'What a game.' Scottsburg beats South Bend St. Joseph for first basketball state title.

INDIANAPOLIS — Thanks to a nice start and a great finish, Scottsburg took home its first state championship Saturday.

The Warriors scored the first seven points of the contest and ended the Class 3A title game on a 9-0 run to claim a 67-57 win over South Bend Saint Joseph at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

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Playing in their first state finals, coach Eric Richardson’s squad overcame a 35-17 rebounding deficit by riding the trio of Jack Miller (32), Kody Clancy (20) and Wyatt Zellers (10) who scored 62 of the team’s 67 points.

“What a game,” Richardson said. “We’ve played a lot of tough games over the last three or four years and it was a gutsy performance.”

One statistic vividly demonstrated the difference in the game: Scottsburg held an extraordinary, 23-0 advantage in points off turnovers. The Warriors (25-5) forced Saint Joe into 16 miscues and turned it over themselves only four times.

“We knew they would pressure us,” Richardson said, “and taking care of the ball would be a big key. We did a great job handling their pressure and did a great job forcing turnovers.”

“We didn’t get as many turnovers as we wanted,” Huskies coach Eric Gaff said, “and we didn’t capitalize when we did.”

Scottsburg started fast and led, 10-3, midway through the first quarter. The Warriors extended that advantage to 28-17 after a Miller lay-up with 6:01 left before halftime.

At that point, Saint Joseph (20-10) seemed to wake up and roared back to take a 34-33 lead on a Chase Konieczny follow-up with 1:38 left before halftime.

From that point on, there were seven more lead-changes and five ties in the game.

“Once we settled down,” Gaff explained, “we showed what we were capable of.”

Scottsburg led, 58-57 with 2:46 left, before Zellers (who battled foul trouble in the game) sparked the final run with back-to-back baskets that gave the Warriors the momentum. In fact, a Zellers dunk with 1:50 left preceded a Miller slam with 1:11 remaining to seal the outcome.

“Once Jack got that dunk,” Clancy said. “I thought my ear drums busted.”

“We had some miscommunication on defense that gave them some easy baskets,” Gaff said. “It swung the momentum to them.”

“We finally got some stops and got a few timely rebounds,” Richardson said of the final spurt.

The Huskies missed their final four shots from the floor and committed a pair of turnovers during the final stretch.

Konieczny led Saint Joe with 15 points and 11 rebounds, while Trester Award winner Jerry Barca netted 12 points and Jayce Lee added 11.