternoon. He said he received notification of his honor Tuesday night.

“(All-star game director) Mike Broughton called me Tuesday night to inform me that I had made the team.

“I was excited because it is an honor I have always dreamed of, but nothing compares to winning the state championship with your friends and teammates and coaches,” Benter said. “But there have been so many good players throughout the years on the Indiana All-Star team and to be part of that tradition is an incredible feeling.”

Dave Benter, Jack’s father, was his coach throughout his four years at Brownstown Central. That career was topped off with a Class 2A state championship March 30 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indianapolis. The Braves defeated Wapahani 55-36 with Benter scoring 25 points in that game.

Dave said, “As a coach, it is good to see your player and program recognized for all of their hard work. This is not just for Jack but it is for our whole program and community.

“Fans get to see the fun part of what players go through but they don’t get to see the countless hours players put in and the amount of sacrifices that it takes to be a really good player,” he said.

He is Brownstown’s second Indiana All-Star as Jeff Morning was an all-star in 1986.

Jack leaves the BCHS program with his name all over the school’s record books, and he holds several Jackson County records, including career points with 2,550, which places him 11th all-time in the state.

He said he started playing organized basketball in kindergarten when Dave started coaching him. Jack said he started to play AAU basketball in second grade in addition to playing with Brownstown kids up through last summer.

In fourth grade he started to play on the St. John Sauers eighth grade team for Coach Carey Lambring.

“I spent countless hours working at Sauers and (Lambring) always pushed us hard and to be our best and be disciplined,” Jack said about shooting thousands of times at St. John’s, then more shots than he can count at The Pit, home of the Braves.

“My dad would take me to Brownstown a lot during that time, too, and then once I got to high school I was in the gym all the time working on my game and shooting,” he said.

“He really upped his workout routine during Covid and started to work on his body more at that time and has continued to do that,” Dave said. “To be a good basketball player you have to work on your body, your skill, in addition to playing and watching other players and teams play.

“Jack checks all of those boxes. He will go down as the county’s all-time leading scorer by a large margin, and has the school’s third leading rebounder and second in all-time assists.”

Benter will be joined on the all-star team by Isaac Andrews from Wapahani, Flory Bidunga of Kokomo, Trey Buchanan of Westfield, Micah Davis of Franklin, Aaron Fine of Noblesville, Keenan Garner from Fishers, Evan Haywood from Brebeuf Jesuit, Jack Miller from Scottsburg, Tyler Parrish from Chesterton, Karson Rogers from Kokomo, Tucker Tornatta from Evansville Memorial and K.J. Windham from Ben Davis.

Benter will play at Purdue and one of his teammates will be Fine. Benter has been teammates with Miller, Andrews, Buchanan and Parish on AAU teams.

Head coach of the Indiana All-Stars is John Peckinpaugh from Kokomo, and the assistants will be Brandon Hoffman from Silver Creek and Josh Thompson from Barr-Reeve.

The Indiana All-Stars will play the Indiana Junior All-Stars June 5 in Kokomo, then face the Kentucky All-Stars June 7 at Lexington Catholic High School in Lexington, Kentucky, and on June 8 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

This will be his third game playing in Gainbridge following his game as a junior all-star last summer and the state championship game.

“Gainbridge is a very neat atmosphere and just recently winning state there and now getting to go back and play there will be a lot of fun,” he said.

Dave said, “We felt Jack was very deserving as we felt he was one of the top candidates for Mr. Basketball. As a coach, I thought Jack was probably the hardest matchup in the state because of his ability to score and pass from all over the court.

“Jack, along with Parker Hehman, did a excellent job of leading the team and holding guys accountable to strive to be a championship team. What people don’t realize is that to become a championship team you have to all be on the same page from day one and those two sure made our team stay focused and grounded throughout the season.”