By GREG MENGELT
The Pioneers (19-6) last won a regional title six years ago. All four championship have come in the last 15 years. It is the first regional crown for former Providence star Ryan Miller as head coach.
“We’re very proud of and excited for our boys,” Miller told The Hoosier Report with Matt Denison radio show on Monday. “They really did step up big time. It was a tremendous level of competition. Two really tough, hard-fought games.”
In the upset of Linton-Stockton (22-5), Providence erased a 41-36 fourth-quarter deficit. Tyler Simmons tied the game with a jumper and they took a lead on a Simmons’ 3-point play with 3:19 to go.
Trailing 47-46, the Pioneers scored the game’s last four points. Grant Williams got an offensive rebound and nailed a pair of clutch free throws with 38 seconds left. With 4 seconds remaining, Max Beatty clinched the win with two more free throws.
“We knew it was going to be a battle,” Miller said. “It was a tremendous challenge and we hoped it would go down to the wire, like it did. … Whenever you make a run, if you’ve been in the game long enough, you realize you have to have a good team, but things also have to bounce your way here and there. Fortunately for us, we were able to make just enough plays down the stretch. When the buzzer went off, we had three more points than them.”
Later that night, the Pioneers trailed Forest Park (22-5) 12-10 at halftime before outscoring the Rangers 34-25 in the second half. Hoosier Hills Hoops Boys’ Player of the Week Casey Kaelin scored 25 of Providence’s 44 points in the win.
“They were definitely two different games,” Miller told Denison. “It was emotionally and physically quite draining to get through that first game against Linton and it showed in the first half. … Casey Kaelin got it going some and things opened up for us a little bit and we were able to play more of our game and just settle in to where we started to feel like we were playing our basketball.”
Providence will face Eastern Hancock (22-5) in this Saturday’s Class 2A Seymour Semistate at 6 p.m. at Lloyd E. Scott Gymnasium. The Royals are 22-5 and have won nine in a row, including a 54-47 win over University to advance to the Final Four. The winner will battle No. 3 Central Noble (27-2) or No. 6 Carroll (24-1) for the 2A state championship a week from Saturday in Indianapolis.
