Brebeuf was writing the perfect script on Tuesday night against 4A #4 Pike in the opening round of the Marion County boys basketball tournament. It was going to be one heck of a cool story. Two minutes into the fourth quarter, Braves junior Antonio Harris scored a putback of an Austin Ford missed shot to tie the score at 45, and Pike coach Jeff Teague called time out. He was concerned. His team was walking to their bench whereas Brebeuf’s team was bouncing. Brebeuf had battled back from an 11-point first quarter deficit to lead briefly at the start of the fourth, and they seemed to have the bigger Red Devil team a little winded, almost like a cougar having been treed by a pack of beagles. If Brebeuf had a pep band, they would have been playing the theme song from Rocky. For context, Pike High School (aka the “Other High School in Pike Township”) has what Dick Vitale used to call an All-Airport team: If you saw them in an airport, you’d figure they had to be big-time college or pro basketball players. • Junior Isaiah Hill is 7 feet tall, the preseason Marion County Player of the Year, and has twelve D1 offers including IU, Purdue and Notre Dame. • Junior Jahari Miller, a shrimp at only 6’3”, is the team’s leading scorer. Like Hill, he’s an Indy Star Preseason Super Team member, and he has 3 D1 offers. • Sophomore Landon Lampley is 6’7”, still growing, and may be the best of them all, ranked #46 nationally in the 2028 Class. Coached by Teague, the former NBA All-Star and champion who came home to his alma mater to revitalize the program, the Red Devils are really, really good. Remember Gary 21st Century? Who beat Brebeuf by 16 in the Noblesville Holiday Tournament? Pike beat them by 20. You get the point. Scene set. Back to the script. Brebeuf, who had played the role of plucky underdog in their past two Marion County Tournament draws, losing to Warren Central last year and Ben Davis in 2024, was an even bigger underdog this time, and was even pluckier. Every time Pike started to pull away, Brebeuf’s swarm of pesky guards came back like bad habits two weeks into a New Years resolution: • Scoring the last six points of the second quarter to cut an 11-point lead to five at halftime • Dylan Logan hitting back-to-back threes after Pike opened a 9-point lead early in the third, bringing the score to 33-30 • Later in the third, Pike seemed to get separation at 42-34, and here came Brebeuf with six straight to close the quarter, including four by Harris, who energized the crowd with his pro wrestler-style roar after his bucket at the buzzer. The script was right there for this team to get its first real signature upset victory of the season, but unfortunately, reality stepped in, and she hates cute endings. Teague got his team settled down in that huddle, and Pike scored two straight breakaway dunks, en route to the next nine points of the quarter. Then they hit their free throws down the stretch, like good teams do. Ball game. Sometimes, five-star kids remind you why they have all those D1 offers. Brebeuf coach Allen Glunt put it another way: “Their margin for error is really low in those (tied late in the game) situations,” he said after the game. “While we weren’t perfect, we were really good. But playing teams with that caliber of players probably requires you to be perfect.” Glunt was proud of his team’s bounce back from a disappointing loss at Zionsville last week. “Tremendous effort. After Friday’s frustrating response to adversity, we really grew up tonight in making decisions in the game that helped us have a chance to win.” Brebeuf falls to 5-5 after their second straight loss, but Braves Basketball is still a buy stock. Three more home games in January begin with Metropolitan on the 20th, followed by conference games against Guerin and Chatard on the 23rd and 30th. Any of those schools watching tape of tonight’s Pike game will come away impressed with the selfless team that nearly scripted an upset worthy of Troy Bolton in a Disney Musical. Go Wildcats. Er, I mean, Braves!