By KENZIE WINSTEAD
Content Editor
Jeffersonville High School is used to winning basketball games.
Jeff possesses a glorious basketball tradition, including 18 regional titles. The Red Devils last won a regional in 2013, when they fell to Indianapolis Cathedral in the semistate.
However, this group of Red Devils is making its first trip to the Seymour Regional.
Jeffersonville coach Joe Luce said the Red Devils (19-5) won the Seymour Sectional because the team has developed toughness and some chemistry.
“That maturity level has changed throughout the course of the year,” Luce said. “We’ve been tested in lots of different ways. . . We play very well together and distribute the ball.”
The Red Devils are led by juniors Tre Coleman, who holds a Big Ten offer from Nebraska, and point guard Jacob Jones.
“In our big wins, we saw a young man who was totally focused for 32 minutes,” Luce said of Jones.
Jeff will face No. 5 Bloomington South (23-3) at noon Saturday. South is coached by J.R. Holmes, who became the state’s all-time leader in wins in Indiana. He’s won 809 games, including 666 in 37 years at South.
South is led by one of the state’s best guards in junior Anthony Leal, who holds offers from several high-level Division I schools, including Stanford, Butler, Northwestern and others.
Center Grove (19-8) will face Jasper (16-9) in the first game. Center Grove is led by Trayce Jackson-Davis, a 6-foot-8 power forward who has committed to Indiana University.
CLASS 3A AT SOUTHRIDGE
Silver Creek has made a habit of winning its sectional. It’s something the Dragons have done five of the last six seasons.
But they haven’t won a regional since 2002, when they were in Class 2A. The school won one other, back in 1969.
The sixth-ranked Dragons (21-3) believe this is the year they’ll finally break through the regional round as they travel to historic Huntingburg Memorial Gym.
Before the season started, Silver Creek coach Brandon Hoffman said this was his most talented team.
They haven’t disappointed.
Silver Creek has a splendid combination of gritty veterans (Zane Gross, Jack Hawkins and Ty Kessinger) and talented underclassmen (Trey Kaufman and Kooper Jacobi). The talented Dragons can score at all five positions.
“I like our chances,” Hoffman said. “If we continue to play well — like we have been — I don’t see why we’re not the ones cutting the nets down.”
The Dragons are led by Kaufman, a sophomore. “I think he’s gotten better since summer.” Hoffman said of Kaufman, who has gotten attention from many NCAA Division I schools. “This sky’s the limit for him.”
The surprise entrant in the regional is Batesville, a 13-point winner over No. 2 Greensburg in the sectional final at Greensburg. It snapped Greensburg’s streak of seven straight trips to the regional.
