INDIANAPOLIS — Dikembe Shaw and his Crown Point teammates got over one hump.
The Illinois-Chicago recruit’s final flurry nearly lifted the Bulldogs over the last one.
“Another great performance for him,” Crown Point coach Clint Swan said. “He just did a tremendous job keeping us in it. We were on the verge of maybe it getting away from us a little bit, and he would hit a big shot or get a big rebound. He played tremendously well.”
Shaw, a 6-foot-7 senior guard/forward, scored seven of his 24 points in the final 36 seconds and also had nine rebounds, but the Bulldogs fell to Mount Vernon 52-50 in the Class 4A state championship game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Saturday night.
Despite the loss, Shaw savored the moment.
“It was fun,” he said. “A lot of people screaming every shot, I tried to block out all that noise. But it definitely was fun. Being in a competitive atmosphere with my teammates, my brothers, that’s a blessing in itself. The extra people was something I’d love to do again.
“Obviously we didn’t get the one we wanted. But it was everything it was hyped up to be. Just right now, I’m backstage at the Pacers. It’s crazy, seeing people at the game. Tyrese Haliburton was there. It definitely was special. It’s something I’m going to remember forever.”
Crown Point (25-2), which is ranked No. 4 in the state coaches poll, was playing in a state championship game for the first time after winning its first semistate title, as well as its first outright Duneland Athletic Conference title.
No. 6 Mount Vernon (28-3), led by Purdue recruit Luke Ertel, also was making its first appearance in a state final.
Swan mentioned the “what-ifs.”
“It’s tough right now, to come this close, to have it there,” he said. “The message was just, ‘It stings right now. But when you look back, what you’re going to remember is not going to be the outcome of this game. It’s going to be the memories and the bonds that we have with one another.’
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“They’re not hearing it right now, and understandably so. But I’m a lot older than them, and I know that’s what eventually we’re going to take from it. It’s just hard to see right now. (The locker room was) somber and a little angry. They know how close they came. It’s just a hard pill to swallow right now. You don’t just brush this one off and move on. This one’s going to sting for a little bit. But I’m proud of them, how they fought down the stretch.”
Crown Point, which had lost to Fishers at the semistate level in each of the previous two seasons, led 30-20 at halftime. But Mount Vernon scored the first eight points of the third quarter to draw to 30-28.
The Bulldogs then held the ball — as boos cascaded — on a possession that lasted more than a minute and a half, and Shaw capped it by hitting a shot. They continued to hold the ball for several straight possessions, and Shaw knocked down a 3-pointer to make it 35-30 with 28 seconds left in the third quarter. Shaw hit another 3-pointer less than a minute into the fourth to make it 38-32.
“We needed to be the more methodical team,” Swan said of the strategy. “I got to the point where I had to try to just control the tempo just with pulling the ball out and getting our guys some rest and just trying to stem some of their momentum. But you give a team like Mount Vernon and a player like Luke Ertel, you give them an inch, they’re going to take a mile. That’s what happened the first four minutes of the second half.”
Ertel, who had 26 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, gave the Marauders the lead for good at 42-40 with two free throws with 3:08 left in the game.
Senior guard Kingston Rhodes, who had 10 points and five rebounds, made a 3-pointer to draw the Bulldogs to 45-43 with 52 seconds left. Shaw then scored seven points, including a soaring dunk and a 3-pointer as time expired to cap his illustrious Crown Point career.
“It definitely left a bitter taste in our mouth,” Shaw said. “But at the same time, it’s our last game. If we could rewrite time, we would. But we’re not able to do that. You have to live with it. Losses are lessons.”
Shaw is part of a tightly knit senior class, along with Rhodes; senior guard Kaiden Rhodes; senior guard Mason Darrell, a Bellarmine recruit; senior guard Bryce Peters; and senior guard Jack Lux. They largely grew up together.
“Just our memories we shared,” Shaw said. “It was a blessing to be here. That’s the main part, the memories we shared — not a lot of on-court stuff, but definitely the times we were in the hotel room as kids, or bus rides, all of the stuff like that.”
That class also is what will stand out most to Swan.
“What they gave the program, all the sacrifice,” he said. “They all stayed. They saw this thing through when they could’ve gone elsewhere, scored more points or got more shots or got more minutes. That’s what I’ll take from it.”