Jimtown High School

Valiant effort takes Jimmies within a whisker of Semi-State Title By Red Williams Freelance Sportswriter MICHIGAN CITY, IN – King David’s wisest son writes, “There’s a time for every purpose under heaven…a time to win and a time to lose.” (Slight paraphrase, there.) Jimtown High School’s men’s basketball crew nearly annexed the Indiana Class 2A Semi-State championship Saturday (3.22.25), a last-ditch rally falling just short. The Jimmies’ dream season ends with a 56-55 loss to Manchester here in the Wolves Den arena. It was a heart-breaking loss for the Jimmies. Manchester (19-2) got a three-point basket on the wing from Ethan Hendrix with just seven seconds left to pull the Squires past Jimtown by a point. He led all scorers in the game with 19, nailing four-of-eight beyond the arc. “Manchester is a really good team,” related Tyler Leighton, head coach of the Jimmies. “They hurt us with their high-ball screen. We contested that last shot, but sometimes you live and die by that.” The third quarter was a nightmare for the Jimmies (16-11) as the Squires built a nine-point lead, and enjoyed a lead of 45-39 at the horn. It bumped its advantage back to nine when Hendrix hit another trey at the 7:28 mark. But 18 seconds later, the Jimmies exerted their hoops prowess with a valiant 12-2 run. They not only fought back to tie the game at 50 on Will Spurgeon’s three from the left wing, and actually took a lead at 3:19 on a pair of free-throws by Dylan Fey. After Hendrix’s 3-pointer, Jimtown’s Javen Jackson worked the ball into the lane, but his lay-in shot was partly deflected and missed the basket. On the ensuing play. Fey picked up the loose ball on a Squires turnover and was able to get off a heave just past the mid-court line that missed wide as the final buzzer filled the air. The Jimmies found a chink in Manchester’s defense, as Fey, a talented senior, scored four baskets during the burst, all of them under the basket on feeds from Branden King. He finished with 12, and King topped the Jimmies with 14; Spurgeon had 11. The teams were evenly matched. Their “bigs,” King (6-foot-7) and the Squires’ Gaven Betten (6-6) had a good duel. Betten out-scored King by two points, but King had a 13-7advantage in rebounding. Leighton felt Manchester did a great job on defense, “and we gave them too many second-chance shots; we didn’t do a very good job of following the scouting report. We knew what they were going to do, but didn’t follow through.” After the game he thanked his squad for “putting Jimtown basketball back on the map. “They fought hard,” he continued, “and were resilient. They kept buying into our program.” Manchester will face Gary 21st Century (21-6), which won a nail-biter in Saturday’s opening contest, 61-59, over No. 1 ranked Wapahani (26-2). They were to tip off at 7:30 pm (CST). Score by quarters: Manchester 13 14 18 11 = 56 Jimtown 11 14 14 16 = 55