The players are teenagers with little grasp of history. So, as the victorious Decatur Central Hawks cut down the nets Saturday night at Mooresville High School to celebrate the school’s first sectional title since 2005, they were caught up in the moment.
But their coach knew. Coach Bryan Surber is a Decatur Township lifer. He graduated from Decatur Central in 1999 and began his coaching career as an assistant the next year. He was on the bench for the last sectional championship. The 69-62 win over a gutsy Southport (10-14) team in Class 4A, Sectional 12, earned these Hawks the school record for wins in a season (19-6) and sent them to next weekend’s regional round in the IHSAA tournament.
Decatur Central guard Devin Colbert Jr. cuts down the net after the Hawks’ 69-62 sectional title win over Southport.
“It’s just so deep for me,” Surber said. “I can’t imagine coaching anywhere else. This is home.”
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The Hawks were lethal from beyond the arc, hitting on 12 3-pointers and it was the last two that delivered them over the finish line. Southport went on a 9-0 run midway through the fourth quarter to cut an 11-point deficit to 57-55 with three minutes to go.
That’s when Decatur Central’s 3-point ace Nash Sigmund stepped up. The junior guard, who set a school season record this year for made 3-pointers, hit two in a row from the deep right corner on successive possessions to give the Hawks a 63-55 lead with just 1:39 to go.
“I knew they were going in as soon as they left my hand – both of them,” Sigmund said afterwards. He finished with 12 points, all from distance.
Decatur Central was led in scoring by Elyas Zapata who totaled 19 points, 11 of them in the first quarter. On the first possession of the second half, Zapata stole the ball at midcourt and then pulled up to a hit a 3-pointer. But shortly thereafter, the 6-5 forward picked up his third foul and headed to the bench. At that point, the Hawks were clinging to a 37-35 lead with five minutes still to play in the third quarter.
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Despite Zapata’s absence, Decatur Central’s margin ballooned to 10 points at the end of the third stanza. Key was the play of guard Makeil Baker who got hot and scored 10 points in the frame.
Southport’s presence in the sectional title game was unexpected as the Cardinals had lost six of seven headed into the tournament. But they played inspired basketball defeating Center Grove and host Mooresville to advance to the championship game.
Cardinals coach Ben Rhoades said of the run, “This last week is the proudest I’ve been of this team all year. We gave it all we had tonight.”
Southport loses three starting seniors – guard Malakai Bravard plus power forwards Samuel Lloyd and James Kalala, (Bravard and Kalala each had 17 points) but Rhoades plans to make the most of the momentum.
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“This is a great teaching moment for our young kids, and I hope they can parlay this into success for the offseason,” he said.
For Decatur Central, it is on to the regional against Lawrence Central (14-11) at 7 p.m. on Saturday. Pressed on specifics for what the next week would look like, coach Surber begged off. “This is new for us,” the fifth-year head coach admitted as he smiled. “We’ll take it day by day.”
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IHSAA basketball: Decatur Central holds off Southport wins first sectional title since 2005
