Phil Frushour was a vital
component in Community Baptist's state
championship.
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March 25. 2007 6:59AM
A title is a title
Community boys defend the north
JACOB SANDOCK
Tribune Staff Writer
Not only does Community Baptist Christian School
play basketball in the shadows of the big public
school conferences, but the South Bend private
institution practically plays in the shadows of its
own conference.
"We are the only northern
representative of the Indiana Association of
Christian Schools conference," said boys varsity
head coach Kip Wellin. "All the other schools are
south of Kokomo, so we're kind of the lone wolf up
here to the north. We have to travel a minimum of
two hours for any away conference game -- we get
back at midnight or 1 in the morning, it's 10-below
zero outside. We kind of feel almost left out (up
here)."
But playing in the shadows is a lot
more palpable when the end result is a championship
season.
That's exactly what Community Baptist was able to
accomplish March 3 in Anderson, when Wellin's squad
defeated Colonial Christian (Indianapolis), 55-35,
to capture the school's first state championship
since the boys basketball team won back-to-back
titles in 1988-89.
"We got kind of tired at
looking up at the banners in the gym," said Wellin,
who added that not getting the same recognition as,
say, a Northern Indiana Conference team, did not
take anything away from his school's accomplishment.
"We don't think of it as any less than Washington girls, or anybody else,
winning a state title," he said. "There's only so
many state titles in what I believe to be the
greatest high school basketball state in the
country. This is the brightest moment. It was made
special for a few different reasons, but this is the
epitome of any coach -- the joy that you have
working with teenagers and the ministry that's
involved.
"Winning doesn't hurt ... Winning
the state championship is a pretty special thing."
Even, Wellin said, at a school such as Community
Baptist -- where it's no secret that athletics are
not the chief concern.
"Athletics would not
be the main concern, no," admitted Wellin, "although
I would say -- and I'm thankful to the
administration for the balance here -- that
athletics is a key part to building Christian
character in young men and women and can be an
integral part in doing that."
Wellin said he
has had teams in the past with equal or better
potential than this years squad -- but, perhaps,
with not as much drive. Add to the heart factor two
senior leaders (guards Phil Frushour and Nate Utley)
and pair of rare 6-foot-3 transfers (brothers A.J.
and Andy Carson) and Wellin found himself with a
team with tremendous balance -- in 15 of Baptist's
19 games, four starters reached double figures --
the kind of post presence needed to dominate the
boards and suffocate opposing offenses and the
senior leadership to know how to win games.
"When you have two senior guards -- what a difference it makes," Wellin
said. "If you can't handle the basketball, you're
never going to get into your offense. Phil and Nate,
I think, were our heart and soul and the biggest
difference in our season. I'm going to miss them
next year. And Phil, maybe even an extra measure
because he was able to kind of take over a game by
scoring when he had to."
Frushour and Utley
received first-team all-state honors and sophomore
Andy Carson took home second-team honors this year.
"It's really a very special thing for us," said
Wellin of the title. "We have pride in our hard work
and I'd be remiss if we didn't say we were thankful
to God for the opportunity, and to win it."
Coming from Wellin, the acknowledgment of a higher
power seems a bit more substantial than all those
professional athletes who are so quick to point a
finger to heaven and blurt praise into a microphone.
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