Luke Ertel tops AP all-state team after Mt. Vernon title run

Luke Ertel turned a championship run into the state’s top individual honor, finishing as the top vote-getter on the Associated Press boys all-state team after powering Mt. Vernon to the program’s first Class 4A state title.

The senior guard’s season stacked up as one of the most complete in Indiana high school basketball. Mt. Vernon finished 28-3 and won its first semistate title before beating Crown Point 52-50 on March 28 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse for the school’s first-ever championship. In that title game, Ertel delivered 26 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, a fitting close to a year in which he averaged 24.5 points, 9.9 rebounds, 6.6 assists and 1.8 steals while shooting 47.9 percent from the field, 39.8 percent from 3-point range and 88.6 percent at the line.

The 98 threes he made were the most by any Indiana high school player this season, and they helped separate him in statewide voting by sports writers, broadcasters and coaches. Ertel’s rise was steep even by elite standards. He was the only returnee from the previous year’s 15 AP all-state honorees, when he had made the second team. One year later, he sat at the top of the list, adding the AP honor to a senior campaign that also brought the Gatorade Indiana Player of the Year award, MaxPreps Indiana Player of the Year and the IndyStar Indiana Mr. Basketball Award in a landslide.

The first team around Ertel showed the level of talent he passed. Crown Point forward Dikembe Shaw, Plainfield forward Noah Smith, Northridge forward Brady Scholl and Silver Creek forward Dane Caldwell joined him, with all four carrying college destinations to Illinois-Chicago, DePaul, Indiana Wesleyan and Richmond. The list also underscored how much size still shapes the top tier in Indiana, with the four forwards listed at 6-7, 6-8, 6-6 and 6-9.

The second team kept the statewide picture just as deep. Fishers seniors Kai McGrew and Cooper Zachary were honored after helping the Tigers to a perfect regular season, while Indianapolis Cathedral senior Keaton Aldridge made the group after leading the Fighting Irish to the Class 3A state title and signing with Detroit Mercy. Gary 21st Century senior Terrence Hayes Jr. is headed to Missouri State, and Lawrence North senior Brennan Miller will play at SIU Edwardsville.

The third team featured the state’s top two scorers in Bloomfield’s Blake Neill at 28.2 points per game and Indianapolis Crispus Attucks’ DeZhon Hall at 27.7, along with Homestead junior Mack Welker, South Bend St. Joseph senior Nick Shrewsberry and Penn sophomore Caleb Coolman. That context makes Ertel’s all-around profile even more striking. He did not just score. He controlled games, finished a title season, and became the latest reminder that a player can sweep both team success and individual recognition when everything lines up in one remarkable Indiana season.