The Clinton Prairie Gophers boys’ basketball team won their first ever Regional Championship, defeating Lafayette Central Catholic 58-55 in overtime at Case Arena.
“It feels amazing,” Clinton Prairie head coach Chad Peckinpaugh said. “I’m happy for these kids, they work tirelessly all year to put themselves in this position. That was a hard-fought game, but it could have gone either way. You have to give Central Catholic a ton of credit for their fight tonight. But the way our guys responded, the way they were able to hold on and pull it out, that’s what made me so proud of them.”
Both teams came out hot, matching three for three for the first two minutes of the game. Mikey Stapleton was a key contributor to the Knights’ long range attack. He hit four three pointers in the game, including three in the first half and finished with a team-high 18 points.
Central Catholic’s defensive game plan was clear from the start, limit the scoring of Jake McGraw and Alex Farley. Those two, who combine to average close to 40 points per game, were held scoreless in the first half.
Clinton Prairie was able to stay in the game in part to the offensive explosion from Nick Curtin. The junior was left open by Central Catholic’s defense in the first quarter and he stepped up to knock down two threes. When the defense stepped up, Curitin burned them on the dribble penetration, he scored 16 of his game-high 28 points in the first half.
“Their big guy was sitting in the paint, leaving me open for the entire game,” Curtin said. “I just had to do what I do.”
The Knights took a 16-15 lead into the second quarter and extended it to 28-24 going into the halftime break.
At halftime, Chad Peckinpaugh challenged his team, specifically McGraw to be better on both ends of the floor.
“I don’t think we were taking advantage of what they were giving us early on,” Peckinpaugh said. “I just challenged them to pick up the intensity and for us to pick up our effort on what we were trying to execute. I thought Jake responded tremendously, I thought our guys responded tremendously, and we were able to control that second half a little better.”
McGraw did respond in the third quarter, leading the Gophers on a 16-8 run and hitting back-to-back and one opportunities to fire up the crowd and give the lead back to the red and black.
“My coach always tells me it’s pretty hard to guard me for 32 minutes straight,” McGraw said. “In that first half shots weren’t falling, I airballed a couple of threes, I couldn’t get to the rim and I didn’t always make the right plays. I got yelled at at halftime so it made me want to go. They kept reminding me that their coach said they could guard me and that just pushed me even harder and I said ‘I wasn’t going to lose this game’ and everyone else bought in.”
The large Clinton Prairie crowd was brought alive by the flurry from McGraw, it was all but a home game for Clinton Prairie, playing just eight miles from their home gym.
“The whole half (of the stands) was our supporters and our fans,” Peckinpaugh said. “It definitely felt like a home game because our crowd is a big part of who we are.
Clinton Prairie built their lead to as many as eight in the fourth quarter, but the Knights would not go away. Central Catholic took the lead on a free throw with less than a minute left. Jake McGraw pushed the ball up the floor and drew a foul with 30 seconds remaining and was able to tie it at 49.
Central Catholic turned it over on the next possession, but the potential game winning shot by McGraw was just off.
Tied at 49, it would take four more minutes to decide the game.
After an early three from Central Catholic’s Bobby Metzger, McGraw found Nick Curtin underneath for two and Alex Farley dished it out to Ryan Harshbarger for his third three of the game.
Metzger responded with another three to give Central Catholic a 55-54 lead. Farley came down the floor and dished it off to Curtin for another big bucket to give the Gophers the lead 56-55.
The Knights’ next offensive possession took over one minute of game time. Romeo Huerta had a shot blocked by McGraw and then McGraw forced a traveling violation to give Clinton Prairie the ball.
The Gophers held on to the basketball, burning a few timeouts along the way, until there was less than 20 seconds to go. Central Catholic fouled, and the Gophers missed both free throws, giving the Knights the ball with 16 seconds remaining.
Bobby Metzger launched a deep three that missed short and fell out of bounds, giving Clinton Prairie the ball. The Knights fouled McGraw with three seconds remaining. McGraw, who came into the game just 17 points away from joining the 2000 point club, was now just two points away, and going to the line.
McGraw hit both.
The final heave from the Knights was no good and the Gophers won 58-55.
“Scoring records is a personal goal, 2000 is big, but all I wanted to do is win this,” McGraw said. “For our team to win this, I mean holy cow, we fought, we didn’t play that well in the first half, I didn’t play very well, but everyone played great and Nick (Curtin) stepped up huge.”
The Gophers advanced to Semi-state behind 28 points from Curtin, 17 from McGraw and nine from Ryan Harshbarger.
Clinton Prairie will find out their location and opponent tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. during the IHSAA Semi-state Pairings Show.
It’s history for Clinton Prairie, the Gophers are Regional Champions.
The game will be rebroadcast on WILO Sunday March 16 at 7:00 p.m.
The broadcast of the game was brought to you by:
Jerry’s Body Shop
MRK
Frankfort Jimmy John’s
Davis Comfort Solutions
Central Indiana Plumbing and Well Service
Colfax Pizza King
Essermans Best One Tire and Auto
Wampler’s Services, Inc
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