Fort Wayne Bishop Luers Knights Have Grown Depth

Every day the roster seemingly gets deeper for the Bishop Luers boys basketball team, and in a month it could be even stronger.

The Knights (4-0) won three games without three players from last year’s Class 2A state championship team.

Two of them—seniors Sean Day and Jake Kuhn—returned Friday from a suspension in a 91-76 win over SAC-rival South Side. The third is senior Lawrence Barnett, but his return from a football injury is undetermined.

Barnett, who broke his leg in the football season opener, could return in January. Barnett is an Indiana football recruit and was in Bloomington on Saturday making his official visit.

“We are going to be very careful with how we deal with this situation,” Luers coach James Blackmon said of Barnett. “He has an opportunity to go play football at Indiana. This is secondary to him. His health is more important. He is moving around and jumping, and we are going to take it day by day and see how it goes.”

The 6' 6" Day and the 6-3 Kuhn came off the bench against the Archers (1-3) and entered the game with 2:30 left in the first quarter.

Kuhn had seven points and two rebounds. Day had five points and three rebounds and a couple of crowd-pleasing dunks.

“It is always good to get back seniors,” Blackmon said of Kuhn and Day. “Those guys not only bring value, but they bring a lot of leadership as well. I thought they did a great job coming off the bench rebounding and the interior defense.”

The absence of the three players provided playing time for point guard Kenny Mullen and the Sorgs—Kyle and Eric.

“They make us a different team,” Blackmon said. “I thought early in the year the young guys stepped up, and they gave us some positive minutes.”

Day started last year for the Knights, and Kuhn came off the bench.

Kuhn hit the game-clinching layup in the 69-67 win over Winchester in the 2A state championship game in March at Conseco Fieldhouse.

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