Purdue-bound Luke Ertel, Isaiah Hill renew rivalry in All-Star game

Luke Ertel and Isaiah Hill made Indiana All-Star Week feel like a Purdue scouting session, because their meeting at Mt. Vernon carried the weight of two school-season battles and the promise of what comes next in West Lafayette. Ertel, Purdue’s Mr. Basketball signee, and Hill, the 7-foot Pike junior who has already committed to the Boilermakers, had seen each other before in games that mattered far more than an exhibition, including Mt. Vernon’s overtime win over Pike and the regional where the Marauders beat Pike 57-54 before going on to win the Class 4A state title.

That backdrop gave the boys-girls doubleheader at Mt. Vernon in Fortville a sharper edge than most June showcases. The Indiana Junior All-Stars faced the senior All-Stars as part of a packed 2026 Indiana All-Star Week, with home-and-home games against Kentucky still to come later in the week. The Indiana Basketball Coaches Association organized the event, and the Indianapolis Star served as title sponsor for a tradition that produced 10 elite matchups across the first week of June.

Ertel arrived with the kind of profile that makes a hometown gym turn into a ceremony. Indiana named him the 86th Mr. Basketball on April 9, and Purdue said he became the 14th Boilermaker to win the award and the first player from Mt. Vernon High School to claim it. He received 207 of 230 votes from coaches and media, then capped a season in which he averaged 24.5 points, 9.9 rebounds, 6.6 assists and 1.8 steals while shooting better than 40 percent from 3-point range. He also carried family history into the building, as the brother of Michael Ertel, who played in the 2017 Mt. Vernon All-Star game.

Hill gave the matchup a different kind of intrigue. A 7-foot junior from Pike High School, he entered as one of the nation’s top prospects and as another elite piece in Purdue’s pipeline. Where Ertel brings polish, scoring versatility and the resume of a state icon, Hill brings size and long-term upside, the sort of frontcourt presence that can change how a roster is built.

That contrast is what made the game matter beyond one night in Fortville. The 2026 boys’ All-Star roster also included state-championship and state-runner-up talent such as Dikembe Shaw, Ja’Shawn Ladd and Nick Shrewsberry, but Ertel and Hill were the names Purdue fans kept circling. Their next shared stage will come in West Lafayette, but Indiana All-Star Week gave an early glimpse of the program’s future and the local history that already follows it.