Hauser’s Gavin Keller brings the ball up the court March 7 during the Milan Sectional semifinal against Trinity Lutheran.
Dakota Locker | For The Republic
HOPE — It’s no secret that the balance of power in Class A boys basketball this season has shifted to the south.
Three of the state’s top four teams in the final Associated Press state rankings are from the south and will be playing in Saturday’s semistate at Seymour. That includes No. 2 Hauser, which will face No. 4 Orleans in the first semifinal at 10 a.m.
“It’s just fantastic,” Hauser coach Trent Moorhead said. “Seymour will be a great place for quality Indiana High School basketball Saturday. We love the challenge. We’re humble, but confident about our position with that group.”
No. 1 Clay City will play Liberty Christian in the second semifinal at around noon. The semistate championship is at 8 p.m. Saturday, with the winner earning a spot in the Class A state title game.
“They’re all great teams,” Hauser senior center Collin Buck said. “They’re skilled, and they play great competition. I like our chances. I think if we play hard and play together and play our way, I think we can win.”
Neither the Jets (24-3) nor Orleans (24-4) have lost to another Class A school this season, and both teams’ first loss of the year came by 13 points against South Ripley. Hauser beat Crothersville by 38 points, and Orleans beat the Tigers by 33. One big difference, though, is that the Jets beat Paoli by 13, and the Rams handed Orleans a 13-point defeat.
Orleans is led by senior guard Rylan Crocker, who averages 16.1 points a game, and junior forward Alex Dewitt, who adds 13.8 points and 5.6 rebounds. Senior guard Bryce Jones chips in 10.1 points, 4.2 assists and 2.3 steals.
“They’re a very disciplined team,” Moorhead said. “They’re well coached. They have some really nice shooters, and they play through a nice post player, as well. They’ll be a team that will try to control the pace and play at their tempo, and we’re going to have to make them play at our speed.”
Hauser and Clay City (25-1) have not played any common opponents. The Eels have won 24 in a row and are led by senior Ethan Edwards.
The Jets and Liberty Christian have played two common opponents. Hauser beat Waldron by 23, and the Lions beat the Mohawks by three; while the Jets beat North Decatur by 40 and Liberty Christian beat the Chargers by 16 in Saturday’s regional. The Lions are led by sophomore Kendrick Martin.
“Clay City has been the No. 1 team for most of the year, and then Liberty Christian was in the semistate last year,” Moorhead said. “That’s what we’d expect in a semistate — four really good teams playing really good basketball — and we’re just excited to get rolling Saturday at 10 a.m.”
Collin Buck
Buck leads Hauser with 14.0 points and 5.7 rebounds a game. He sprained an ankle in the first half of Saturday’s 70-52 regional win against Indianapolis Lutheran, but returned with a dunk in the second half.
“It’s fine,” Buck said. “I just tweaked it a little bit. Me and (trainer) Steve (Souder) have been doing some rehab, and I have it triple wrapped so it stays stable.”
Ledger Gelfius
Senior guard Ledger Gelfius averages 13.0 points and sits at 999 career points. Senior forward Taeshaun Tungate adds 11.3 points and 4.0 rebounds, and junior guard Gavin Keller scores 10.7 per game.
Jnior point guard Stryker Gill averages 8.6 points, 4.4 rebounds and team-highs of 7.8 assists and 2.3 steals. Gill, who ranks among the state leaders with his school-record 211 assists, had a triple-double Saturday and has been named IBCA District 3 Player of the Week.
“We feel like we’ve executed at a really high level all season long,” Moorhead said. “We’ve done that against really good opponents. We were challenged in that (Switzerland County) holiday tournament in December. We’ve seen some good teams like Batesville and Indian Creek, where we’ve had to play right down to the wire. This is a veteran group with plenty of big-time game experience, and we’re confident that we’re ready to handle any environment and any atmosphere and any game situation.”
That was the case on Saturday, when the Jets routed Lutheran. Hauser never trailed and led by as many as 26 points in the fourth quarter.
“We had heard a lot of the talk going into that game about how Indy Lutheran was the team that could pull off upsets because they’re healthy and because of the schedule they’ve played,” Moorhead said. “We understood it was going to be a challenge. We never overlooked them at all. We had a great week of preparation and thought we played our best brand of basketball on the floor Saturday and executed at a really high level, so I was really pleased. It was a dominant performance from a group of guys that were motivated to keep their postseason lives rolling.”
Although they could play twice Saturday, the focus until Saturday morning will be squarely on Orleans.
“That’s the only game we’re focusing on right now,” Gelfius said. “So we’re going to lock in on that. We believe in our talents, and we have a game plan and we believe in that.”
“We talked at the beginning of practice (Monday), you can’t win two games in one day without winning game No. 1,” Moorhead added. “”So all of our attention is on Orleans. They’re a great opponent. We’re going spend the week getting prepped up for them and making sure they’re ready to go, and then we’ll talk about what’s next.”
The Jets are playing in the semistate for the first time since 2006, when they captured their only boys basketball state title. This year’s sectional title was their first since 2017 and the first for anyone on this year’s team and for Moorhead, who is in his third season as head coach.
“We started practice (Monday) making mention that only 32 teams in the state of Indiana are practicing,” Moorhead said. “We are blessed to have the opportunity to continue playing, and it’s because the hard work this team has put in. We’re excited about continuing our tournament path this week.”
“It’s just a blessing,” Gelfius added. “Not many teams get to play this time of year, so we just take it all in. We want more. We don’t just want sectional. We don’t just want regional. We’re focused on our next game and just trusting in God that His will be done.”
