This Indiana high school basketball team has just 5 players: 'We’ve come this far'

[Muda69]

https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/high-school/2025/02/20/this-indiana-high-school-basketball-team-has-only-5-players-no-subs-cannelton-ihsaa/78417181007/

Quote

CANNELTON – This was supposed to be a winnable game. Maybe on a different day, under different circumstances, it would have been. But inside the locker room in the Cannelton High School gym at halftime Monday night, it did not feel winnable.

Four players, Brayden Puckett, Gage Garrett, Jayden Cecil and Jerrett Coon, sat in front of their lockers with their heads down. A fifth, Isaac Fuqua, sat on the couch nearby next to a laundry basket. Coach Mike Garrett was done talking, rehashing the positives (not many) and negatives (many) of a first half that saw Cannelton facing a 19-point deficit.

The silence stretched from 30 seconds to 60 to 90. Finally, the five Bulldogs and coach huddled again in the locker room and with a unifying “Bulldogs!” took the court for the second half. Gage Garrett, the junior point guard and Mike’s youngest son, would later call this game “a disappointment.” But once the frustration of another loss wears off, Gage feels different.

The whole team — all five of them — feel it. It sometimes sounds like a cliché high school sports teach life lessons. It is true here. This game, played in front of about 30 people on a Monday night, could have been crossed off the schedule. It would have been easier to cross the whole season off. But five kids in this Ohio River town of 1,574 in southern Indiana committed to something together.

The “Cannelton Five” intend to finish it.

...

True athletes and true teammates.  Another great story of Indiana High School Basketball by Mr. Neddenreip.

[gahoosierfan]

Cannelton HS is really too small to remain independent. Tell City is only 5 minutes away, but the hometown folks don't want to consolidate.