Penn High’s Boys Basketball Team relied on its warrior
mentality to score a heart-thumping 74-72 victory against Northridge to claim
the Michigan City Class 4-A Boys Basketball Regional Championship on Saturday,
March 9, 2019.
Drew Lutz slashed to the hoop for a driving lay-up that
gave Penn a 74-72 lead with 5.4 seconds left.
The Kingsmen then survived a buzzer-beater attempt by
Northridge.
As the final buzzer sounded, the Kingsmen Student Section
stormed the court to mob the jubilant Penn players.
Penn celebrated its seventh Regional Championship, and
first since 2006.
The Kingsmen (24-3) advance to the Lafayette Jefferson
Semi-State on Saturday, March 16, 2019. Penn plays No. 1 Carmel (24-1). Tip-off
is set for 3:30 p.m.
Noah Applegate scored 28 points – 13 in the final quarter –
and grabbed eight rebounds. Applegate, Penn’s All-Time leading scorer in Boys
Basketball, now has 1,702 career points. He also has 548 points this season. He
is the eighth player in Penn Boys Basketball history to reach the 500-point
mark for a season.
Drew Lutz scored 19 points and passed for 10 assists. Lutz,
the seventh player in Penn Boys Basketball history to reach the 1,000-point
mark for his career, now has 1,062 points. Lutz hit the 500-point mark for the
season in the Regional, becoming the ninth player in Penn Boys Basketball to
score 500 or more points in a season. Lutz now has 507 points this season.
Beau Ludwick scored 19 points for the Kingsmen.
PENN 74: Carter Hickey 6, Drew Lutz 19, Beau Ludwick 19,
Evan Groves 0, Noah Applegate 28, Kegan Hoskins 2, Casey Shultz 0. TOTALS 26
12-15 74.
Northridge 72: Nate Bowman 5, Carter Stoltzfus 13, Drew
Seegert 0, Sam Vogt 12, Camden Knepp 4, Sam Smith 6, Jackson Erekson 21, Alex
Stauffer 11. TOTALS 28 4-5 72.
PENN 24 12 17 21 – 74
Northridge 21 14 19 18 – 72
Three-pointers: PENN 10 (Drew Lutz 3, Beau Ludwick 3,
Carter Hickey 2, Noah Applegate 2), Northridge 12 (Erekson 5, Stoltzfus 3, Smith
2, Bowman 1, Stauffer 1).
