Bishop Luers Knights Edge Oak Hill 68-64, Advance to Semistate Title Game
Bishop Luers survived a four-point scare at Muncie Central, with Zen Szaferski and Carmani Davis among the Knights' key contributors in a 68-64 Class 2A semifinal win.
Fort Wayne Bishop Luers punched its ticket to the Class 2A Muncie semistate title game Saturday night, holding off Oak Hill 68-64 in the semifinal round at Muncie Central to keep its state championship pursuit alive.
The Knights' four-point margin was tight enough to remind everyone in the building that Oak Hill's Golden Eagles don't fold easily. Coming in, Oak Hill had rolled through Manchester 73-30, dismantled Northwestern 84-48, and handled Rochester 75-54 in tournament play. Bishop Luers had its own résumé: a 75-66 win over Bluffton on March 7, earlier tournament victories over Whitko 65-53 and Bremen 55-51, and a winning streak that had stretched to three games heading into semistate week.
The Knights leaned on a core that had carried them throughout the postseason push. Zen Szaferski, Bishop Luers' assists-per-game leader, had been a consistent engine in the backcourt. Carmani Davis, the team's top three-point threat, provided perimeter production that stretched defenses throughout the tournament run. Ayle Taylor had been the other half of what a mid-March recap described as a "dynamic duo" with Szaferski, and that two-headed attacking threat gave opposing coaches problems all the way to Muncie.
Bishop Luers entered the semistate ranked in the top 11 in Indiana's Class 2A division, according to a MaxPreps update from March 19. The Knights had not been unbeatable all season, with Columbia City handling them 80-59 at some point earlier in the year, but the postseason bracket caught them at the right time.
With the 68-64 win secured, Bishop Luers advanced directly to the semistate championship game the same night at Muncie Central. A win in that title game sends the Knights to the state finals, making every possession between now and the final buzzer carry its full weight.
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