Subscribe
Jobs
Cars
Real Estate
Apts
Classifieds
Shop
INDIANAPOLIS – Deshaun Thomas’ record-breaking accomplishments as a junior have only been a precursor to what could be attained in his final high school season.
Thomas scored 34 points in the Knights’ 67-49 over Brownstown Central in Saturday’s Class 2A state title game, giving him 2,254 career points.
Thomas has a shot at a once-thought-of unattainable state milestone. Former Bedford-North Lawrence star Damon Bailey set the scoring record almost two decades ago with 3,134 points.
Thomas is 881 points away from supplanting Bailey as the greatest scorer in a state heaped in Hoosier Hysteria tradition.
“I want to break the record, but if I don’t, I still had a great (career),” Thomas said in the postgame news conference at Conseco Fieldhouse.
The 6-foot-7 Ohio State recruit scored 817 points this season, just one point from having the 25th-best single-season performance in state history.
It will take more points and another long postseason run by the two-time 2A state champions for Thomas to approach Bailey.
Thomas is already the all-time leading boys scorer in the school, county and northeast Indiana history.
“There are records he has been breaking on a daily basis, but people mention to me whether or not he can break Damon Bailey’s record,” Luers coach James Blackmon said. “When you think about the amount of points Damon Bailey scored in his career; wow, he had a heck of a career. But it is reachable, and if we continue to play the way we have been playing, this is something that I think he can accomplish.”
Thomas is No. 11 all time in the state for boys, finishing this season just two points out of 10th place.
He didn’t exactly burst on the scene this season, but he seems to making believers out of more and more basketball fans each game, especially those who aren’t familiar with his exploits since he averaged 29 points as a freshman.
As far as making a statement with his performance in the state championship in front of 11,569 fans?
“I just came out and played,” Thomas said. “The statement was winning the championship.”
On the big stage of Conseco, Thomas showed the kind of abilities he has with a 34-point, 15-rebound performance against a Braves’ defense specifically designed to stop him.
“Brownstown came out with the box-and-1, and I thought that was a good defensive strategy because our thing was to control the tempo and get (Thomas) started,” Blackmon said.
Thomas didn’t have it from the outside, hitting only 3 of 10 three-pointers, but he made up for it inside the arc, making 8 of 10 two-pointers and 9 of 10 from the free-throw line.
He added three blocks, two steals and an assist. The Associated Press named Thomas the MVP of the 2A title game.
“It is just a matter of staying active and getting my teammates involved and just keep playing hard,” Thomas said. “I was able to hit some big shots, and I was on a roll after that. Coach Blackmon just tells me to stay focused and keep my composure.”
Thomas scored 666 points as a freshman, after an impressive middle school career, and 771 as a sophomore when the Knights won their first state title.
Despite constant attention from defenses, Thomas was able to push the point total again as a junior.
To overtake Bailey – who had a solid career at IU and played with the CBA’s Fort Wayne Fury – will depend on whether Thomas can continue to go above and beyond his already-accomplished game.
