Purdue Commit Luke Ertel Leads Mt. Vernon to State Title with Brilliant Performance
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Before his journey in West Lafayette begins, future Purdue guard Luke Ertel had one more goal to achieve at Mt. Vernon. He accomplished the mission on Saturday night inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse, leading his team to its first state championship in program history.
Ertel was brilliant in his final high school game, scoring 26 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing out six assists to lead the Marauders to a 52-50 victory over Crown Point in the Class 4A Indiana State Basketball Championship Game.
Mt. Vernon had to dig itself out of a hole, trailing Crown Point 30-20 at the half. Ertel scored 15 of his 26 points in the second half, enough to overcome the halftime deficit and hoist a state championship trophy into the air.
"The emotions, I can't really describe it. I'm kinda speechless," Ertel told Kyle Neddenriep of The Indianapolis Star. "It's something you dream about growing up. To be here in Gainbridge, it felt like we were NBA players. It was just crazy."
Mt. Vernon ended its season with a 28-3 record, with two of those losses coming in overtime. The Marauders won 11 straight games on their way to a state championship.
Luke Ertel's outstanding senior season
Ertel put together an incredible senior campaign for Mt. Vernon, guiding the team to a state championship. His efforts resulted in winning the Indiana Gatorade Player of the Year award, and he's likely the top candidate to win Indiana's Mr. Basketball award for the 2025-26 season.
The senior point guard ended the year averaging 24.5 points, 9.9 rebounds, 6.6 assists and 1.8 steals per game.
With his high school career now behind him, Ertel says he plans to enjoy winning a state championship before shifting his focus to Purdue.
"I'm just going to really enjoy this for the next couple of days. That's all I'm going to do," Ertel said. "It's usually, you're preparing for another game, but this is it."
Ertel is part of a four-man recruiting class that is headed to Purdue in the summer. Along with Ertel, the Boilermakers are also bringing in four-star guard Jacob Webber, four-star center Sinan Huan, and three-star forward Rivers Knight.
Purdue's season concluded on Saturday night, falling 79-64 to Arizona in the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament. It marked the end of the careers of Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer and Trey Kaufman-Renn.
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Dustin Schutte is the publisher of Purdue Boilermakers on SI and has spent more than a decade working in sports journalism. His career began in 2013, when he covered Big Ten football. He remained in that role for eight years before working at On SI to cover the Boilermakers. Dustin graduated from Manchester University in Indiana in 2010, where he played for the men's tennis team.
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