Another basketball season has come and gone

And what a season it was!

Where do we start? Oh yeah, Bloomfield!

Congratulations to the Bloomfield Cardinal basketball program for a stellar postseason run culminating in an appearance at Bankers Life Fieldhouse for the Class A State Finals.

Perhaps the most impressive postseason performance for the Cards was winning the Martinsville regional with a couple of tough teams from Indianapolis - Arlington and Tindley - standing in the way of the Cardinals and Bloomfield's first regional championship since 1999.

Brandon Van Sant stood as tall as his 6-7 stature, putting up 42 points and grabbing 22 rebounds in the two games.

In the regional opener against Arlington, the biggest shot of his career - a 3-pointer from the wing with 16.5 seconds left in overtime - tied the game at 40. He was fouled on the play and converted the four-point play to seal the win and the Cardinals advanced to the regional final.

Van Sant's heroics wouldn't have happened without the efforts of his frontcourt partner Eli Combs. Combs' biggest moments also came in the Martinsville Regional against Arlington.

He tied the score with a corner three to send the game into overtime. Then in the overtime period, his rebound basket with just under a minute remaining set up Van Sant's game-winning 4-point play.

In the nightcap, Van Sant posted a double-double with 21 and 13 and Combs added 17 markers on a perfect 7 of 7 from the floor as the Cardinals dispatched Tindley 51-37 to earn Bloomfield's first semistate appearance in 17 years.

In the Seymour Semistate, Chris Gilmore was the man who stepped up and put his team on his back. Gilmore racked up 24 points knocking down 9 of 13 shots as the Cards hung on to defeat a game West Washington squad 58-53 and punching its ticket to Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

In the State Finals it became apparent the opponent, Liberty Christian of Anderson, had an "extra gear" in the fourth quarter.

After Eli Combs' putback bucket pulled the Cardinals within one, 44-43 with 7 minutes to play. The Liberty Lions then ratcheted up the defensive pressure and ran off the next 18 points.

And that was all she wrote.

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For me personally it was gratifying to see the Bloomfield community rally behind these Cardinals.

But it wasn't surprising.

Bloomfield is, after all, a basketball town. Always has been, always will be.

It seemed like the Cardinal Red turnout at Seymour and the "White Out" at Bankers Life Fieldhouse nearly matched the town's listed population of 2,500.

Community support for the local high school team isn't the exclusive domain of Bloomfield, however.

West Washington's faithful Red and Blue crowd at Seymour nearly matched that of the Cardinal crowd.

Just goes to show you, interest in high school sports in our smaller rural communities in Southern Indiana is far from dead.

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While we're on the subject of community support, I want to thank Boomie Vaught for being so generous with his time and so free with his commentary the times I interviewed him this postseason. Boomie, you are a Bloomfield treasure!

Bob Jackson and Lowell Sparks were also gracious enough to meet with me and chat. I love these guys who have seen a lot and are only too happy to share their experiences.

There are quite a number of other folks in the Bloomfield community I'd hoped to make the time to meet with and converse. I need to make that happen next time around.

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Meanwhile the well-deserved accolades continue to pour in.

Eli Combs was awarded the Ray Craft Mental Attitude Award for Class A Boys Basketball at last week's State Finals. Combs ranks fourth in his senior class and carries a 4.3 GPA.

Combs was named First-Team Academic All-State by the Indiana Basketball Coaches' Association. The IBCA also voted Combs Honorable Mention All-State as a player.

Brandon Van Sant was voted Small School All-State by the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association.

The Cardinal big man was also invited to Hoosier Basketball Magazine's Top 60 Workout at Marian University April 10.

His coach Matt Britton will be joining Van Sant at the Top 60 Workout. Britton was one of six Indiana high school coaches chosen by the IBCA as a candidate for the association's Bob King Coach of the Year award.

Two other State Finals (and State Champions as it turns out) coaches were among the six chosen - Lapel's veteran coach Jimmie Howell and Jim Shannon of New Albany.

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Lest you think this column is all about Bloomfield basketball, it isn't.

Linton-Stockton had a nice postseason run themselves while it lasted.

Yes, the Miners laid an egg with 2-for-20 shooting in the first half against Our Lady of Providence in the Paoli Regional championship. And a valiant fourth-quarter comeback - after the lights went out for an hour and 10 minutes - came up four points and four seconds short.

But the Miners won a fourth consecutive North Knox sectional championship. Never before had a Linton team won four straight sectionals. And they advanced to the regional finals each of those four years.

And the Miners won arguably the toughest 2A sectional in the state at North Knox. Ask Barr-Reeve.....

South Knox coach Mark Rohrer and I spoke several times during the season and we both agreed - whoever survived Sectional 47 would likely be considered the favorite in the regional.

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I'm not through yet. There are two area teams deserving recognition for exceeding expectations this season.

Shakamak and Eastern Greene under the guidance of the Neills - Jon at Eastern and J.B. at Shakamak - both demonstrated dramatic improvement this season.

After posting a 9-14 record in Jon Neill's second season at the Eastern Greene helm a year ago, Neill's Thunderbirds answered with a 16-9 record this year, beating the likes of South Knox and Edgewood along the way.

The T-Birds just had the misfortune of being placed in the aforementioned "Toughest 2A sectional in the state."

Coming off 4-16 and 5-18 campaigns, the improving Shakamak Lakers finished 12-14 this season.

Included in Shakamak's 14 losses were six defeats at the hands of sectional champions - two losses each to State Finalist Bloomfield and 2A sectional champion Cloverdale. Two more Laker losses came against sectional winners Linton-Stockton and North Daviess.The Lakers also lost twice each to Eastern Greene and Marshall, Ill.

Shakamak split with Sullivan and Clay City this season as well. Another loss came at 3A Owen Valley late in the regular season.

The above accounts for 13 of Shakamak's 14 defeats. None of those could be considered bad losses.

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Now that the 2015-16 basketball season is in the rearview mirror, it's time for all the accompanying postseason recognition.

Friday the Greene County Daily World will announce the six finalists for the 2015-16 GCDW Player of the Year.

The POY will be named sometime next week.

Saturday the 10-man GCDW All-Area team will be named.

Stay tuned!

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They say all good things must come to an end. And it's hard to believe this season is over. But it was quite an enjoyable ride!

Terry Schwinghammer is a sports writer for the Greene County Daily World. He can be reached by telephone at (812) 847-4487, ext. 27. He can also be reached via email at tschwing32@yahoo.com.