LAPEL — It had been nearly 30 years, but the matchup was just like old times.
Last week’s boys basketball regular-season finale between Lapel and Tipton pitted two of Indiana’s all-time winningest coaches — longtime rivals and friends Jimmie Howell and Cliff Hawkins — against each other.
Howell, who has won state titles at Lapel in 2005 and 2016, is ranked No. 5 in victories among active Indiana boys high school basketball coaches with 624. Hawkins is No. 9 with 514. The two battled back in the 1980s and 1990s when they were coaching in Hancock County.
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Howell is No. 13 on the state’s all-time win list. Hawkins is No. 29.
The Thursday, Feb. 27, game was the first meeting between the two since they were regular competitors in sectional championship games, back when the four Hancock County schools made up one of the state’s 64 sectionals in the days before class basketball.
Howell was the head coach at Mt. Vernon in Fortville from 1980-1995. Hawkins led the Greenfield-Central Cougars from 1985-1992.
“I think we played in the sectional championship four or five straight years,” Howell recalled. “I know one time they beat us and they got beat in the finals of the regional; one year we beat them; in ’87, we went to the final eight that year.
“We had some battles with Mt. Vernon against Greenfield.”
Hawkins recalled a classic matchup in 1986, when his Cougars lost a tough battle to the Marauders in the sectional final. Howell came into the Cougars’ locker room to praise Hawkins’ team’s performance.
“I have so much respect for Jimmie Howell, his family, his program,” Hawkins said. “I’ll never forget the very first year we played against them in (the 1986 sectional championship). We played a tremendous game and ended up on the short end, 2 points. He came down to the locker room and talked to my team and told them how much he respected how hard they played. You never forget those things.”
“I’ve gone into locker rooms after games before when I’ve seen teams giving outstanding effort. He’s a very good coach,” Howell added. “We both have a passion for the game, and we love working with kids and trying to teach kids the game and help parents develop kids from boys to men.”
Thursday’s matchup at Lapel was another Howell-Hawkins classic.
Hawkins’ Blue Devils hit 19 of their first 23 shot attempts (82.6%) and led by as much as 22 points in the first half.
Howell’s Bulldogs put up quite a fight in the final two quarters, battling all the way back, tying the game on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the end of regulation by senior Kolby Bullard, who had all of his game-high 25 points in the second half.
Tipton went on to win in overtime, 77-70.
“(When our teams play each other), we know it’s going to be a clean-cut, hard-fought battle, and it was a lot of fun tonight, even though that second half got kind of tough,” Hawkins said.
“They’re a top 10 2A team,” Howell added about Hawkins’ club. “I’m really proud the way our kids came back. We could have folded at halftime, but they had no quit in them and battled back. Obviously, we were tired going into that overtime; it took so much out of them (coming back). The kids battled really, really well.”
Though they had not met in competition on the hardwood in 28 years, Howell and Hawkins have stayed in touch.
Howell’s son, J.R., got his first coaching job as a junior varsity coach at Center Grove, where Hawkins was head coach. J.R. Howell is now an assistant coach at Carmel.
“We hadn’t coached against each other in quite a while, but we’ve kept in contact,” Howell said. “Seeing each other at clinics and at games scouting, and it was good for J.R. to get a year under (Cliff). I’m sure there are a lot of things he saw Cliff do that has helped him as his coaching career has gone on.”
This season is the 39th for both coaches, though Howell said he believes he may be a couple years older than Hawkins.
“I was looking forward to seeing my friend,” Hawkins said of the anticipation of his club taking on Howell’s Bulldogs. “There are few of us that truly understand the sacrifices that have been made to be able to coach a game that we love. With all of the adjustments we have had to make in this game, to be in it as long as we have, it makes you realize that we have both been doing this for quite a while.”
There is a possibility they could meet again and, just like old times, it would be in the tournament atmosphere.
Both will have clubs expected to be in the thick of things this week during sectional play. Tipton plays in Class 2A Sectional 39 at Blackford, where they, and the host school, are considered the favorites.
Lapel is in very competitive Class 2A Sectional 40 at Alexandria, where six of the seven teams have winning records. Lapel (14-9) opened the tournament Wednesday, March 4 (after press time), against Wapahani, which came into the sectional with the best record, 17-5, as well as a 5-0 mark against teams in the tournament.
If both teams win their sectional and first-round regional games, they would meet again in the regional championship and play for a spot in one of the Class 2A semistate games.
“As we go down through the season, you always look forward to certain games,” Hawkins added after his club’s victory over Lapel. “Believe me, I’ve been on the other end of this with Jimmie Howell and his teams. You try to treat it as another game, but it was special tonight down here.”