Glenn’s Magical Postseason Run Ends In Semi-State; Memories Will Remain Forever

What a year it was for the John Glenn Falcons boys basketball team! What a three-week postseason run it was!

Glenn left all it had on the court on Saturday at Elkhart’s North Side Gym and came up just short of advancing to the Semi-State Championship Game.

The Falcons lost to Delta 50-47 in a heck of a highly competitive game, one you would expect to see this time of year.

In all honesty, none of us present watching wanted this one to end, that’s just how damn good of a game it was.

Sure, the Glenn coaches, players and fans will relive a play here, a call there or a missed shot that might have resulted in a different outcome. This Falcon team, though, has absolutely no reason to hang its heads or be sad for long because it lost that morning.

You see, Glenn did what no one thought it would do, especially after it lost by 20-plus points in its regular-season finale at home to Goshen.

The Falcons went on a run that the towns of Walkerton and North Liberty as well as their fans not only in Indiana but around the country will remember and cherish forever.

To open Sectional play, Glenn knocked off No. 10 Tippecanoe Valley, a team it lost to by double digits earlier in the season. As we left Knox that night, you thought to yourself, “That’s the highlight of the Falcons’ season.” It was. Little did we know, however, what lied ahead.

A few days later Glenn easily dispatched of Bremen and the next night would have to face a Culver Military Academy program that’s not too far removed from a state championship and a state runner up showing.

The Falcons responded by shocking the Eagles as senior Brycen Hannah had one of the best quarters of basketball you will ever see at the high school level.

Hannah was unconscious in those eight minutes, scoring 14 of his game-high 27 points. It was a performance for the ages, one that had his father, Travis, Glenn’s head coach, pretty much unable to describe afterwards.

Thanks to Hannah’s heroics, Glenn cut down the nets to win a Sectional championship for the first time since 2005, winning its first-ever Class 3A Sectional crown.

A week later, Glenn was faced with the daunting task of beating No. 6 South Bend Washington on its home floor in Regional.

Keep in mind, this is a Panther team that had just knocked off No. 2 Marian and beat St. Joseph in overtime to win their Sectional.

The Falcons didn’t disappoint on the west side of South Bend.

Junior Joe Chrapliwy hit a game-winning three-pointer in the waning seconds to propel Glenn to a 58-54 victory its fans will remember forever. The Regional championship was the school’s first since in nearly two decades.

Then came Semi-State and a game that could easily fall into the instant classic variety.

Just how good of a game was it between Glenn and Delta? Well, it featured six ties and a staggering 17 lead changes.

When Hannah sank a pair of free throws with 1:10 left in the fourth quarter, Glenn led 47-49.

Hannah closed out his high school basketball career by scoring yet another game-high (he had 22 points), hitting all 10 of his free throws.

After a couple wild flurries on the Eagles’ offensive end that included two offensive rebounds, Delta called timeout to set up what it hoped was a game-winning shot.

The ensuing inbound pass went to junior guard Jonny Manor, who was wide open in the corner right in front of his bench. Manor had just missed back-to-back three attempts seconds earlier. This time, however, he drained the corner triple, providing his team the game-winning shot it had to have (Delta led 49-47 with 10.1 ticks left).

When Hannah was called for a questionable charging call on the other end with 2.4 seconds remaining, for all practical purposes the game was over.

Delta went on to lose to No. 1 Northwood, which advanced to its first-ever State Championship game.

Glenn ended its season at 17-11 and the loss concluded the magnificent basketball career of Hannah, who leaves the school as its second all-time leading scorer and arguably its greatest basketball player ever.

Basketball postseasons can be cruel, just ask Purdue and Indiana fans who are still hurting after their teams’ early exits.

However, Glenn’s postseason was anything but unpleasant. It was just the opposite.

The loss to Delta will quickly wear off if it hasn’t already.

People in our area will be talking about the 2022-23 John Glenn Falcons for a very long time to come as they should.

They’re the first team to bring their school Sectional and Regional titles in nearly two decades, and a team that provided those of us fortunate enough to witness their magical run in the last few weeks memories we will take with us forever.

Thank you head coach Travis Hannah, his coaching staff, players, their families and friends! It was an absolutely joy watching you compete and excel at such a high level.

Another chapter to my incredible book of Indiana high school basketball memories has been written and the Falcons’ fury had everything to do with it.

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