Zionsville, IN native Brad Stevens ... the current President of Basketball Operations & General Manager for the NBA's Boston Celtics ... has enjoyed a decorated career in basketball. As a player at DePauw University, he was a 3-time Academic All-American nominee. As a coach, he led Butler University to back-to-back NCAA Runner-Up finishes in 2010 & 2011 and won 166 games in his 6 seasons at the helm. After leaving Butler, he directed the Boston Celtics to 354 wins and 7 consecutive playoff appearances before moving into their front office in 2021. As an executive, he helped guide the Celtics to the 2024 NBA Championship and was selected as the NBA Executive of the Year.

One of the main reasons that Brad has done so well everywhere he's been is because of how he defines success:

"Success is not about the destination; it's about the journey and the process of getting better every day."

The Brickies have been on quite a journey this winter across all 7 of our sports! Regardless of the record or at what level of the post-season their journeys may end over the next few weeks, this winter has been a success because our kids have worked hard at getting better every day to become their individual & collective best!

Let's pause our own journey for a minute ... it's time for BricksCenter!

Girls

On Tuesday night, the Brickies were on the road at Porter County neighbor Wheeler for a non-conference game. For an added twist to this one, the coaching matchup was Father vs Son with former Brickie JV girls coach Rick Gregory leading the Bearcats and his son Ryan coaching our Bricks! WHAT A GAME! In a back-and-forth first half on Wheeler's senior night, the scoreboard was knotted at 22-22. In the 3rd quarter, some inspiring words from Coach Greg got our girls going and the Brickies outscored the hosts 14-10 to move in front 36-32 with just 8 minutes left!! Hobart even scored the first two of the final period when senior Audrey Wendel netted a short jumper in the lane!! Unfortunately, over the next 5 minutes of play, the Bearcats scored 12 consecutive points to move in front 44-38. Senior Ladan Weinman finally stopped the run when she buried a 3 from the top of the key with 2:26 remaining ...cutting the deficit to just 44-41. Wheeler was able to close the door on any hope for a Brickie comeback by hitting FTs down the stretch and holding on for a 50-42 win. Weinman led Hobart in scoring with a team-high 15 which included making 4-of-5 from long distance. Sophomore Kurah Krucina added 9 points & 7 rebounds ...junior Riley Weber tallied 6 points & 4 rebounds ...and senior Hallie Pendleton recorded a team-high 3 steals in the loss.

For the regular season finale on Friday, Hobart traveled to Hammond Central. The Wolves entered the contest with a record of 16-3. In the first quarter, the Brickies were like New Kids on the Block and "Hangin' Tough'!! After 8 minutes, our girls were right there trailing just 16-13 against the talented hosts! The deficit was still under 10 over halfway through the 2nd period, but the Hammond pressure defense finally started to wear down our girls and the Wolves ended the half on a 16-4 run to take a 42-20 lead into the locker room. Play was back-and-forth throughout the second half, but the Brickies couldn't get enough stops & scores to close the gap ...ultimately suffering a 79-44 defeat.

Hobart ended the regular season with an overall record of 3-18 and will open up Class 4A Sectional play against Valparaiso on Tuesday. The game is scheduled to tipoff at 7pm at Chesterton High School. YOU CAN DO IT LADIES!! WE BELIEVE IN YOU!!

#SHEGOTGAME

Boys

Washington Township visited The Friendly City on Tuesday night for a non-conference game against our boys cagers. The Senators brought with them an 11-2 record and a #9-ranking in the Class 1A AP Poll ...and showed why they are a top 10 team by jumping out to an 18-12 1st quarter lead. Our boys dialed up the D-D-D-DEFENSIVE pressure a little in the 2nd stanza ...chipped away at the Senator lead and got within 2 (24-26) heading into the halftime locker room. The 3rd period was very competitive as each time Washington tried to extend their advantage, Hobart would rally to get back within 1 possession and the quarter concluded with the Senators still ahead by 2 (37-39). The Brickies scored the first 6 points of the final quarter to move in front 43-39 and then BATTLED the rest of the way to hold off every Senator rally for an EXCITING 49-46 VICTORY!! YESSSS!!!!! Junior Ryan Basham led all scorers with 17 points and sophomore Paxson Hicko tallied 15 ...senior Aidan Leonard pulled down a team-high 8 rebounds and classmate Felix Lopez & freshman Miles White each backed him up with 6 of their own in the win!

On Friday night ...just 3 days after hosting the Senators, Hobart kept it political by welcoming the Governors from Morton High School. :) A hot shooting first half propelled Morton to a 28-15 halftime cushion. The Brickies rallied early in the 3rd quarter to cut the deficit to 30-23 with back-to-back 3s from Basham and a driving score by Hicko!! Unfortunately, the Govs responded to the Brickie run with an 11-0 run of their own to seize control at 41-23. Our boys BATTLED the entire night and were able to close the gap late in the final period, but ultimately fell short 59-48. For the 2nd straight contest, it was Basham (16 pts) & Hicko (12 pts) that led the attack on the offensive end ... Leonard score 9 and grabbed 9 rebounds and junior guard Jordan Johnson dished out a team-high 4 assists in the loss.

Well, there was no rest for the weary as Hobart laced them up AGAIN on Saturday night, but this time it was against the Wheeler Bearcats. On a night when some Brickie royalty (1973 Hall of Fame Boys Golf Team) was in the stands, our boys PUT ON A SHOW!! It seemed as if EVERYTHING the Brickies tried in the first 16 minutes WORK WORK WORKED like a charm to build an impressive 45-23 halftime advantage!! WOW! The lead grew even larger in the 3rd quarter (62-33) as Coach Key continued to push all the right buttons!! The final eight minutes saw Hobart on cruise control on their way to a 71-49 VICTORY!! Senior Felix Lopez was simply ON FIRE and scored a game-high 15 points ...Leonard tallied 13 pts and Hicko added 12 to help our boys earn the "W"!!

Hobart is now 7-10 overall and 1-2 in the NCC. The Bricks will host Kankakee Valley on Thursday in a key conference matchup! GO GET 'EM GUYS!!

#BALLISLIFE

Boys

On Saturday, the Brickie grapplers were at Portage High School for the start of the 2024-2025 IHSAA Tournament Series! Hobart was looking to pin down the school's 31st sectional crown against a stacked field. Our boys have literally wrestled different kinds of adversity all year ... injuries, illness ... and they've made us SO PROUD because of how well they've embraced the journey and the process of getting better every day!

In one word, the Brickies were FANTASTIC on Saturday! Our boys pushed the 4-time defending champion Indians to the limit! OUR BOYS SHINED and came away with 6 SECTIONAL CHAMPIONS (Seth Aubin, Dominic Rivera, Aidan Costello, Hayden Mancilla, Aiden Granger & Luke Juris) and 13 REGIONAL QUALIFIERS!! Portage had 7 individual champions and 13 regional qualifiers. To say the competition was close would be an understatement. Ultimately, Portage was able to outdistance the Brickies by a mere 14 team points (246.5-232.5) and earn the crown. While the trophy may have stayed at Portage ... for their 37th title in school history, our boys showed a tremendous amount of BRICKIE PRIDE, wrestled their butts off and should hold their heads high ... their greatest glory is ahead of them!!

Here are 13 Brickies who advanced to next weekend's IHSAA REGIONAL:

106 lbs - freshman Ryson Williams - 4th place

113 lbs - sophomore Blake Doeing - 2nd place

120 lbs - senior Daniel Mata - 2nd place

126 lbs - senior Seth Aubin - SECTIONAL CHAMPION

132 lbs - freshman Jacoby Moore - 3rd place

144 lbs - senior Daniel McGill - 2nd place

150 lbs - senior Cole Weber - 4th place

157 lbs - senior Dominic Rivera - SECTIONAL CHAMPION

165 lbs - senior Aidan Costello - SECTIONAL CHAMPION

175 lbs - junior Hayden Mancilla - SECTIONAL CHAMPION

190 lbs - junior Aiden Granger - SECTIONAL CHAMPION

215 lbs - senior Deacon Caesar - 2nd place

285 lbs - senior Luke Juris - SECTIONAL CHAMPION

A few more highlights from Saturday:

Hobart has a strong class of seniors with 8 advancing to the REGIONAL next week - 4 were SECTIONAL CHAMPIONS! Our grapplers also had 4 runner-up finishes, which means there was a Brickie competing for an individual title in 10 of the 14 weight classes - WOW! Like I said earlier, our boys were FANTASTIC!

Next week, Hobart hosts the IHSAA REGIONAL and the Brickies will have a contender in 13 out of the 14 weight classes. Top 4 places advance to the Semi-State @ East Chicago. DON'T STOP NOW BOYS!!

#WORKWORKWORK

After completing two full weeks of practice since our last meet, our Brickie gymnasts were back at it on Thursday night over at area powerhouse (...and 14-time IHSAA State Champion) Valparaiso. The Vikings were impressive on their home equipment and won the meet with a team score of 112.450. Still, our girls were FANTASTIC and registered a SEASON BEST TEAM SCORE of 93.350!! This is over a full point higher than the Bricks scored when we beat Chesterton back on January 14th!! WOW!! It looks like the two weeks of practice PAID OFF! Sophomore Natalia Lucio was tops for Hobart on the Vault, Bars & Floor to tally a score of 32.750 - her BEST of the year so far! Classmate Kaya Goodpaster was Hobart's top performer on the Beam with a SEASON BEST score of 8.500 and an overall mark of 30.000! ANOTHER sophomore, Avrie Robb, also surpassed the 30-point score in the all-around competition with a 30.200 ...WOW - all 3 sophs were 30+!! AMAZING!! Senior Elizabeth Crespo only competed in one event, but she SHINED BRIGHT as Hobart's 2nd best score on the Vault!!

On Saturday, the Bricks were at Merrillville High School for the 2nd time this winter, but this time it was for the Pirate Pride Invitational!! Hobart joined 7 other schools from around Northern Indiana and finished 3rd in the team standings!! Natalia placed 10th on the vault & 7th on bars ...Kaya placed 6th overall on the beam to help guide our girls to a strong finish!!

The Brickies will be flipping back into action @ LaPorte on Thursday! GOOD LUCK LADIES!!

#STICKIT

After an OUTSTANDING showing at the Northwest Crossroads Conference Championship meet a week ago, the Brickies got some WORK WORK WORK done over the last 6 days! Our girls will host the IHSAA Sectional on Thursday (prelims) & Saturday (finals), so they are in full taper mode. As for the boys, they are still fine tuning their training regimen so they can peak at the right time when they compete over at the Valparaiso sectional in late February.

#JUSTKEEPSWIMMING

On Saturday night, the Hobart Athletic Department welcomed a new member to our Hall of Fame at halftime of the boys basketball game vs Wheeler. Three members (Jon Chontos, Steve Chontos & Chuck Crawford) of the 1973 Boys Golf STATE FINALIST squad were on hand to accept their place amongst Brickie royalty. With golf being invented in Scotland, it was only fitting that our honorees entered the gym with bagpipes playing (thanks to Craig Brooks) to receive their recognition for being the FIRST (...and only 1 of 2) boys golf team to WIN an IHSAA Sectional Championship and the LAST boys golf team to compete at the IHSAA State Finals. The 1973 "Ironmen" finished 7th overall in Indiana - the BEST EVER finish for the Brickies in 7 appearances!

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 1973 STATE FINALIST BOYS GOLF TEAM! IT WAS TRULY AN HONOR TO HAVE YOU BACK FOR THIS WELL DESERVED RECOGNITION!!

#EXCELLENTONPURPOSE

9th Boys Basketball @ Portage

Tuesday

Girls Basketball vs Valparaiso @ IHSAA SECTIONAL (Hosted by Chesterton High School)

Wednesday

9th Boys Basketball vs Merrillville

JV Divers @ NCC JV Invite (Hosted by Munster High School)

Thursday

Girls Swimming & Diving @ IHSAA SECTIONAL PRELIMS (Hosted by Hobart High School)

Boys Basketball vs. Kankakee Valley *

Gymnastics @ LaPorte

Friday

Girls Basketball @ IHSAA SECTIONAL SEMIFINALS (*If Win on Tuesday)

Saturday

Boys Wrestling @ IHSAA REGIONAL (Hosted by Hobart High School)

Girls Swimming & Diving @ IHSAA SECTIONAL FINALS (Hosted by Hobart High School)

Girls Basketball @ IHSAA SECTIONAL FINALS (*If Win on Friday)

* = NCC Opponent