By Nate Smith
LOOGOOTEE — Saturday’s Class A Regional at Loogootee was less of a contest and more of a coronation as Barr-Reeve sailed past Tecumseh and Lanesville to earn its place in the semistate.
The Class A No. 2 Vikings (23-3) will take on North Central (Farmersburg) in Seymour for a spot in the state finals.
But Lanesville (16-10) gave the Vikings a run for the title early in the championship game at Jack Butcher Arena. The Eagles, using a full-court press, gave Barr-Reeve some pause. Although Ashton Wagler and Christian Duncheon were able to spot Barr-Reeve a five-point lead, Lanesville’s Bryant Conder forced Trey Hughes into two turnovers.
Later, Conder drove the basket, scooped in a layup, and was fouled for a 3-point play. Lanesville ended the first quarter with a 12-9 lead.
The Eagles then lost the lead early in the second and never gained it again. Duncheon capped off the highlights in the quarter late with two three-point plays, giving the Vikings an eight-point play. He said later that was the plan.
“We knew that we wanted to keep it inside without driving or throwing it in there and trying to draw their players into foul trouble,” Duncheon said. “Once we got into the bonus, our free throws carried us.”
Coach Bryan Hughes said they wanted to keep to their plan all along.
“Our kids showed composure all year and we wanted to stay with our plan,” Bryan Hughes said. “The kids did a nice job and showed a lot of toughness and got to the foul line. That was a big part of the game, getting to the foul line.”
Trey Hughes, one of the senior captains, was relatively quiet in the first half, only hitting five freethrows. The third quarter was his, owning the Eagles.
At the 6:15 mark, he went coast-to-coast off a rebound for an easy layup. He also found room along the baseline, hitting two three-point plays close to the basket.
Hughes ended up with 12 of his 19 points in the third. Duncheon also had 19 in the game. Hughes said with their physical defense, he felt the opportunity to take it to the basket.
His father, the coach, said he had a great third.
“Trey came out struggling in the first half and then came out and showed his true colors,” Bryan Hughes said. “He played a great third quarter.”
Lanesville, in an attempt to slow the clock in the second half, fouled. At the 6:25 mark in the fourth, the Vikings reached the double bonus and senior Brandon Graber took advantage. Graber hit 11 of 12 from the line, all in the fourth, for his 11 points.
Graber owed it all to concentration.
“I really wanted to get the game over with,” Graber said. “We always practice those in practice and I hit them tonight.”
In total, Barr-Reeve did not need to hit a bucket in the fourth, as they reached the line 28 times, hitting 24. In all, the Vikings reached the line 50 times, hitting 39.
Jordan Sinnott finished up with nine points and seniors Josh Swartzentruber and Willie Helms, along with Wagler, had three points each. Conder led Lanesville with 18 points. Nick Hammond had 15 points and Chris Gayhard tallied seven points.
In the first game, Barr-Reeve jumped out to a 14-0 lead to start and a 21-5 first quarter. They never looked back, mainly from the Vikings’ hot three-point shooting. Hughes, Helms and Wagler hit from deep early, moving them to the final. Hughes ended up with 13 points and Wagler had a game-high 15 points, all from 3-point range.
Kyle Ficher led Tecumseh (10-13) with 16 points.
Many on the current Barr-Reeve squad were in the program when they last played in Conseco Fieldhouse in 2007, but their own regional title and the chance to make it to Indianapolis again, was special.
“It’s incredible,” Duncheon said. “It’s a great group of guys and we’ve worked hard all year.
“Since second grade, we’ve been dreaming of this. We are going to take the best advantage of this opportunity as we can.”
Bryan Hughes said it was toughness that set this team apart.
“I’ve said the word all year,” he said. “These are strong kids. They’re tough minded and they are physically tough kids. They all know how to play basketball.
“Add all that together and it’s the ingredients for a tough basketball team.”
North Central (15-9) won its place in Seymour with a 56-44 win over Edinburgh. The only local team to play the Thunderbirds was North Daviess, who defeated North Central 44-32 on Dec. 11.
In the other semistate at Huntington North, top-ranked Bowman Academy (22-1) will play Monroe Central (20-5).
