Kings honor legends: Cass celebrates 2003 state championship team
Mar. 2—WALTON — The legends of the Lewis Cass 2003 state championship team gathered for a celebration for last Friday's home game against Lafayette Central Catholic.
Four of the five starters — Beau Bauer, Josi Faust, Mike Keller and Zach Frey — and reserves Eric Bell and Brian Erny were in attendance and spoke with the Pharos-Tribune prior to the game about the 20-year anniversary of the state championship season. The fifth starter, Ben Williams, lives in Kansas and was unable to make the 12-hour drive to get there Friday.
Hall of Fame coach Basil Mawbey — who became the sixth coach to win a state championship at two schools in 2003 — said he knew he had a talented group coming when he took the job in Walton in 2000. He won his state championship at Cass almost exactly 20 years following winning a state championship at Connersville, and he celebrated his 20-year anniversary at Cass last Friday.
"When I first came here, I saw potential to maybe win a state championship," Mawbey said. "I was fortunate to win it in 1983 at Connersville and runner-up at Kokomo (in 1989). I thought I could win another one so when I came here, that was our goal. To lose in the sectional in 2002 was quite a jolt. We were undefeated that year. Then to come back the next year and be undefeated and win the sectional, there was a lot of pressure on us. We've got to play Taylor again who beat us the year before in the sectional. We've got to play Sheridan who played great. The whole tournament run there was only one team that we didn't beat by 10 or more and that was the state championship and they banked one in at the buzzer. So what a great thrill, the run these gentlemen had in their state tournament."
The Kings were one of the most dominant teams in state history despite playing Basilball, a defensive-minded basketball style led by his famed 2-3 defense. Basilball also sometimes meant a patient offense, but that was not a priority in 2003, Mawbey said.
"That's what people don't understand, we did run and gun," he said. "If we passed it over two or three times, the only reason was we were in weave. If it's open, they're firing. If you watch the tape, Zach hits a 3, Ben hits a 3, Mike's inside. We are a very good team and we shot, then when we had the lead you better have to come and get us and we were very good in spread. That was big. To do what we did, Forest Park, they had a great team. We spread for three-and-a-half quarters and that's how good they were to do that. So great team."
Class basketball was only five years in and the debate at the time was whether or not Cass could have won a single-class state championship. Pike was the dominant Class 4A team that year, led by Justin Cage, Courtney Lee and Robert Vaden, who all went on to have long professional careers. But Basilball seemingly would have given the Kings a chance.
"I would have loved to have played Pike," Mawbey said. "They were an undefeated champion too. There had only been six teams in the history of basketball in Indiana that had been undefeated state champion. At 2 o'clock we were No. 7 and at 9:30 Pike was No. 8. It had been 100-and-some years and there's only eight teams that have ever been undefeated. We would have loved to have that chance. Obviously they had three NBA players, so it would have been a challenge. But I don't think we would have backed down an inch. And it would be fun to have that.
"They had a Tourney of Champions right before that from '98, '99 and 2000, and they were great games. But the IHSAA didn't want to do it because they were afraid they were going to get pressured back into one class. So we didn't have that opportunity. We're undefeated state champions, nobody beat us."
Bauer was the Kings' point guard and leading scorer. He averaged 18.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 6.3 steals per game his senior season. He went on to have a standout career at Purdue Fort Wayne and Florida Gulf Coast. Mawbey thought Bauer was the best player in the state his senior year.
Bauer now has a career in sports, as he works in athletics fundraising at Indiana University in Bloomington. He thought about playing basketball professionally out of college.
"I tried out for a team in Australia and just ended up finishing my degree, got engaged and decided to not go for it," he said.
Faust, at 6-foot-7, was the only other King to go on to play college basketball. He played at NAIA St. Francis in Fort Wayne. He was a junior in 2003 and was their rim protector in their 2-3 zone. He averaged just 4.7 ppg that year, which was fifth among the starters, but had some big baskets down the stretch in the state title game. He was also key to the Kings' offense with setting screens for Bauer and the rest of his teammates.
"The preparation that went into every game," Faust said when first asked of his memories from 2003. "The hours of video, forgetting that we were watching video and it was time to go practice afterwards. The sweat, the blood, the tears, everything that went into that year. The prior year all led up to the success that we had. One of my favorite memories that I still remember today was the trip home on the bus on 31, looking back and just seeing the line of cars for as far as you can see in the dusk. It was just really cool and then getting to come back here in the gym and getting to celebrate again was a lot of fun."
"I would say the community support," Bauer said of his biggest memories. "It seemed like from the start in November all the way through the end of March it just built every game. A few more people here, a few more people there. The Western game by the end of the year was standing room only all away around the gym. The sectional was here and then it was full every night. Then you show up to Blackford in the regional and you don't think we can get more people and there's more people there that night. Then semi-state in Warsaw, the continued support from the community is something that I always thought that you may not realize it as an 18-year-old kid but the more I think about it and the more you interact with people across the state, it's a big deal that you may not realize at the time.
"The times we had coming home from Taylor after we lost and then the bus rides home when we kind of knew that we had it rolling a little bit. I would say for our team, we didn't really lack much confidence. It may not have been on display and I think a big part of that goes to the preparation that we had, we never went into a game and felt like we couldn't win this game because we always went in knowing if we did what we were coached to do, we'd be just fine."
The teams just prior to the 2003 team also contributed to the championship. The Kings went 68-3 in Mawbey's first three seasons.
"Tyler [Fowler] is a part of this winning a state championship. He helped us build," Mawbey said.
In 2003, Kings fans grew fond of the "undefeated" chant as Lewis Cass barnstormed across the state.
Cass athletic director Greg Marschand was also the athletic director in 2003 and remembers full crowds for home games as well.
"It was a packed house. I can remember some of the nights when the weather wasn't good we'd have to get out the mop because people had ice going up the steps and down," Marschand said. "It was fun. It was just a good time for everybody. It brought the community so close together. Those memories will last forever."
Mawbey, now 80, is still coaching basketball as he's an assistant at Anderson under Donnie Bowling, one of his former players at Kokomo.
"I don't know that I've ever seen anybody work as hard as [Mawbey] worked and knew as much about his opponent as what he did," Marschand said. "He had a work ethic that was unbelievable."
Mawbey said the 2003 Kings were always prepared to play man-to-man defense just in case they had to.
"We went through every play they had man-to-man every game," he said. "The man plays are what was so hard. They're harder to teach and we had to know them because if we ever got behind, they'd hold the ball and we'd have to play man. And we never got behind."
Perhaps Lewis Cass should have sold tickets to practices in 2003.
"The year we won state I think our practices were more competitive than most games," Keller said.
The 2002 Kings went 20-0 during the regular season before losing to Taylor in a sectional game, which helped motivate the 2003 team.
"This group wasn't going to let that happen," Marschand said.
The 2003 Kings played 26 games and won all 26.
"I don't think people understand the pressure we had," Mawbey said. "Every game, everybody is going to give us our best because if they beat Lewis Cass, that puts them up here because they knocked them off their undefeated season. I remember we lost over at Oak Hill [the next season], Brian's senior year, and they thought they won the state. But we ended up still ended up winning the sectional and taking the No. 1 team in the state to a one-possession game in overtime. We became a great team in '04 too."