Two of the state’s top Class 4A boys basketball teams will meet for the second time in 2024, but this time there will be more leg and elbow room for those in attendance.
The Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame announced today that Jeffersonville will take the place of Heritage Hills in the 48th edition of the Henry Community Health Hall of Fame Classic on Dec. 28 at the world’s largest high school gymnasium, New Castle Fieldhouse.
Greenfield-Central was originally scheduled to play Heritage Hills in the second of two semifinal games. The four-team tournament will open at 11 a.m. with Warsaw taking on defending Class 4A state champion Fishers. G-C and Jeffersonville follow and the consolation and championship games are slated to be played later that evening beginning at 6 p.m.
The Cougars faced Jeffersonville in the opening game of the Charlie Hughes Showcase in June at Carmel High School.
The teams played with limited seating on a court in the Carmel fieldhouse.
There were multiple rows of fans standing behind one basket and a line of college coaches sitting in folding chairs behind the other.
It was a tight fit for fans and a tight game for the majority of the 32 minutes before Jeffersonville, a team expected to be ranked among the top three teams in the state when the preseason polls are released, pulled away for a 71-60 victory.
Greenfield-Central 4-star recruit Braylon Mullins had 22 points. Michael Johnson, a transfer from Southport, scored 14.
Mullins, a 6-foot, 5-inch multi-talented guard, recently narrowed his college choices to 10 schools. The impressive list of the nation’s top programs includes, state schools Indiana and Purdue along with Alabama, Connecticut, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, and Tennessee.
Jeffersonville has three players on its roster that have received Division I offers. Tre Singleton, a 6-8 forward/center, has offers from a number of schools including Purdue, Notre Dame, Butler, Xavier, and Louisville. Jeff 6-3 point guard Michael Cooper recently had visits with Davidson and Wright State and has a number of D-I offers. Another Red Devil starter, P.J. Douglas, has an offer from Wright State.
The initial tourney matchup of Greenfield-Central vs. Heritage Hills would have highlighted a battle of two of the state’s top recruits and Mr. Basketball candidates with Mullins against Trent Sisley, a 6-7 power forward and 4-star recruit. That matchup lost its luster when Sisley decided to transfer to Montverde Academy in Florida.
Greenfield-Central finished 24-1 last season. Mullins averaged 25 points, 6.2 rebounds. 3.2 assists and 3.2 steals per game. Johnson, who will also be a senior, was Southport’s leading scorer a year ago. He averaged 13 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists.
The Cougars return two other starters from last season, 5-10 point guard Boston Willard (10.8 points, 4.8 assists) and 6-3 forward Dallas Freeman (8.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.4 steals) along with the top two reserves, Cooper Robertson (6-5, senior) and Brady Johnson (6-foot, senior).
