Phone:
317-846-6601 Fax: 317-575-4244 Website: www.ihsaa.org
Blake Ress,
Commissioner
Lapel wins
first IHSAA Basketball Championship
Coach
Jimmie Howell’s 25-3 Lapel Bulldogs made the most of their first trip to the
IHSAA state basketball finals in 65 years by winning the school’s first state
championship with a 51-40 triumph over Loogootee in the Class A final at
Conseco Fieldhouse in
Lapel
jumped out to a 5-0 lead on a trey by junior guard J.R. Howell, Jimmie’s son,
and a two-pointer from senior center Brad Lantz. The Bulldogs did not trail for the entire 32
minutes, taking an 8-2 lead after the first quarter thanks to a buzzer-beating
trey by Howell. Howell finished with a
game-high 16 points on 5-5 from the field, 4-4 from three-point range, and 2-2
at the free throw line.
Loogootee
(21-5) pulled to within two twice in the second quarter, the last time on a
bucket by senior center Bart Hill that narrowed the margin to 16-14 with
Lapel
opened the second half with a 9-2 run to take a commanding 30-18 advantage with
Lapel set a
Class A state finals record by limiting Loogootee to 40 points. The previous mark was 43 by Tecumseh against
Lafayette Central Catholic in 1999.
Sophomore
guard Todd Baker paced Loogootee with 11 points. Coach Steve Brett’s Lions were making their
first state finals appearance since finishing second in 1975.
Jason Holsinger of Lapel
wins the Arthur L. Trester Award for Mental Attitude
Lapel senior Jason Holsinger is the 2005
recipient of the Arthur L. Trester Mental Attitude for Class A.
Holsinger led coach Jimmie Howell’s Bulldogs to
their first state championship and a 25-3 record. Holsinger is a four-year starter who earned
All-White River Conference and
In the classroom, Holsinger ranks second in a
senior class of 62 with a 3.98 cumulative grade point average. He serves as class president and he is a
member of the National Honor Society and the Academic Hall of Fame. Holsinger earned the “Outstanding Student
Award” in pre-calculus, chemistry, Spanish, and biology, receiving the “I Dare
You Leadership Award,”
Holsinger is an active volunteer with the
Fellowship of Christian Athletes, visiting nursing homes and working on food
drives and summer basketball camps. He
is a cadet teacher at
“Jason is a tremendously hard working,
conscientious, dependable, and reliable person,” said Lapel principal Jerry
Kemerly. “His work ethic in the
classroom and on the basketball floor is second to none. He has a tremendous attitude and an
overwhelming personality. He is one of
the most natural student-athlete leaders that I have ever encountered. His unselfishness on the basketball floor may
be unparalleled to anything I have ever observed in athletics.”
Members of the IHSAA Executive Committee present
the Trester Award to the outstanding senior participant in each classification
of the boys basketball state finals. The
recipients of this award, who were nominated by their principals and coaches,
must excel in mental attitude, scholarship, leadership and athletic ability in
basketball. The award is named for
Arthur L. Trester, who served as the first commissioner of the IHSAA from
1929-44.
Farm Bureau Insurance, IHSAA corporate partner,
presented a scholarship check for $1,000.00 to
IHSAA Book, Play On,
Recaps 100 Years Of High School Sports in
The
exciting book, Play On, celebrating 100 years of
high school sports in
Team Posters And
Individual Action Photographs Available
Visit 20-20 Photographic, the IHSAA’s
photographer and the
Own This Game On VHS Or
DVD
If you’d
like a copy of this state championship game, the IHSAA will have it as well as
each of the other three contests (one game per video) available in VHS or DVD
formats as part of the IHSAA
Video Library collection. Phone in your order beginning Monday, March 28 to
317-846-6601 (M-F, 8-4 EST) and pay by credit card (Visa or MasterCard
accepted). VHS copies are $35 each by mail, while DVD copies are $55 each by
mail. Please allow up to four weeks delivery.
For
t-shirts and other merchandise commemorating this year’s state finals
tournament or for any of our events, visit our friends at Morris, Inc.
State Finals Programs
Available
Couldn’t be
there for the state finals? You can still purchase a copy of the official
program while supplies last! Programs are $3.00 if you purchase in person at
the IHSAA Office (
Class A Championship
Game Quotes
Loogootee Coach Steve Brett
“We struggled all day long, we couldn’t get
where we wanted to and made some poor decisions….we really needed to get it
inside more than we did and weren’t as patient as we needed to be to do that”
“First of
all, I’m very proud of my team. They played their butts off like they have all
year, and I couldn’t ask any more of them. Lapel is a very good basketball team--they’re
very explosive and I thought we did a very good job defensively in the first
half holding them to 21 points.”
“We
experienced a little foul trouble and that affected our play a little…..in the
first half, had we not made those turnovers and had we been able to get it
inside to Hill and Baker a little bit more, we might have been able to have an
advantage and be a little closer. I was pretty pleased with where we were at
halftime with 21-14. Our offensive execution just wasn’t there today. They
(Lapel) were averaging 77 points a game and they had 50 so I’m pretty happy
with that.”
On senior Bart
Hill
“Bart’s
been our rock all year long especially the second half of the season, he’s
played very well and provided outstanding senior leadership. We’re certainly
going to miss him; It’s hard to replace a 6-5 guy with the heart that he’s got.
You couldn’t ask for a better kid….I’d take him home in a minute”
Senior Bart
Hill on what they expected from Lapel
“We
expected quickness, and them crashing the boards. They crashed the boards a
little more than what I expected. Getting three rebounds on the first play
shouldn’t happen.”
“It’s been a great year, one to remember.”
Lapel Coach Jimmie Howell
(On Jason
Holsinger)
“He didn’t
shoot as well as he normally does…believe me guys, he can play. He was a little off early but this kid
(Holsinger) can play. He is an
all-star. He hit a couple of big shots
in the second half that got us going. He
can score off the dribble from three better than any other kid I’ve seen. A lot of people can catch and shoot, a lot of
people can put it on the floor and take it all the way, but he can break people
down and stick it from three better than any other kid I’ve ever seen.”
“J.R.
(Howell) did not miss a shot. Drew Hill
rebounded well. Brad Lantz rebounded and
blocked out well. Kyle Holsinger played
excellent defense. I thought
“We are
probably one of the smallest teams to win the state. We are not very big. But, I think we are one of the quickest Class
A teams in the state. I think our
defense is as good as any 1A defense I’ve seen.
We have five kids who play together, pressure the ball and help in weak
side positioning as well. Our defense
was not going to keep us from going all the way and winning the state.”
“I think
defensively we like to pressure the ball.
We have a couple of kids who are used to getting into foul trouble. I normally take out a kid who gets two fouls
in the first half, but today we had three kids with two fouls. Well, we had three kids with two fouls in the
first half…I’m thinking this is the state championship and I’m rolling the
dice. It paid off.”
(On the
Howell family basketball fortunes)
“We been blessed…it is unbelievable. My parents…a son winning the state, grandson
winning the state and a granddaughter being named Miss Basketball…what more
could you ask from a basketball standpoint.
It is unbelievable.”
J.R. Howell
(On going to Lapel from Brownsburg)
“This
summer my dad asked me what I thought about a move. I really wanted to go to a smaller school and
I knew that at a smaller school I had a better chance of winning a state
championship in the class system.”
J.R. Howell
(On the last shot of the first quarter)
“Hitting
that shot really got our team going. We
were kind of dead for a while and that gave us confidence that we would win
this game.”
Jason
Holsinger (on being a leader)
“The guys
on this team make it pretty easy to be a leader. We have a lot guys who stay focused
individually. I just reminded them to
stay focused and remember our goals.”