Jeffersonville will play No. 1 Fishers in next week’s Class 4A state championship game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.NEW CASTLE — Is there anything Tre Singleton can’t do? Allow close friend and teammate Michael Cooper to answer that question. By the end of the third quarter, No. 10 Lawrence North had sliced the Red Devils’ lead to […]
Jeffersonville will play No. 1 Fishers in next week’s Class 4A state championship game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.NEW CASTLE — Is there anything Tre Singleton can’t do? Allow close friend and teammate Michael Cooper to answer that question.
By the end of the third quarter, No. 10 Lawrence North had sliced the Red Devils’ lead to 42-38 on a dish from Azavier Robinson to Kai McGrew for a three-point play. The Wildcats always seemed to be swimming upstream, however, after Jeffersonville started the fourth quarter on three-point plays by Singleton and P.J. Douglas.That would be as close as the Wildcats could come. Elijah Cheeks made two free throws on the next Jeffersonville possession and Singelton’s three-point play pushed the lead back to 57-49.
Singleton disputes that assessment. Something about a faulty internet connection. But the 6-8 Jeffersonville star proved he could just about do it all on the court for the Red Devils on Saturday at New Castle Fieldhouse. When needed, he defended Purdue-bound guard Luke Ertel in the first semistate game against Mt. Vernon. He took charges. He handled the ball to relieve pressure. He scored and rebounded.
It showed. No. 6 Jeffersonville jumped on Lawrence North from the outset, taking a 23-14 lead after the first quarter and a 30-20 advantage into halftime after the Wildcats switched to a box-and-1 zone.“I wanted to get Jeff back on the map,” said Singleton, who is headed to Northwestern next year. “I wanted to get the program back to where (coach Sherron Wilkerson) had it 30 years ago. It means a lot that we could come out here tonight and get this win.”
Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.It was lights out for Lawrence North, which left New Castle for the second consecutive year with a heartbreaking loss to Jeffersonville.
Jeffersonville rallied last year to beat Lawrence North 62-60 in the semistate semifinal at New Castle, then lost a late lead in a 52-51 loss to Ben Davis. That empty feeling stayed with the Red Devils all through summer, the season and into Saturday night.“One thing about that kid (Robinson) is that he plays his you-know-what off,” Giffin said. “For 32 minutes every game, both ends. He’s that kind of competitor. I’m sad, but I’m excited for him. Hopefully coach (Thad) Matta will bring out the best in him at Butler. Certainly, we’re going to miss him and the other two seniors as well.”But with Singleton, who is almost 100% healthy after breaking a bone in his right foot and missing the first month of the season (Singleton said he is about “90 to 94%), there is a chance. After scoring nine of his 18 points in the fourth quarter of the semifinal game to help Jeffersonville erase a 10-point fourth quarter deficit in a 63-59 win over Mt. Vernon, Singleton had team-high 16 points and 10 rebounds vs. Lawrence North.“He used to quit on video games,” Cooper said. “If he thinks he was getting blown out, he would quit right away.”
Singleton had plenty of help from his teammates. The Wright State-bound Cooper, who had 24 points in the win over Mt. Vernon earlier in the day, had seven of his nine points in the first quarter against Lawrence North. P.J. Douglas, also committed to Wright State, had 10 points. And junior Terrance Nord, whose only shot of the game was a 3-pointer to give the Red Devils the lead against Mt. Vernon, knocked down two 3s and finished with eight points.Wilkerson, the third-year coach, led Jeffersonville to the state championship in 1993, the only state title in the long and storied history of the program. The Red Devils (23-5) will have a chance to make it No. 2, though the odds would appear to be against them going into next week’s matchup against top-ranked and defending champion Fishers (30-0), which will bring a 43-game winning streak into next week’s title game.“Coach Wilkerson told us the city was here to watch us,” Cooper said. “Four or five years ago, they weren’t coming out … coach Wilkerson built this up year by year and now we’re one of the best teams in the state.”For the first time since 1995, Jeffersonville is headed to the state finals. The Red Devils, so close last year, took care of business this time with a 56-49 victory over Lawrence North in the Class 4A semistate championship on Saturday night.Most importantly, Singleton won.
Still, Lawrence North fought — led by the Butler-bound Robinson, who finished with a game-high 22 points. His layup brought Lawrence North within four points, then his assist to Brennan Miller cut the Jeffersonville lead to 52-49 with 2:15 left.“I think today in this semistate you guys got a full picture of what Tre Singleton can bring to the table,” Wilkerson said. “I probably have a little bit of a biased opinion, but I think the young man is extremely talented and I think his ceiling is through the roof. If he stays healthy, he has a very bright future.”Add it all up and it is the first state finals appearance in 30 years for Jeffersonville.
