North Vermillion wins first regional championship since 1969

Teagan Howard scored seven points in the fourth quarter and overtime Saturday afternoon to lead unranked North Vermillion to a 59-54 win over No. 10 Rossville in a Class A regional championship game at Case Arena at Frankfort High School.

The regional title is the second in program history – 57 years after the first.

“This was so much fun. I am so happy for the kids,” said North Vermillion head coach Phil Leonard. “I pulled out the old 1969 yearbook yesterday and read a little bit from it and talking about that team. I highlighted Rossville knocked them off there then at the semistate. We thought about that all week long.”

North Vermillion (16-11) will face No. 7 Monroe Central (21-4) at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Lafayette Jefferson Semistate. The second semifinal game pits Tri-County (16-10) against No. 4 Triton (23-3).

The Class A Semistate Championship game is set for 8 p.m.

North Vermillion led 47-43 early in the fourth quarter before Aiden Schaumburg hit two three-pointers in a 40-second span. That left the Falcons in chase mode the rest of the quarter.

Rossville (20-6) could have closed out the game with a stronger performance at the free throw line. The Hornets made just 1 of 6 attempts in the fourth quarter.

Cooper Dunn delivered his team’s lone made free throw with 19.9 seconds to go to get Rossville at 52-50 lead.

Andre Buchhaas grabbed an offensive rebound at the other end and scored with three seconds left to send the game to overtime.

Leonard aggressively dribbled into the lane in overtime and was rewarded with two free throw attempts with 1:34 to go. He hit both then scored on the low block one minute later and hit another free throw to complete a 3-point play for a 57-54 lead.

North Vermillion needed one more defensive stop.

Schaumburg went for the game-tying 3 from the wing with five seconds to go and missed – but was fouled by Buchhaas. The Rossville junior missed the first two free throws then missed the third on purpose but was called for a lane violation.

Teegan Dowers added two free throws to close out the victory.

North Vermillion shot 43% from the field in the win but, more importantly, made 13 of 14 free throw attempts.

“We shoot a lot of free throws every day in practice and I am very proud of them,” said Leonard. “Andre hit some big ones. Dowers hit some big ones there at the end. We talk about how that wins championships – defense and free throws and turnovers.”

Graham Young led the Falcons with 18 points and five rebounds. Buchhaas had a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

“Graham hit some big shots, hit some big 3s (three in the second quarter) and Andre got board after board (eight in the first half) and bucket after bucket. I can’t be more happy for them,” said Teegan Leonard, who finished with 12 points, seven rebounds and three assists.

Brayden Thiele-Hahn scored 18 points in the first half but did not make a field goal in the second half and finished with 22 points and four rebounds for Rossville.

Schaumburg had 15 points and Andrew Woollen finished with 11 points and five rebounds.