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The top-ranked Park Tudor Panthers presented a formidable answer for Bowman Academy's full-court defensive pressure. His name: Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell.

Ferrell turned in a memorable performance as the Panthers gained a record-breaking 79-57 victory over Bowman in the Class 2A boys state final. The Park Tudor guard, one of the nation's top seniors, collected 17 points and a 2A-record 12 assists. Ferrell, with nine rebounds, finished one board shy of a triple-double.

Park Tudor's 22-point triumph broke the 2A record for largest margin of victory, which was 19 set by Westview in a 71-52 outcome over Paoli in 1999. The Panthers, who hit 29-of-52 field goal attempts for a 55.8 mark, also established a new 2A record in that category. They tied the 2A record for made 3-pointers with 10.

For Coach Ed Schilling's Park Tudor team, it was a second straight Class 2A championship in its third consecutive title game appearance. The Panthers were the eighth Indiana school to make it to three consecutive title games. They finished the season at 25-2 and went 66-15 over a three-year span.

A 17-0 run in the first half, with Ferrell scoring seven, provided a cushion that Park Tudor never lost. Trevon Bluiett led the Panthers' scoring with 25. Paul Bayt scored 18 on a 2A-record six 3-pointers, all from the right corner.

Coach Marvin Rea's Eagles, ranked No. 5, completed their season at 17-9. They won the Class A state championship in 2010.

During the 2011-12 season, the Eagles used their relentless pressure to build a 74.6 scoring average with four games of 100 or more. But against Park Tudor, they started slowly, hitting only 9-of-27 shots (33.3 percent) in the first half. They fell behind 40-23 by halftime.

Four Eagles scored in double digits, led by Elijah Ray with 14. Michael Ford had 13 points. DeJuan Marrero and Justin King each scored 12.

Park Tudor’s Austin Kyker Named Trester Mental Attitude Award Winner
Following the game, members of the IHSAA Executive Committee named Austin Kyker of Park Tudor School as the winner of the Arthur L. Trester Mental Attitude Award in Class 2A Boys Basketball.

Academically, Kyker has been on the high honor roll every year and has maintained a 4.3 weighted GPA. He will be inducted into the Cum Laude Society (the high school equivalent of Phi Beta Kappa) in April and has earned the designation of AP Scholar with Honors. He has been accepted to Duke University’s biomedical engineering program for the fall.

Kyker has been a part of three state finalist teams at Park Tudor and served as tri-captain of this year’s squad. Besides basketball, Kyker will participate in his third year on the boys golf team this spring and also has run two years of cross country. He was an Academic All-State selection in cross country last fall.

He is the son of Dr. Mark and Jimmie Kyker of Carmel.

The award is annually presented to a senior participant in the state finals who best demonstrates mental attitude, scholarship, leadership and athletic ability and is named after the IHSAA’s first commissioner who served the Association from 1929 to 1944.

Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance, the IHSAA’s corporate partner, presented a $1,000 scholarship to Park Tudor School in the name of Kyker.

Post-Game Comments

Park Tudor Coach Ed Schilling
“We’re just very grateful and humbled to be here again this year. To also win the game -- but it all started with our start (to the game).”

“(Kevin) Yogi (Ferrell) breaking the press, then Paul (Bayt) hitting some threes right out gave us some cushion to start the game. I think that’s what got things going in the right direction for us. More than anything, I’m just grateful to coach this group of seniors that we have and this team in general. They have truly been a joy to coach on the court and off the court. They’re as good as they get.”

“(On Bowman’s pressure) We prepare to go against pressure (defense) from the first day of practice. When Yogi was a little sophomore, we knew in order to win a championship, we’d have to be able to handle pressure and obviously when you have Yogi, it sure makes that more successful.”

“(On comparing this championship to last year’s championships) This year was probably in some regards a little harder because of the expectations. Being defending state champions, you kinda have everyone’s best shot but as a result of that it continued to challenge us to get better game after game. These guys responded.”

Park Tudor senior Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell
“(On faster tempo) That’s our game. We push the ball and got a lot of open shots. We did that tonight. We knew to just drive and kick.”

Bowman Academy Coach Marvin Rea
“It was one of those games where we couldn’t get anything accomplished. Defensively and offensively we just came out flat. I think we got caught up in all the hype. We weren’t mentally focused and we got caught back on our heels.  We tried to rotate everyone in just to get a spark but nobody had it today.”

“Park Tudor is very well-coached and very disciplined. We knew exactly what they were going to do. We wanted to apply some pressure to Yogi (Ferrell), but they dictated the pace of the game. They killed us on the boards. It was just one of those games where nothing was clicking.”

“Hats off to Park Tudor. They are a very disciplined team. They didn’t take the shots we invited them to take. When they did shoot, they actually dropped them. They didn’t always go after the first shot.”

“My thoughts about the game are, ‘What if?’ What if our guys came out and played hard and fought with more pride? Moral victories are not what we drove down I-65 for.”

“One of the areas we’ve struggled with all year has been our guard play. It’s rough going into a game against the No. 1 guard in the nation. We tried double-teaming him. We worked all week covering the trey ball but we just didn’t get it done.”

“In the regular season, we don’t try to go undefeated – we prepare for this game. I hope our guys enjoyed playing at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, but as a coach the ultimate goal was to win.”