April 1, 2025 // Diocese
At Long Last, State Champs!
Saint Joseph Wins School’s First Boys Basketball Title
Three times in its program’s history, the Saint Joseph High School boys basketball team had advanced to the state finals – a legacy-stamping achievement well within its reach. And three times – in 1989, 1993, and just last season – it fell just short of achieving its ultimate goal.
The loss last year – Scottsburg 67, Saint Joseph 57 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis – served as motivation for this year’s Huskies team, which refused to be denied again.
Photos by Scott Warden
The boys from Saint Joseph claimed the school’s first boys basketball state championship by beating Crispus Attucks 56-52 in the Class 3A state championship game in Indianapolis on Saturday, March 29. Not only was it the program’s first boys basketball title, it was the first boys championship won by any South Bend school since 1994.
Click here for more photos from the game.
After leading by multiple possessions throughout most of the game, including a 30-24 edge at halftime, the Tigers rallied in the fourth quarter, scoring nine consecutive points to tie the game. But “tough games build tough players,” Saint Joseph coach Eric Gaff told reporters after the game, and few are tougher than Huskies senior forward Chase Konieczny.
Tied at 50 with less than a minute left, Saint Joseph junior guard Nick Shrewsberry missed a jump shot from the right baseline that clanged high off the rim. As the rebound sailed back toward the basket, Konieczny leaped at the ball and slammed it home, sending the raucous Saint Joseph cheering section into a frenzy and, ultimately, securing the Huskies’ elusive state title.
Saint Joseph’s Elijah King puts up a shot against Crispus Attucks’ Dezmon Briscoe during the state finals.
Konieczny, who averaged a team-high 22.6 points per game this season, admitted that while he struggled offensively against the Tigers, he was happy to find other ways to contribute.
“During the game, I wasn’t really hitting the outside shots I usually hit, so most of the work I was doing was coming from the offensive glass,” he said. “I just crashed the offensive glass every time, and the opportunity came, and I took it.”
Konieczny finished his prep career as the school’s all-time leading scorer and No. 2 on the all-time scoring list for St. Joseph County. He scored 10 points and grabbed 11 rebounds against Crispus Attucks.
Chase Konieczny, front, and Brashaun Woods celebrate Konieczny’s dunk in the final minute of the game.
“I think that’s what great players do, right? The shots aren’t going in – and everyone has games where the shots aren’t falling – but then how can you have a positive effect on the game?” Gaff said. “Tonight he showed it with his rebounding, his defense, and then with that electric tip-dunk. And that’s kind of what we preach to our guys all year – if the shot’s not going in, that’s alright; that’s a very small part of the game. What can you do to be positive for us?”
Shrewsberry and sophomore guard Elijah King each scored 16 points to lead the Huskies, and senior forward Brashaun Woods added eight points.
“I thought our whole team was just really, really good,” Gaff said, “and when we needed a special play, special players made them for us. It feels a lot better sitting up here this time with this blue ribbon than last year with the red, so I’m super proud of all our guys.”
After the game, Woods was named the Class 3A Arthur L. Trester Mental Attitude Award winner – an honor that Gaff said was well deserved.
Saint Joseph senior Brashaun Woods, posing with his parents, was awarded the Arthur L. Trester Mental Attitude Award following the Huskies’ Class 3A state finals victory at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
“He’s just a great kid,” Gaff told Today’s Catholic. “He’s a really good basketball player, but he’s a better person. He leads by faith, he leads by leadership. He leads by excellence in the classroom. He’s just exactly what you want in a player and a teammate.”
Woods told Today’s Catholic that he appreciated being recognized by the IHSAA.
“The award means a lot,” Woods said. “Over the last four years, I’ve put in a lot of work on and off the court, and I just appreciate the fact that it paid off.”
Still, Woods said, winning a championship with his teammates was the night’s top priority.
“It feels great to be at the top,” he said. “We’ve worked so hard. We’ve done all the little things this season, and we just put it all together. To get the first title we’ve had in the history of Saint Joseph, that’s a big one.”
Both Gaff and Woods said the team was fortified by its collective faith throughout the season.
“We put God first in everything we do,” Woods said. “We pray before practice, before games, and we make Him the center of our team.”
Gaff said the team has focused on a special verse – John 3:30, which says, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”
“We try to make sure that everything that we do is built on a foundation of Jesus, because we realize that’s the only thing that lasts, and these guys do a great job of leading that way and holding each other accountable.”
This accountability helped lead the Huskies to the state championship that had previously eluded them – a title that Konieczny said “means everything to me. I came here every day for the last four years with this goal in mind, and to finally achieve it, it’s surreal to me.”
At the news conference after the game, King was asked what it meant to bring a state title to the school.
“All I can say is that we’re changing the culture around Saint Joe High School,” King said. “This won’t be the last one.”
Scott Warden is editor-in-chief of Today’s Catholic.
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