4A Championship Game
March 29, 2025
The dream matchup that every casual fan in Indiana wanted to see took place on Saturday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indy. The undefeated, #8 in the nation, winners of 59 of their last 60 games, Fishers Tigers came in looking to stamp their names in the convo of best runs and teams in IHSAA history. Their opponent and ERA preseason #1, the Jeffersonville Red Devils came in winners of their last 17 games and now fully healthy looked to spring what many thought would be a huge upset. The question among many in the state that I’d heard all week was not, “Who is going to win the game?” but “How many do you think Fishers is going to win by?” When you’re a top 10 team in the country with probably 4 D1 players and a few others that are going to play college ball somewhere, it’s hard not give the defending state champs the benefit of the doubt. But handing them the trophy before the game was never going to happen to anyone that knew anything about high school basketball and had been in and around the Jeffersonville program. Let’s go back to a small auxiliary gym @ Carmel in June real quick; the gym held maybe 60-70 people but there were easily 100 including a row of D1 college coaches. In that gym was a preview of two teams that were on a collision course to meet in Indy 10 months later. The game meant little to nothing when it came to Saturday’s title game of course, other than for kids to be seen and recruited, but the seeds were sown for an epic matchup. Jeffersonville got down BIG early in that game until they began to utilize 6’8 senior Tre Singleton. Once he was established there wasn’t much Fishers could do to stop him. Now, there were players missing from each team (JonAnthony Hall @ Fishers/ Elijah Cheeks, Shawn Boyd, and Ray Laird for Jeffersonville), but the confidence that gave the Red Devils that they were at least on the same level as the defending state champions, was immeasurable. And don’t tell me the coaches didn’t care because I was right there next to them and could hear the intensity from them, as well as both teams. It was as if both players and coaches knew this was more than just a summer game, it was a message. Jeffersonville won that game going away and Singleton established himself as a legit high major D1 player at that event. Now, coming back to what went down on Saturday, was nothing less than one of the top state championship games in the class basketball era.
Jeff came out a little shaky at first with an early Michael Cooper miss throw turnover, but a couple possessions later junior Elijah Cheeks got the Red Devils on the board first. Three turnover for Jeff in the first 3 minutes didn’t help and allowed Fishers guards to get going with an early lead. After 1 it was a 11-8 Fishers lead in an unexpected low scoring and fast paced quarter. When people say “you can’t teach height” it’s not just a obvious saying, Jeff’s 6’8 senior Tre Singleton makes up for a lot of mistakes offensively and defensively for the Devils. Early on it was PJ Douglas and Tre Singleton keeping Jeff within striking distance but Fishers has 5 options on offense on the floor at all times. Gardner and Hall had an early 6 pts, but the 2nd quarter belong to 5’11 Jeff senior Shawn Boyd. I’ve always believed that you know what Singleton, Douglas, and Cooper gives Jeff but the key for them to get to where they got last night was for ‘the others’ to give them something extra. Boyd, who’s a Hanover College commit gave them 8 points in 2nd quarter alone. And a Singleton And 1 with 26 seconds left in the half pushed the Devils lead to 6 by halftime. Fishers has trailed by 10 at half this season v. Westfield but really haven’t been challenged very often. What Jeff was doing in the 1st half didn’t feel like was an anomaly. You could see Jeff was evenly matched and could play with the Tigers. All the players and coaches knew it, but all the casual basketball fans around the state were put on notice in the 1st half. Early in the year when Singleton was out with an injury Jeff was understandably a different team. Coach Wilkerson has told me on numerous occasions, “Tre is a pro” Whether he means a future NBA player or just a professional in some compacity somewhere I’m not sure but I personally see alot of Trey Kauffman- Renn in Tre Singleton. Tre is a very good, and willing passer out of the double with vision to hit the cutter or open man. He will need to continue to make his 3 point shot even more consistent beyond the high school level, but once he does, he may very well become that pro Sherron keeps telling me about. Singleton etched his name last night in the conversation, along with Sherron Wilkerson, Brien Hanley, Mike Flynn, Dennis Coutee, Wayne Walls, Tommy Baker, and Darryl Baker as one of the best all time to come thru Jeff High School.
In the 2nd half Fishers sophomore guard Jason Gardner (son of 1999 Mr. Basketball Jason Gardner) got it going early on drives down the middle. Once Gardner gets a reliable 3 point shot he’s a top 15 kid nationally in the class of 2027. And after a big dunk from Fishers senior JonAnthony Hall it seemed like the early momentum was going the Tigers way. But every time Fishers cut it down to 3, Jeff had some big answers. Cooper and Douglas both had tough lay-ins which made Douglas 4/4 so far in the game. The rest of the third Jeff held a fairly comfortable 6-7 point lead. Jeff even got the lead up to 9 at one point but Fishers quickly responded with a quick run capped by a Millen McCartney 3 to cut the lead to45-42, going into the 4th. One of the biggest shots of the game came at the very beginning of the quarter Jeff junior guard Terrence Nord hit a big time 3 to stop the bleeding. Fishers just kept chipping away and had some big 3s of their own from Nathan Baker and Cooper Zachary. The Tigers finally got over the hump to take 60-58 lead thanks to a Gardner And 1 with 1:03 left. That was answered by Michael Cooper drive to the basket to tie it up at 60 with 40 seconds left. The Tigers held onto the ball until about 10 seconds left when senior Justin Kirby drove to the lane and scooped a lay-in with his left hand but it was just short and Jeff rebounded the ball, calling a TO with 4 seconds left. The ball was inbounded to Singleton who took the 4 dribbles in 4 seconds, got to about the free throw line and took a running jumper that hit off the backboard, rolled around the rim and out. If that would have gone in with what he did in the game scoring 27 points may have won him Mr. Basketball, just like Luke Zeller back in 2005. The OT belonged to Tre when they needed a basket, as they did most all night. McCartney gave the Tigers a 66-65 lead with a minute left. That was answered by a cutting Elijah Cheeks for Jeff from Singleton off the double. Ironically Cheeks scored the first basket of the game and last. Fishers had a couple shots to win it and after an inbound fadeaway 3 from Logan Sigler went short, Jeff took the ball and claimed the program’s 2nd state championship in school history.
I could give you breakdown of each play of the game or player, but if I wanted to put it shortly, Fishers doesn’t have a Tre Singleton. I thought all year that the absence of 6’6 Kennan Garner, who graduated last year and currently plays for IU-Indy, would eventually come back to hurt them. Their guards and all around roster is so good that it never did cost them a loss, until last night’s game. I personally think Gardner is a top 2 player in the class of 2027 and if he can get his 3 pt. shot consistent, he’s nationally a top 15 kid. Zachary is a winner and doesn’t let his height define him. Coop can shoot it, handle it, apply pressure defensively on the perimeter. He’s probably going to end up at high D1 himself when it’s all said and done. Some would say he’s a mid major D1, like that’s some sort of insult, but there’s a place for him on a high major roster in the right situation. Kirby is lighting quick getting to the basket and explosive when he gets there, as well as can hit the 3 when left open. If he plays for pretty much any team other than a loaded group @ Fisher, he’s averaging 20 ppg on 99% of high school teams in Indiana. Hall isn’t going to hurt you from the outside but he may just jump through you or over you for a highlight dunk. His defense is 2nd to none and he’s constantly a threat getting to the basket or on the offensive/ defensive rebound. Throw in seniors Nathan Baker, Logan Sigler, Millen McCartney who will all be playing college ball next year and this Fishers team was deserving of their #8 national ranking. Runs like they’ve had (and look to continue to have) for a program don’t come along like this every year. Coach Winegar and his staff are top notch in every aspect of what they do from development, to helping their kids prepare for the next level.
What you saw out of Jeffersonville tonight was nothing short of the perfect storm. And I don’t mean they had to play the perfect game to beat Fishers. But a group of seniors that have went to school together since they were little, coming up through the Jeffersonville youth basketball system is rare and should be celebrated this day in age, especially at the 4A level and with the new transfer rule about to take over high school ball. Michael Cooper, Tre Singleton, PJ Douglas, Shawn Boyd, and Ray Laird were always a group coming up through grade school and middle school that everyone knew was good and had a chance to do something special, but it doesn’t have to work out that way (And the class behind them was very good also). Their freshmen year of high school Jeffersonville had a record of 9-12. Things could have went south very quick and I’ve seen it happen before, especially @ Jeff. Singleton didn’t start, neither did Douglas, and Boyd and Laird were mostly jv kids. Cooper did get alot of starts but was nowhere close to the player he is today. Kids could have gotten discouraged, left, whatever most do nowadays. Then Jeffersonville did something that surprised me, but was a long time coming; hired the Sheron Wilkerson, who was the right guy for the job regardless of anything other than the purpose of winning and what was best to prepare the boys for success on and off the floor. Coach Wilkerson was someone who could give them a vision and knew what it took to see that vision through. As a 1993 state champion @ Jeff and McDonald’s All American he first had to give his players a winning mindset to set a culture of success. Some may say well, Sherron’s record was this or that at Shawe Memorial and Madison and that he’d never won before. He was the exact right guy at the right time for that group at Jeffersonville. Even with everything going right, that doesn’t always involve winning trophy’s and championships. The kids put in work and have been described as “the hardest working, self-motivated kids to come through the area in a long time.” A coach is extremely lucky if they get 1 kid like that on their team, much less a group of them. Also, the ball has to bounce your way or one thing or another happens in your favor. What the state saw on Saturday night was just the 1% of the 99% of dedication and hard work that it took for that group to become state champs. The whole Jeffersonville community, kids, coaches, school system, local trainers, and fans came together to see the culmination of a perfect storm.
Red Devils scoring;
Sr. Tre Singleton- 26 pts and 5 rebounds
Sr. Shawn Boyd- 11 points
Sr. Michael Cooper- 15 points
Sr. PJ Douglas- 8 points
Tigers scoring;
Sr. Justin Kirby- 15 points
Sr. JonAnthony Hall- 15 points
