He wears No. 1 on his jersey for Fort Wayne Bishop Luers High School. In two years, DeShaun Thomas may do the same for the Indiana All-Star team.
The 6-foot-7 sophomore certainly played liked a Mr. Basketball Friday night against Warsaw, scoring 41 points and leading the Class 2A fourth-ranked Knights to a 70-61 win over the host Tigers."In the first half he had 18 points," Warsaw coach Doug Ogle said of Thomas, who got off to a slow start by scoring just four points in the first quarter, but followed it up with 14 points in both the second and third quarters and nine in the fourth quarter. "I thought we did a good job on him in the first half, he had to earn some of his points. There were two or three shots where the defense just wasn't close enough to him, and then he also made a lot of difficult shots. He had a great game."
One of the tough shots inparticular Ogle was talking about was a deep three-pointer from the corner that beat the third-quarter buzzer and gave Luers a 54-46 advantage.
"DeShaun Thomas had a great game," said Ogle. "The basket at the end of the third quarter was big for them."
So were the other seven three-pointers that Thomas made.
To go with his 41 points, Thomas pulled down seven rebounds, blocked four shots, made four steals and dished out two assists.
Freshman Evan Blackmon and junior Troy Amos scored eight points each for the Knights, while freshman Kenny Mullen scored five points, juniors Lawrence Barnett and Jake Kuhn chipped in with three points each and junior Sean Day finished with two points.
Though Thomas took over the game in the final three quarters, the host Tigers did put theirselves in a position to win the game.
After trailing by 10, 60-50, in the fourth quarter, Warsaw used an 11-2 run and trailed just 62-61 when junior Ryne Robinson scored with 1:07 remaining in the game.
"I'm proud of our team," said Ogle. "I thought we played with a good amount of toughness at times. The game was a disappointment in some ways, but I felt like we put ourselves in a position to win. I think we can use that as a confidence builder."
Following Warsaw's quick scoring spurt, Thomas converted an old-fashioned three-point play and later took a pass off the backboard from Barnett and turned it into a rim-rocking dunk that was the highlight of the night on Fox 28.
With the nine-point victory, Luers improved to 17-3 and extended its win streak to seven games.
Warsaw, which started the season 8-2, fell to 10-8.
In the last three games, the Tigers have surrendered 32 points to Marion's Julius Mayes, 39 points to Elkhart Memorial's Karvel Anderson and 41 to Thomas.
It won't get much easier as the Tigers host Class 3A No. 7 Plymouth Wednesday in a rescheduled Northern Lakes Conference game.
The Pilgrims, led by All-State guard Randy Davis, are 16-2 on the season after beating Knox 70-31 Friday night.
"Plymouth is a very good team," said Ogle. "We're looking forward to that game. We're looking forward to the Carroll game and then seeing who we play in the sectional."
The Tigers play at Carroll in the regular-season finale Friday.
Robinson led Warsaw with 24 points against Luers, while freshman Nic Moore scored 15 points, dished out nine assists and pulled down seven rebounds.
Sophomore Justin Clemens had eight points and 12 rebounds for the Tigers, while classmate Andy Conrad finished with seven points and six rebounds.
At halftime of the varsity game, WCHS Athletic Director Dave Fulkerson was honored for his 26 years with the school corporation.
Ray Craft represented the IHSAA and presented Fulkerson with a plaque, while Warsaw Mayor Ernie Wiggins read a proclamation and WCS Superintendant Dr. Robert Haworth presented him with an award.
The Warsaw student body held up masks with Fulkerson's likeness and formed a tunnel for him to walk through before public address anouncer Ron Henry read a brief list of what Fulkerson has done over the years.
