INDIANAPOLIS — It came down to the final seconds, but Silver Creek High School and Trey Kaufman-Renn got their second consecutive Indiana Class 3A title, sidestepping Leo 50-49 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
Kaufman-Renn struggled from the floor against a defense designed to stop him, but finished with 13 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots, the last of them coming with Silver Creek up one in the game's final 30 seconds.
Silver Creek weathered a difficult close to the game in which it missed a pair of one-and-one free throws after draining considerable time off the clock trying to protect a lead, then committed a critical turnover against pressure.
With 32 seconds left and the Dragons up just 48-47, Leo's Blake Davison got a look around the rim for the lead, but Kaufman-Renn sprung off the floor and turned the shot away.
"Every day I'm working on lateral quickness and being up to jump quickly off the ground," Kaufman-Renn said afterward. "I was able to do it by instinct because I practice it every day."
The Mr. Basketball candidate's impact on the defensive end and glass were considerable, but he was challenged at the offensive end, finishing 5-of-17 from the field against a defense that constructed three- and four-man walls between him and the rim when he faced the basket, often stymying his drives and keeping his post touches to a minimum.
"On a whim, we kind of had to figure that out," Kaufman-Renn said. "It was a low-scoring game and we just tried to hit as many opportunities as we could get, whether it was me setting a screen and forcing my man to come up, cutting off the ball a lot more, trying to create mismatches off screens. Whatever I could do to get involved, offensive rebounds, whatever.
"If they're going to send everybody to the lane, all four other guys in the lane, we're going to have wide-open shots, wide-open cuts. That's kind of what happened, what worked for us."
Silver Creek did just enough to win their second consecutive 3A title. Like 2A champion Blackhawk Christian before them, it may have been three straight if not for the pandemic.
To get there, Kaufman-Renn, star teammate and Toledo recruit Kooper Jacobi and Co. had to weather a series of close games, including three-, four- and one-point outcomes.
In that sense, this was a fitting end.
"It was all just grinding it out," Silver Creek coach Brandon Hoffman said. "It was never pretty. A lot of it was carried by defense, and just a will to win and some timely plays."
This may not have been a classic Kaufman-Renn game at Silver Creek — he averaged 25 points on 67-percent shooting this season prior to Saturday evening — but he was essential to his team winning, as it's done all through his highly accomplished career.
"Purdue is getting a special, special talent," Hoffman said, "that I think will have a big impact right away, because I know Trey. He's going to keep working to get better, starting now, for next year."
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