Lutheran basketball was 'different' in Class A final — and set records in state title win.

It took a lot to get through the south half of the Class A bracket for the Lutheran basketball team.

There was a four-point win in the sectional championship over fifth-ranked Greenwood Christian, a team it lost to in the regular season. A win in the final seconds over No. 1 Bloomfield in the regional. And a near-miracle in the first game of the semistate, rallying from a 10-point deficit in the final two minutes for a one-point win over fourth-ranked Loogootee.

“It’s tough getting out of the south,” Lutheran coach Remus Woods said. “If any coach tells you it’s easy getting through the south... It’s just tough. It’s a lot of meat-grinder games that prepared us for a championship.”

IHSAA basketball state finals:Scores, highlights, photos and stats

Once Lutheran reached the championship game — or technically, the first three minutes of the second quarter of the Class A state championship against Southwood — the Saints could play their game. They ran, they poked away steals, they dunked, they hit 3-pointers and generally had a blast on their way to a record-setting 97-66 win over Southwood on Saturday morning at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

Woods watched it all, as usual, from a comfortable spot on the Lutheran bench even as the Saints sputtered for the first 10 minutes, missing shots and turning the ball over. Southwood led 17-12 with 6 minutes remaining in the first half.

“We had to wake up a little bit,” Woods said. “When you have a running team, you just have to get the juices going.”

The Saints did, turning the rest of the game into a track meet, outscoring Southwood 43-8 on fast-break points. Lutheran scored a state-finals record 36 points in the second quarter on its way to a 19-point halftime lead. The Saints never let up as Southwood stuck with its trapping, pressing game plan.

Lutheran’s 97 points set a record for a Class A championship and the 31-point margin of victory broke the record set by Morristown in an 89-60 win over Southwood in 2018. The 97-point total tied the all-time record set by Oscar Robertson’s Crispus Attucks team in a 97-74 win over Gary Roosevelt.

“We had to continue to do what got us here,” Southwood coach Christian Perry said of his team’s pressing style. “We couldn’t change the game plan. Now I would. After I saw what we did didn’t work.”

Sophomore guard LJ Ward was often the ignition to Lutheran’s high-octane offense, rising for dunks and blocked shots off the backboard belying his 5-10 height. Ward finished with 17 points, seven assists, seven rebounds, six steals and four blocked shots.

“I just don’t like to lose,” Ward said. “That’s what it is. Whenever things go wrong, I just play harder and harder and we end up winning.”

It was a box-score stuffing kind of day for Lutheran (20-7) in winning its first boys basketball state championship and winning a football/basketball combo in the same school year. Sophomore Cayden Loescher had 22 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, senior Durray Smith had 21 points on 5-for-9 shooting from the 3-point line, senior Kam Patterson had 15 points, eight rebounds and six assists and KJ Patterson added 10 points and seven rebounds.

Southwood continued to press and play fast in the second half. Perry said he thought about switching to zone to keep the score closer, but believed he owed it to his team to attempt to dig out of the second-half hole. But against this Lutheran team, easier said than done.

“All season we’ve talked about being different,” Woods said. “That’s the only way you can be a champion is to be different. I thought today we were different.”

Jason Oprisek led Southwood (15-13) with 17 points. The Knights were hurt by 17 turnovers in the first half and 24 for the game. Cole Winer, who was named the Mental Attitude Winner for Class A, added 15 points and six rebounds. Will Winer had 13 points and six boards.

Southwood played a tough schedule during the regular season, losing only to Class 2A and 3A teams until the state finals. But Lutheran’s pressure and quickness was something different than the Knights had experienced.

“It felt like we were right there with them,” Oprisek said. “And then it was just like ‘snap.’ They started getting turnover after turnover. When we did get a shot, it wasn’t a good one. And they just kept getting leaked out easy buckets and it went downhill from there.”

Lutheran, which was a state runner-up in 2008 in Class A, looks to be building a consistent winner under Woods, who is 73-27 in his four seasons. He admitted he did not expect to see his team put 97 points on the scoreboard Saturday, but sensed this style might be more to his team’s liking.

“Throughout the tournament we hadn’t really let go and run,” Woods said. “We wanted to score a lot of points.”

Mission accomplished. And a state championship trophy to go with those 97 points.

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

Lutheran 97, Southwood 66

Southwood — Nathan Lehner 3-14 1-2 8, Cole Winer 5-14 5-8 15, Will Winer 4-8 5-8 13, Dylan Stout 4-10 0-0 8, Jason Oprisek 7-14 3-6 17, Keaton Metzger 0-0 0-0 0, Caleb Wyatt 0-0 0-0 0, Griff Chambers 0-0 0-0 0, Jaret Denney 2-2 0-0 4, Bryce Wilcox 0-3 1-4 1, Randy Boone 0-0 0-0 0, Dalton Barney 0-0 0-0 0. Team: 25-67 15-28 66.

Lutheran — Aiden Alialy 1-4 3-6 6, Cayden Loescher 10-12 2-3 22, LJ Ward 7-14 3-4 17, Durray Smith 7-11 2-2 21, KJ Patterson 3-8 4-7 10, Christopher Ervin 1-3 0-0 2, DeVaun Jones 2-2 0-0 4, Kameron Patterson 6-11 3-5 15, Raishaun McHaney 0-0 0-0 0, Cole Hess 0-5 0-0 0, Cameron McHaney 0-3 0-2 0. Team: 37-73 17-29 97.

3-pointers: Southwood 1-11 (Lehner); Lutheran 6-21 (Smith 5, Alialy).

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IHSAA basketball state finals: Lutheran beats Southwood in Class A