'A home run’: Former IU guard Matt Roth learned from Marc Davidson, leading Blackhawk Christian

Jimmy Davidson would travel on the Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian basketball team bus when he was in elementary school. His duties for his father Marc, the Blackhawk Christian coach, included filming the games.

But on those bus rides, from his third to fifth grade years, his main priority was to find assistant coach Matt Roth.

“My best memories were playing PGA Tour on his iPad on the bus,” said Davidson, now a 6-3 senior starter for Class 2A third-ranked Blackhawk Christian (26-3), which will play No. 1 Linton-Stockton (29-1) at 12:45 p.m. Saturday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse for the Class 2A state championship.

Jimmy stayed in touch with Roth over the years after the former Indiana guard left Blackhawk Christian in 2016 and took a position as manager of sports medicine at Optimum Sports Performance in Fort Wayne. When Marc Davidson resigned his position last spring due to his ongoing cancer battle, Jimmy was happy to see Roth return to the school as head coach.

Five days after Roth was hired, Marc Davidson died at age 49.

“Every time somebody drops a weight in the weight room, I think of him,” Roth said of Davidson, the former Strongman competitor. “… I learned so much from him about how to love and invest in these kids. He’s no doubt with me in my mind darn near every step of the way.”

Roth, 33, said Davidson’s “handprints and footprints” are all over the Blackhawk Christian program. That will likely always be the case. Davidson’s strength in his faith, even as he was physically weakened by cancer, captured the hearts of the basketball community around the state.

Last year, especially as the season stretched into the winter months of January and February, Davidson was finding it increasingly difficult to travel on the bus to games. But somehow, amazingly to Jimmy, his father would summon the strength to coach.

“That was incredible,” Jimmy said. “I would see him at home. Most people didn’t know how weak he was and how much he was lacking energy. But he would always bring it for practice and bring it for games. He would say it’s the lord’s strength, not his. It was just amazing to see. You’d think, ‘How could I complain about the meaningless stuff in my life when he still has so much joy in his life?’”

Though Marc Davidson died just a few days after Roth was hired, Jimmy believes the transition “gave him peace of mind knowing the program would be in good hands.”

Roth, who is in the building as an elementary and middle school physical education and health teacher, was a standout player in Washington, Ill., where he set the state’s 3-point record before graduating in 2008. He played that role well for Indiana, leading the Big Ten Conference in 3-point percentage on the NCAA tournament Sweet 16 team in 2012 at 54.5%.

After college, Roth started coaching with Davidson at Blackhawk Christian. He got married in 2014 to former IU basketball and volleyball player Lindsay Enterline. They have three children, ages 8, 6 and 4. Roth stayed involved in basketball as a trainer and later a referee with his father-in-law, Bob Enterline. But he had an itch to get back into coaching and joined the staff at Heritage for a season in 2021-22.

Roth said the return to Blackhawk Christian has been “a home run.”

“I know many years ago my calling was to invest in kids,” he said. “I did it as an assistant and did it in sports medicine when I had a great opportunity in Fort Wayne. But for the day to day, being there and investing in a program and the youth, ultimately the best move was getting into school and getting to be able to teach and just falling in love with the process of building up the youth. It’s been a home run in that sense that everything worked out.”

It has helped Roth’s transition to coach that much of the staff has remained in place. Assistant coaches Mike Lindsey, Joey Morlan and David Boyer were all previously part of Marc Davidson’s staff.

“It helps having great people around me,” Roth said. “My staff is phenomenal. A lot of them are tried and true faces at Blackhawk. That was a huge priority for me. Having a relationship with those men helped, but also then twisting their arm to make sure they would stay. They made it easy for me.”

Jimmy, the fifth of seven of Marc and Lisa Davidson’s children, said he hoped beyond hope that Blackhawk Christian could win the state title last season, knowing it would likely be Marc’s last season. After winning the Class 2A title in 2021, his older brother Marcus’ senior season, the Braves lost in double overtime to Connor Essegian and Central Noble in the regional championship.

“I’d be lying if I told you last year’s loss wasn’t on my mind and my teammates’ mind,” Jimmy said. “It was tough that night on and off the court with everything involved.”

The Davidson family has remained involved in Blackhawk Christian basketball. Lisa attends every game and oldest brother Wes, who is married and lives in Fort Wayne, attends most games. Will, who is also married, lives in Paraguay but returned home over Christmas for a few games. Frankie and Marcus are both playing at Grace College. The youngest siblings are Isaiah and Jaela. Isaiah has taken over the game filming duties that were once Jimmy’s.

“I’ve got young boys and I hope they look up to him and see how he’s stood firm and never wavered,” Roth said of Jimmy. “I’m just so proud of him and happy I get to spend this year with him and look forward to many more with him.”

That goes for all of the players on the team. Even though Marc Davidson won 197 games and two state championships in his nine seasons at Blackhawk Christian, the wins and titles are not what he is most remembered for. He was so open about his cancer battle and his faith that it made it easier for the team.

“The wins and losses are fantastic,” Roth said. “That’s what you love as a competitor. But when you are invested in these young men and love them the way he did, the way I’m aspiring to do, it becomes much more than that. If I could fast forward 20 years from now and see what a Gage Sefton, a Jimmy Davidson, a Josh Furst and what they are doing, that’s what I can’t wait for. The winning and losing becomes secondary in a lot of ways.”

Class 2A state finals details: Tipoff at 12:45 p.m. Saturday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse; game will be broadcast on Bally Sports Indiana Extra and live streamed on IHSAAtv.org; Tickets are $15 per person for one session and can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com. Participating schools also have tickets available at the respective schools.

How Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian can win: The Braves, seeking their third title in five years, is fifth in the state in scoring at 69.6 points per game, shooting an efficient 37% from the 3-point line. If Blackhawk Christian can get 6-6 senior Josh Furst (19.0 ppg, 7.6 rebounds) established early, it will help open things up. Gage Sefton (16.6 ppg, 5.8 assists), a 6-4 senior, will also have a major role as a playmaker. Blackhawk is a big team with Furst, Sefton, 6-8 sophomore Kellen Pickett (13.7 ppg, 8.3 rebounds), 6-3 senior Davidson (6.9 ppg, 5.9 rebounds, 4.3 assists) and 6-5 junior Isaac Smith (9.3 ppg) as its top players.

How Linton-Stockton can win: The Miners are also one of the state’s top scoring teams, ranking eighth at 69.4 points. If 6-6 senior Joey Hart (23.7 ppg) and 6-3 senior Logan Webb (16.7 ppg, 3.5 assists) get going, look out. The key might be how well Linton-Stockton rebounds with 6-4 senior Nathan Frady (8.8 ppg, 5.8 rebounds), 6-5 junior Braden Walters (6.4 ppg, 6.0 assists, 3.9 rebounds) and others.

Prediction: This has the potential to the most exciting, uptempo, high-scoring game of the day. I don’t expect a big margin either way. It’s a coinflip. Blackhawk Christian 71, Linton-Stockton 70.

Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Ex-IU G Matt Roth learned from Marc Davidson, leads Blackhawk Christian