INDIANAPOLIS — In Conseco Fieldhouse, home of the Indiana Pacers, Lawrence North High School brought home a record tying third straight state championship with an 80-56 victory over Muncie Central. LN is only the third Indiana school to claim that feat. LN also tied the 1955-1956 Indianapolis Crispus Attucks (led by the great Oscar Robertson) with 45 consecutive victories.
LN has two future Ohio State Buckeyes in senior point guard Mike Conley and senior center Greg Oden. Both players are on the McDonald’s All-American Team. The 7-foot-tall Oden was recently named 2006 Naismith Trophy Male High School Player of the Year.
After Conley and Oden signed with OSU this past summer, my cousin Adam Sandwasher, an Indianapolis native, and I made a pack to go watch LN in the Class 4A Title. LN held up their side of the bargain. The Wildcats returned to the state finals by beating opponents by a whopping average of 20 points a game. So, I made the 2-hour trek to Indy.
The pre-game
My Uncle Don Sandwasher, an Ohio native and Buckeyes fan, went to the game with Adam and me. Conseco was sold out (18,345 capacity). Even though our seats were in the “nosebleeds,” I was just happy to be in the building. This wasn’t good enough for my Uncle Don, as he heckled his eldest son throughout the Class 3A Title game.
Led by the fire inside Uncle Don, we decided to try and sneak down between games. With the ushers on guard like attack dogs, our chances of sneaking down to courtside looked grim. We were hoping someone would create a diversion for us. I just didn’t think it would be my cousin Adam though. On a whim, a hope, and a prayer, he took off for the section entrance. The poor elderly women with an arthritic hip trying to man two sections at once stood no chance. She chased after Adam to no avail, and my Uncle Don and I, along with 20 others, snuck down into the adjacent section. As we shuttled down the stairs, a row of seats opened up for us. It was like it was meant to be.
Article comments
1 - Matthew T. Sussman
THE OHIO STATE UNVIERSITY RECRUITING RULES TO LIVE BY
Who to recruit:
Basketball players from Indiana
Who not to recruit:
Running backs from Youngstown
2 - M.D. Sandwasher
Don't let one bad recruit soil your entire image of the beautiful town of Youngstown, Ohio. I hear it's lovely this time of year.