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The 116th IHSAA Boys Basketball State Finals: Your Complete Guide

Saturday's 116th IHSAA Boys Basketball State Finals bring together eight programs at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, capping a tournament that has already delivered overtime thrillers, first-time regional champions, and a postseason Cinderella story in nearly every class. Here is everything you need to know about each matchup, how the field got here, and what is at stake when the first tip-off sounds.

How the Tournament Is Structured

The 116th Annual IHSAA Boys Basketball State Tournament, presented by the Indiana Pacers and Indiana Fever, ran sectionals from March 3 through March 7, with regionals on March 14. The regional is a single-game championship, and the semi-state is a two-round affair with the winner advancing to the state championship game. A total of 404 teams entered the tournament this year, one more than in 2024, distributed across four classes: 82 Class 4A teams, 100 Class 3A teams, 100 Class 2A teams, and 122 Class 1A teams, competing across 400 games in 26 days.

To conduct the random drawing, the IHSAA places ping-pong balls representing each school into a lottery-style air mix machine. A motorized fan blows the balls around the inside of a transparent container, and air forces each ball up through a tube in random order; the first ball out is the visiting team in game one, the second is the home team, and so on through all 64 sectionals and 16 regionals.

The State Finals take place Saturday, March 28 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, 125 S. Pennsylvania Street, Indianapolis. Admission is $20 per session, and all four state championship games will stream exclusively on IHSAAtv.org and the IHSAAtv suite of apps.

Class 1A: Barr-Reeve vs. Triton (10:30 a.m. ET)

This is the first meeting between two schools who combine for 13 championship game appearances. Barr-Reeve enters at 27-1 and riding an 18-game winning streak, though the Vikings needed two nail-biting, one-possession wins to get here: a 55-53 regional championship victory over West Washington and a 39-37 semi-state opener over Liberty Christian. This is the eighth time Barr-Reeve has reached state, and the Vikings are hunting their third championship, having previously won in 2015 and 2021.

Triton arrives at 25-3 with 15 straight wins, having lost just one game to a 1A opponent all season, a defeat against Kouts in January. The Trojans defeated North Vermillion 51-45 in the Class 1A north semi-state championship after taking down Tri-County 78-46 earlier in the day, and are returning to the state finals for the first time since 2013, when they lost to Borden.

Class 2A: Parke Heritage vs. Westview (approx. 12:45 p.m. ET)

Parke Heritage is chasing the school's first title in any sport. Westview enters on a 26-game winning streak and is looking for its third championship, its first since 2000.

Westview at 27-1 has won 26 straight games, with its only loss coming to Northridge, a 4A school, by 12 points on December 1. The Warriors defeated Fort Wayne Bishop Luers 69-48 in the Class 2A north semi-state final after knocking off Lapel 65-62 in the semifinals earlier that day. This is Westview's fourth state championship appearance; the Warriors won back-to-back titles in 1999 and 2000.

Parke Heritage (26-4) reached Gainbridge Fieldhouse by navigating a difficult semi-state path. The Wolves defeated Triton Central 44-38 before handling Linton-Stockton 66-53 in the semi-state championship. Head coach Rich Schelsky brings a 168-58 record at the school in his eighth year.

Class 3A: Indianapolis Cathedral vs. New Haven (6 p.m. ET)

New Haven is one of three schools appearing in the boys basketball state finals for the first time ever. This is New Haven's first state championship appearance, and the season also marks the program's first regional championship in school history. The Bulldogs lost back-to-back games before the start of the tournament, then bounced back to win six straight, knocking off Delta and Columbia City in semi-state to reach Saturday's final.

New Haven head coach Brandon Appleton credited a return to fundamentals: "We just went back to the basics we started the season with and understanding the things we need to do to be successful like not turning the basketball over and taking care of rebounding."

Cathedral (24-5) is the experienced hand in this matchup. This is Cathedral's fifth time at the state championship; the Irish last played at state in 2022, where they won the 4A title over Chesterton. Cathedral knocked out the top two ranked 3A teams on the same Saturday at semi-state, including Silver Creek, whose only other loss all season was to Crown Point. Head coach Jason Delaney is the only coach in state history to win a championship at three different schools: Waldron in 2004, Indianapolis Arsenal Tech in 2014, and Cathedral in 2022.

Class 4A: Mt. Vernon (Fortville) vs. Crown Point (approx. 8:15 p.m. ET)

The nightcap carries the richest storyline of the day. Both Mt. Vernon and Crown Point are in the boys basketball state finals for the first time ever. It is also a rematch from the Hall of Fame Classic championship, a game Crown Point won 60-56 on December 23.

Mt. Vernon is led by Purdue commit Luke Ertel, who posted a triple-double against New Albany in the semi-state championship to send the Marauders to Gainbridge Fieldhouse. In their postseason run, the Marauders knocked off Pike in the regional championship, avenging their regular season loss to the Red Devils. Mt. Vernon enters at 27-3, having won 10 straight games.

Crown Point's only loss of the season came to Gary 21st Century, a 2A school, on January 31. The Bulldogs have won 11 straight games since that defeat, and were dominant at semi-state, winning both games by at least 26 points, taking down Fort Wayne Snider and Northridge. Crown Point enters at 25-1.

Ertel, headed to Purdue next season, is also a candidate for the Mr. Basketball Award, which recognizes the top high school boys basketball player in the state and is presented by the Indianapolis Star.

The Bigger Picture

Three of the eight programs competing Saturday, New Haven, Mt. Vernon, and Crown Point, are appearing in the boys basketball state finals for the first time in school history. On the other end of the spectrum, Cathedral's Jason Delaney arrives as one of the most decorated coaches in Indiana high school history, while Barr-Reeve carries the kind of institutional postseason pedigree that small-school programs spend decades building. Westview's pursuit of a third title, combined with Parke Heritage chasing a first championship in any sport, makes the 2A matchup a contrast of legacies that mirrors what makes Indiana high school basketball compelling at every level.

The four state championship games will be played Saturday, March 28 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in downtown Indianapolis, home of the presenting partners, the Indiana Pacers and Indiana Fever. Tip-off for the opener is at 10:30 a.m. ET, with the Class 4A finale scheduled for approximately 8:15 p.m. The last ball through the net at Gainbridge will settle an unusually wide-open championship Saturday, one where three programs have never been here before and a Purdue-bound center is making the case for the state's top individual honor.