An improbable, incredible run
Carrothers calls Andrean’s run in state tournament ‘crazy,’ and he’s correct
The cardiac kids like the postseason.
There really is no other way to explain Andrean’s improbable and unlikely Class 2A state championship.
Senior guard John Carrothers was waiting to use this line Saturday after the 59ers defeated Linton-Stockton 59-54 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. It was the boys basketball program’s first state title.
“It’s crazy,” Carrothers said. “In our 59th year and we score 59 points. There isn’t much I can say about that.”
I’ll be honest. It is crazy. Andrean had a pretty average regular season. The 59ers (21-8) were always talented, but never reliable.
They beat Chesterton twice, but got steamrolled by Griffith and Munster.
They beat Northridge, a team that made it to the 4A Michigan City Regional final before losing to Penn, but lost to Michigan City and Merrillville, two teams that had average seasons.
It was up and down and then up again.
There was no indication this was the year for them other than they had some talented players.
Nick Flesher, a 5-foot-10 sophomore guard and the first one off the bench, confirmed the regular season was shaky.
“We didn’t play to our potential,” he said. “We shot the ball well in a few games but we didn’t play as a team. We lost some games we should’ve won.”
Here’s the lesson from that mediocre beginning.
It’s not how a team starts, but how it finishes.
And the last 2:05 of the 59ers’ win over the Miners was absolutely perfect.
Trailing 54-48, Andrean was desperate, and when the 59ers are desperate, they are dangerous.
Andrean outscored LintonStockton 11-0. There were all sorts of big plays in that final 2:05.
Kyle Ross, a 6-7 sophomore forward who finished with 16 points and seven rebounds, scored in the middle on a little turnaround with 1:55 left to cut the deficit to four.
The 6-3 Carrothers, who chipped in with 16 points, stole the ball on the next possession and made a layup in the lane with 1:37 left.
After a miss on the next possession by the Miners, Flesher was fouled with 1:25 left. He made a free throw that cut the deficit to one.
Then, Carrothers made the play of the game when he grabbed an offensive rebound after Flesher missed the second free throw. Carrothers was fouled and he made two free throws with 1:22 left, giving Andrean a 55-54 lead.
In 43 seconds, the 59ers had come back from the brink again. The rest was elementary.
Every game in Andrean’s seven-game tournament run has been heart-stopping.
The 59ers trailed against Bishop Noll in the Lake Station Sectional opener, and Bowman had a 10point lead in the sectional championship game before the 59ers rallied.
Andrean won in double overtime last week against Frankton at the Lafayette Jefferson Semistate and beat Marquette by a point in the North Judson Regional when Flesher made a free throw with a second left.
Andrean didn’t roll over one team in the postseason.
The Miners, meanwhile, won their first six tournament games by an average of 19.5 points.
Nobody seized the moment like Andrean.
It could just be the start too.
Andrean only loses three seniors from its top seven players — Carrothers, Matt Lelito, a 6-3 forward, and Eric Kendrick, a 6-7 forward.
The expectations will be large for the next two seasons. Flesher said that the team will be “very confident next year. We have a lot of guys coming back. We should have a chance for another good run.”
Yes, they should.