Marion capped an outstanding season by outlasting previously undefeated Bloomington North 62-56 in a battle of nationally ranked teams before a sellout crowd of 18,263 in the IHSAA Boys Basketball Class 4A championship March 25 at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Leading Marion (28-1) was 6-9 senior center Zach Randolph with a game-high 28 points on 13-of-22 shooting and nine rebounds. Sophomore forward Allen (Deuce) Miller added 13 points and nine rebounds. Senior forward Matt Backs played a key defensive role while adding six points and six rebounds. Senior guard Todd Chin scored 12 points, including seven of eight free throws. Senior point guard Reggie Nevels ran the show and contributed five assists and three steals.

Marion came into the game ranked No. 2 in Indiana (both in the Associated Press Class 4A media poll and the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association unified poll). Bloomington North was No. 1 both polls. The Cougars also were ranked No. 20 in the USA Today national poll, while Marion was No. 6.

It was the seventh boys basketball state title overall for Marion and the first since the adoption of the multiple-class tournament format in 1998. Marion was the Class 4A state runner-up in that inaugural season. The Giants also were state champions in 1926, 1975, 1976, 1985, 1986 and 1987.

Marion's only setback came at old North Central Conference rival Muncie Central by a 69-54 count Feb. 18. The Bearcats, with eight titles, are the only school to have won more IHSAA state championships.

It was a tough finish to a splendid season for Bloomington North, which had defeated 25 straight opponents on its way to the championship game.

The Cougars were led by sophomore forward Sean May with 17 points and six rebounds. Senior forward Jared Jeffries scored only two points in the first half after going to the bench early with two fouls. He finished with 10 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Kelvin Boatner came off the bench to score 15 points, with all the coming from behind the three-point arc on five-of-seven shooting. Senior center Mike Bridgwaters scored eight points and pulled 10 rebounds, six of them offensive boards.

The first half was a tale of two quarters, with each team winning one. In the first quarter, Marion jumped to a 15-10 lead on the strength of Randolph's eight points. Bloomington North claimed the second quarter with a strong finish after Randolph joined Jeffries on the sidelines with two fouls of his own. May scored 10 of his 15 points in the quarter, including a timely three-pointer with 54 seconds left to give the Cougars their first lead at 25-22 and another at the horn to propel them to a 28-23 halftime edge.

On the strength of Randolph's nine points in the third quarter, Marion regained the lead 33-32 on a Randolph conventional three-point play. Randolph then scored Marion's first 11 points of the fourth quarter to set the stage for Chin's free throw heroics in the waning moments. Chin hit all four free throw opportunities in the final 1:12 to give Marion its first state championship since 1987.

With the victory, Marion became the first team to win an IHSAA boys basketball state title in the same season it won the Hall of Fame Classic title. The Giants beat Westview, the 1999 and 2000 Class 2A state champion, 70-58 in the 1999 Hall of Fame championship game Dec. 29 at New Castle.

Jared Jeffries of Bloomington North High School was selected as the Class 4A recipient of the Arthur L. Trester Mental Attitude Award by the IHSAA Executive Committee.

Jeffries, who will play basketball at Indiana University, led Bloomington North to a 25-1 record. A McDonald's All-American, Jeffries led the team in scoring (23.9), rebounds (10.4) and assists (104). The 23.9 points per game was tied for 18^th best in the state. He shot .573 from the field and .405 from behind the 3-point arch.

In the Class 4A state championship, Jeffries scored 10 points, grabbed eight rebounds, and dished out six assists.

Farm Bureau Insurance, the corporate partner of the Indiana High School Athletic Association, presented a $1,000 scholarship to Bloomington North High School in the name of Jeffries.

"Marion is awfully good. They are such a good basketball team, you can't just key on Randolph."

"They could match us with size and good, strong guards."

ON SEAN MAY'S PERFORMANCE: "He shot well for us."

ON MOVING JEFFRIES TO GUARD RANDOLPH: "As long as we were playing ahead or close, we were going to keep Sean May on him, we were just not guarding the entry pass very well."

ON MARION'S THIRD QUARTER RUN: "I thought they really hurt us in the third quarter."

"It's a great honor to be able to receive this award."

JEFFRIES ON RANDOLPH'S PERFORMANCE: "He really came out and played hard tonight."

"We never gave up. We played good defense in the second half. We were down by five at halftime. The kids came out and did it. I told them at halftime that we were too good of a team to let this happen."

ON SMEDLEY'S FIRST CHAMPIONSHIP WIN: "It took me 20 years to get the job at Marion. I wanted the job when Bill Green left in 1977. I got it four years ago and almost got it (the championship) two years ago."

ON DEFENDING JEFFRIES: "We did a combination of things with our quickness and man-to-man and matchup zone."

"I'm glad the kids got No. 7. There's a lot of pressure in basketball at Marion."

"We let up in the second quarter. May hurt us, but we turned things around in the third quarter."

"It's special to win the championship and I like the way we did it. It was a team effort and our kids never gave up."

"When you get outscored 18-8 in the second quarter against the No. 1 team that's undefeated, you've got some problems. I can't say enough about the character of these kids. Our defense in the third quarter was the key."

SMEDLEY ON REBOUNDING: "The boards were killing us (in the first half). I think our kids were shocked at halftime at the rebounding total (19-17). We haven't been outrebounded all year."

ON THE SECOND HALF COMEBACK: "You've just got to come out and give it all you've got and leave it on the floor. That's what we knew we had to do."

ON THE MR. BASKETBALL RACE: "It's important to me, but this was our No. 1 goal."

ON BLOOMINGTON NORTH'S SEAN MAY: "I never saw a sophomore with touch like that. He's got great potential."

ON HITTING CLUTCH FREE THROWS: "I was just up there relaxing. I work on that 45 minutes every day in practice."