East Central Indiana’s last surviving boys basketball team faces a tall task come Monday.
Jay County’s sectional title game at Fort Wayne Wayne was postponed a few days as the girls team from the opposition, Homestead, played for state Saturday. But two days later, the Spartan boys are no less formidable.
They’re led by center Caleb Swanigan, a 6-foot-8 force who is the top prospect in the state and holds offers from the likes of Kentucky, Arizona and Michigan State. They’ve also got a 6-foot-9 center bound for Colgate and enough other talent to boast a 24-2 record and an average scoring margin of nearly 20 points a game.
The Patriots are smaller and, at times this season, coach Craig Teagle has said they don’t have the horses they’ve had in the past. Still, they managed to get to 18-6 against a lighter schedule with a patient pace that helped them allow 32.3 points per game, the lowest figure in the state.