Penn High’s Kingsmen rallied from a 13-point deficit and stunned Mishawaka on its own court, 52-48, in the opening round of the Class 4-A Mishawaka Sectional on Tuesday, Feb. 27.

Coach Al Rhodes’ Kingsmen avenged a 55-50 regular-season loss to Mishawaka.

Penn (14-9) takes on No. 2 South Bend Riley (22-0) at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, March 2, in the Mishawaka Sectional semi-final round. Mishawaka’s season ends at 14-9.

Mishawaka led 24-11 in the second quarter but the Kingsmen rallied to close to 26-20 at halftime.

Mishawaka owned a 34-31 lead with less than a minute left in the third quarter when Kingsmen point guard Drew Lutz unleashed a lightning bolt.

Lutz slugged the Cavemen for an electrifying 8-0 run in 35 seconds, nailing a 3, and then scoring on two coast-to-coast fastbreaks after making steals. The last fastbreak hoop was an And-1, and Lutz hit the free throw to give Penn a 39-34 lead at the end of the third quarter.

Penn took command in the second half, outscoring Mishawaka 32-22. The Kingsmen committed six turnovers in the first half, while Mishawaka only turned the ball over once and held an 11-2 edge in points off of turnovers. In the second half, Penn only turned the ball over five times, while force Mishawaka into eight turnovers. The Kingsmen outscored Mishawaka 15-3 in points off of turnovers in the second half.

Lutz finished with 17 points and dished out seven points. The Junior Point Guard ripped off three steals, and blocked four shots.

Beau Ludwick scored 15 points, including three daggers from 3-point range.

Noah Applegate scored 10 points and powered inside for seven rebounds.

PENN 52: Drew Lutz 17, Beau Ludwick 15, Luke Carlton 0, Noah Applegate 10, Noah Krathwohl 2, Kegan Hoskins 6, Jeffrey Hemmelgarn 2.

Mishawaka 48: Payton Johnson 3, Grant Jablonski 0, C.J. Fisher 0, Sam Shively 3, Isaiah Evans 0, Tresean Jefferies 7, A.J. Rosebush 2, Kenny Meniefield 0, Dylan Hall 13, John Binion 20.

PENN             9          11        16        16 – 52

Mishawaka    15        11        8          14 – 48

Three-pointers: PENN 4 (Beau Ludwick 3, Drew Lutz 1), Mishawaka 4 (Johnson 1, Shively 1, Jefferies 1, Hall 1).

The Penn Boys Basketball Team rallied from a 13-point deficit to defeat Mishawaka, 52-48, in the opening round of the Class 4-A Mishawaka Sectional on Tuesday, Feb. 27.

A Photo Gallery is posted below.

Penn High’s Kingsmen rallied from a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter to close to five points, but Merrillville held on for a 70-64 victory in the regular-season finale on Friday, Feb. 23.

Noah Applegate scored 22 points to lead the Kingsmen.

Drew Lutz scored 21 points and kicked out nine assists.

Penn’s lone senior, Noah Krathwohl, scored nine points on Senior Night.

Kegan Hoskins and Beau Ludwick scored six points each for Penn.

The Kingsmen open state tournament action at the Class 4-A Mishawaka Sectional on Tuesday, Feb. 27, against the host Cavemen. Tip-off is slated for 6:30 p.m.

PENN 64: Carter Hickey 0, Drew Lutz 21, Beau Ludwick 6, Luke Carlton 0, Noah Applegate 22, Noah Krathwohl 9, Kegan Hoskins 6, Jeffrey Hemmelgarn 0, Christian Marshall 0.

Merrillville 70: Keon Thompson 2, Cameron Wright 2, Braedan Stubbs 11, Jayon Holmes 13, Will Fulton 2, Rob Sanders 12, Darryon Bandy 28, Lavari Ruffin 0.

PENN             17        14        8          25 – 64

Merrillville      20        16        14        20 – 70

Three-pointers: PENN 6 (Drew Lutz 2, Beau Ludwick 2, Noah Applegate 2), Merrillville 5 (Sanders 3, Bandy 2).

The Penn Boys Basketball Team celebrated Senior Night in a game against Merrillville on Friday, Feb. 23.

A Photo Gallery is posted below.

The Penn Boys Basketball Team beat Plymouth 69-45 on Saturday, Feb. 17.

A Photo Gallery is posted below.

The Penn Boys Basketball Team defeated Jimtown, 60-37, on Tuesday, Feb. 20.

Penn-Harris-Madison Supt. Dr. Jerry Thacker and Principal Sean Galiher honored Penn’s Academic Award winners prior to the game.

A Photo Gallery is posted below.

The Penn Girls Basketball Team played against Zionsville in the Class 4-A Semi-state at LaPorte on Saturday, Feb. 17.

A Photo Gallery is posted below.

The Penn Boys Swim Team competed in the IHSAA Sectional hosted by Penn on Saturday, Feb 17.

A Photo Gallery is posted below.

The Penn Boys Swimming and Diving Team placed 13th in the State Championships on Saturday, Feb. 24.
 
Penn's 200 freestyle relay team (Matthew Rach, Ethan Backhus, Joel Cummins, Axel Brandenburg) placed seventh in the state in 1:26.29 to lead the Kingsmen effort.
 
Penn's 400 freestyle relay team (Matthew Rach, Axel Brandenburg, Aaron Dies, Evan Dies) placed 12th in the state in 3:11.02.
 
Penn's Matthew Rach placed 15th in the state in the 50 freestyle in 21.38.
 
Penn's 200 medley relay team (Aaron Dies, Evan Dies, Joel Cummins, Ethan Backhus) placed 15th in the state in 1:37.52.

Penn High School Principal Sean Galiher announced that six Penn students have been named National Merit Scholarship Finalists. Galiher made the announcement on Friday, Feb. 23.

Nicholas Casetti, Margaret Finnessy, Kristine Hocker, Shane Hullinger, Kendra Laidig and Renee Yaseen earned the coveted National Merit Scholarship Finalist status, and are eligible for National Merit Scholarship Finalists.

"We are very excited for these students,” Galiher said.  “This accomplishment reflects the collective efforts of each student, their teachers and family.  Our teachers take great pride in challenging our students and preparing them through rigorous and relevant coursework."

Casetti, Finnessy, Hocker, Hullinger, Laidig and Yaseen were named National Merit Semifinalists in September. Among the Penn students who were named Commended Scholars by The National Merit Scholarship Program were Grace Brown, Zachary Buford, Jacob Cira, Madeline Cullison, Badin Cummings, Morgan Jankowski, Veronica Kirgios, David Li, Connor Liverett, Hanna Malik, Evan Mercurio, Maheera Siddique, Kyle VandeWalle and Jack Wheet.

The National Merit® Scholarship Program is an academic competition for recognition and scholarships that began in 1955. 

About 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2016 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of Semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest scoring entrants in each state. The number of Semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.

Of the 1.6 million entrants in the 63^rd annual competition, some 50,000 with the highest PSAT/NMSQT® Selection Index scores (calculated by doubling the sum of the Reading, Writing and Language, and Math Test scores) qualify for recognition in the National Merit® Scholarship Program.

About 16,000 students of the 1.6 million entrants earn Semifinalist status. These academically talented students then have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth about $32 million offered to them the spring of their senior year.

A Semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn SAT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.

From the approximately 16,000 Semifinalists, about 15,000 advance to the Finalist level, and were notified in February of this designation. All National Merit Scholarship winners are selected from this group of Finalists.