LOOGOOTEE— The current season came to an end for the Trinity Lutheran boys’ basketball team on Saturday, going up against a tough opponent in Evansville Christian. The regional final took place at Loogootee on Saturday afternoon, as the Eagles defeated the Cougars 72-42.

A detrimental start in the first quarter for Trinity was too big of a hole to climb out of as the Cougars trailed 25-4 after the first period. The team found some momentum in the second quarter, outscoring the Eagles 17-12. It wouldn’t make any changes to the outcome.

Evansville never let up in the second half as they move onto semistate next weekend. Trinity Head Coach Mike Lang spoke on the outcome with Evansville Christian.

“The difference in the game Saturday was their size and strength,” Lang said. “We have seen decent size all year long, but they were the strongest team we had played against all year. You have to give credit to Evansville Christian, they came out and hit shots early in the game that set the tone.”

Evansville was led by senior Josiah Dunham, who scored 26 points in the victory. Trinity was led by Reed Mellencamp who scored 18 for the Cougars, Hudson Lang scored 13 in the loss.

The Eagles kicked off the game with a bucket from Dunham, before Andrew Lynn got red-hot from three-point land. Lynn buried four of his five threes in the first quarter, stunning the Cougars early.

Trinity battled their way back into the contest, but the win was in hand as the Eagles took the 30-point win. The closest it would get would be 15 points, as the Eagles led the Cougars 32-17 with 4 minutes left in the first half.

Every single bad roll, every in-an-out shot, bad luck for the Cougars combined with turnovers and Josiah Dunham made the difference in this one.

Evansville took a 62-31 lead in the fourth quarter, essentially making it out of reach as the team moves onto semistate. The Eagles improved to 24-2 on the season.

On a positive note, the Cougars started the season 3-9 and didn’t seem to be finding much success. Trinity then won 11 of their final 14 games, including a sectional title to end up in this position. Coach Lang said that the team was able to check off some boxes this year.

“One of our goals coming into the season was to have a winning record after they won 6 games last year,” he said. “Our other goal to have a chance to win a sectional, which we did. We checked a lot of boxes in terms of our goals, now we have to build upon it.”

The coach spoke more about how the team can build off this season.

“The seniors helped build a solid foundation to what we are building with our program,” Lang said. “Our younger players got a taste of what it’s like to play in a sectional and regional championship. We return our two leading scorers and a JV team that went 19-3. Our players have to get stronger in order to play against older and more experienced teams, but their time is coming right around the corner.”

The JV’s three losses this season were by a combined 7 points.

Trinity loses 5 seniors who graduate this spring, Kowan Gross, Levi Pottschmidt, Charlie Hackman, Peyton Pollert, and Manager Evan Christopher.

Gross scored 260 points this season, while Pottschmidt recorded 219. Pollert had 111 points with Hackman recording 98.

The highlight of the season for Christopher was a three-pointer he hit against Crothersville on Senior Night, which sent the home fans into a frenzy at Trinity a few months back. Coach Lang spoke about this class of young men.

“First off, they are outstanding young men and were great leaders for our younger players,” he said. “They faced a lot of ups-and-downs in their time playing basketball at Trinity. Hopefully the final 2 months of basketball is something they will always remember because they ended their basketball career as a Sectional Champion.”

Trinity fell to 14-12 to end their 2023-24 season.

The Eagles will face Barr-Reeve in the semistate matchup next Saturday at the Washington Semistate.

The winner will face the victor in the matchup between Greenwood Christian and Bethesda Christian. Evansville plays at 11:45 a.m.

Loogootee Regional Final

Evansville Christian 72, Trinity Lutheran 42

Trinity Lutheran; 4; 17; 7; 14;—;42

Evansville Christian; 25; 12; 19; 16;—;72

Trinity Lutheran (14-12): Reed Mellencamp, 8 0-0 15, Hudson Lang, 5 0-0 13, Levi Pottschmidt, 1 0-0 3, Kowan Gross, 1 0-0 2, Peyton Pollert, 1 0-0 1, Braxton Sinclair, 0 2-2 2, Kade Gillaspy, 1 0-0 2, Charlie Hackman, 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 2-2 42

Evansville Christian (24-2): Josiah Dunham 11 2-4 26, Jackson Chesser 7 1-5 17, Andrew Lynn 5 0-0 15, Kaden Naab 2 0-0 4, Carter Wooten, 1 0-0 3, Hunter Reed, 1 0-0 3, Luke Davis, 1 0-2 2, Santanna Williams, 1 0-0 2. Totals: 29 3-11 72

3-Point Goals: Evansville 11, Trinity 6 (Lang 3, Mellencamp 2, Pottschmidt)

Rebounds: Trinity 23, (Gillaspy 7, Pollert 5, Pottschmidt and Lang 3)

Assists: Trinity 7, (Gross and Hackman 2, Mellencamp, Pottschmidt and Sinclair)

Steals: Trinity 1, (Mellencamp)

Turnovers: Trinity 9

Fouls: Trinity 10, Evansville 9