Southwood started tournament with a losing record. Now, its one win away from history.
When Christian Perry was hired as boys basketball coach at Southwood in July, the former assistant received a text from an excited senior, Jason Oprisek.
There was an emoji of a ring. The text read: “We’re going to state.”
Fast-forward a few months. Southwood was 0-5 after a loss to Manchester in mid-December.
“I wasn’t thinking about a ring,” said Perry, a 1994 Southwood graduate. “I was thinking, ‘How am I going to keep this job?’”
IHSAA basketball state finals: 30 players to watch with titles on the line
Perry joked this week, “When fans have to pay for parking, you know you’ve made it somewhere.” That somewhere is Gainbridge Fieldhouse, where Southwood (15-12) will play eighth-ranked Lutheran (19-7) in the Class A state finals 10:30 a.m., Saturday.
The road here certainly looked like a longshot for Southwood after its 0-5 start. Part of the Knights’ tough start was related to a schedule that is loaded with 2A and 3A teams and a Three Rivers Conference that was especially tough this season with teams like Tippecanoe Valley, Rochester, Peru, Maconaquah and Wabash all having strong seasons.
But early in the season, it was not necessarily the schedule giving Southwood problems.
“Out of my seven kids I play, five of them play football,” Perry said. “After June, I don’t see them until November. It took us a while to get our basketball legs and go from catching and throwing footballs to making basketball shots and playing the aggressive style of defense we like to play. We typically start off slow, but not necessarily 0-5.”
Southwood was still 7-12 in mid-February before closing the regular season with three consecutive victories and rolling into the semistate at Lafayette Jeff. The Knights knocked off second-ranked Fountain Central, 63-57, and No. 10 Marquette Catholic, 64-56, to emerge as the surprise entry in the state finals.
Southwood, which played for a state championship in 2018 and lost to Morristown, is the first team to reach the state finals with 12 or more losses. The most losses for a state championship team is nine (1935 Anderson, 1949 Jasper, 2003 Lafayette Central Catholic, 2013 Bowman Academy).
“Every team that’s here is good,” Lutheran coach Remus Woods said. “Our guys playing in Marion County, we’ve seen big teams, we’ve seen small teams. You can’t underestimate anybody right now. They’ve found a way to win five in a row.”
Perry said it starts with defense. The Knights play a trapping, uptempo style with a relatively small team led by 6-foot senior Nathan Lehner (15.6 ppg, 2.6 rebounds) and 6-3 senior Cole Winer (14.0 ppg, 5.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists), along with Oprisek (10.8 ppg, 6.4 rebounds), a 6-1 senior.
“They seem to want to play fast, take pride in defense and trap a lot,” Woods said. “They actually probably trap a little more than us. They stay in a trap the majority of the game. We’re going to need to monitor our turnovers and stay aggressive. They are a little smaller than us so we’re going to try to use that advantage.”
Lutheran is a tough team to press and trap, led by 5-10 sophomore LJ Ward, who averages a team-leading 13.1 points and 3.7 assists. The point guard makes the Saints go, but has plenty of help on a deep team with senior Durray Smith (12.2 ppg), 6-3 sophomore Cayden Loescher (8.8 ppg, 3.3 assists), 6-5 senior Kam Patterson (6.5 ppg, 7.5 ppg, 4.8 rebounds), 6-1 senior Aiden Alialy (7.2 ppg), and 6-5 senior KJ Patterson (6.5 ppg, 4.8 rebounds) contributing.
The Saints rallied from a 10-point deficit last week in the semistate to knock off Loogootee, 67-66, in the semistate at Washington before beating Rock Creek Academy, 55-47.
“I think that’s really what brings a champion together,” Woods said of the comeback win over Loogootee. “We lose five seniors, but I think we have guys who are going to keep pushing next year, too. Next year will be my fifth year so I think we’re building a foundation to keep going.”
Perry said Lutheran’s quickness is an issue.
“We want our defense to create our offense,” he said. “We’re not going to be outsized too much like we have been in some previous games, but we have to make sure our defense is working.”
Class A state finals details: Tipoff at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse; game will be broadcast on Bally Sports Indiana 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 Southwood can win: Don’t get burned. If the trapping and pressing is leading to easy Lutheran baskets, that will be a problem. If Southwood can make Lutheran shoot 3-pointers, that is probably a better plan. The Saints have not been a great outside shooting team this season.
How Lutheran can win: Take care of the ball, pressure the ball. A lot of teams have struggled with Lutheran’s pressure defense and that could be an issue again Saturday.
Prediction: Lutheran 65, Southwood 60. I think the Saints are the better team here, but I expect a competitive game to start the day.
Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana high school basketball: Southwood vs. Lutheran Class A final
