Greenfield-Central graduate Tate Hall looks for an opening during a Loyola men’s basketball game at the University of Illinois Chicago in 2020-21. Hall and Loyola-Chicago reached the NCAA men’s basketball tournament for a second straight year this month. (Photo provided by Steve Woltmann/Loyola Athletics)
HANCOCK COUNTY — Three former prep standouts from Hancock County competed on college basketball’s biggest stage this month.
Greenfield-Central High School graduate Tate Hall, Mt. Vernon High School graduate Michael Ertel and the county’s all-time career girls basketball scoring leader, Madison Wise, a Greenfield-Central graduate, each reached the NCAA tournament.
Hall participated in his second-career NCAA men’s basketball tournament — and second straight — as a member of the Loyola-Chicago Ramblers, who made their second consecutive appearance for the first time in nearly 60 years.
The Ramblers punched their ticket to the NCAA tournament with a 64-58 victory over Drake to win the Missouri Valley Conference championship in early March.
The last time the Ramblers earned back-to-back NCAA tournament berths was in 1962-63 and 1963-64.
Loyola-Chicago lost in the opening round of the NCAA tournament to Ohio State, 54-41, on March 18 inside PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh. The Ramblers closed the year with a 25-8 record.
Hall, a graduate student at Loyola, played all 33 games for the Ramblers and started 11 contests, including the final 10. He averaged 5.6 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. He shot 48.2 percent from the field and was 39.4 percent from 3-point range.
For his three-year career at Loyola, Hall averaged 8.3 points per game with 793 total points scored and 3.9 rebounds in 96 games. Hall transferred from the University of Indianapolis to Loyola-Chicago in 2018-19 and after sitting out a season, he returned to compete for three campaigns.
At Greenfield-Central, he was a three-time All-Hoosier Heritage Conference and All-Hancock County selection. He earned IBCA Large School All-State honors as a senior and averaged 16.3 ppg in his prep career.
Ertel, a 2017 Indiana All-Star at Mt. Vernon, reached his first NCAA tournament with the UAB Blazers, who toppled Louisiana Tech, 82-73, on March 13 for the Conference USA title.
The NCAA tournament berth was the 16th all time in UAB program history and the Blazers’ sixth conference championship overall. Their conference run marked the first for the program since 2015.
Ertel provided 15 key points in the conference championship game in Frisco, Texas, tallying 11 of his points in the second half to preserve UAB’s lead. Nine of those second-half points came from 3-point range. Ertel was named to the Conference USA All-Tournament team.
UAB’s record-breaking season (27-8) came to an end in the first round of the NCAA tournament against Houston, 82-68. Ertel finished with 13 points in the loss as one of four players contributing double-digit points.
As a graduate student-athlete, Ertel was recognized as a Conference USA All-Academic Team member, played in 34 games this season, started 13 contests and was a starter in the program’s final 10 games. He ranked third this season in scoring on the team at 10.4 ppg. He reach 13 points or better in UAB’s final six games.
He surpassed 2,000 career points this season. He started 25 out of 29 games in his first year at UAB in 2020-21 after transferring from Louisiana Monroe where he played from 2018-20.
At Louisiana Monroe, Ertel was Sun Belt Conference Rookie of the Year and a two-time member of the All-Sun Belt Second Team. At Mt. Vernon, he finished as the second-leading scorer in Marauders’ history with 1,282 points and was named IBCA Large School All-State.
Wise, who returned home for her final year of eligibility, reached the NCAA tournament for a third time in her career and with two different college programs.
In her first four collegiate seasons, Wise competed in the NCAA tournament twice with Iowa State and reached the second round with a win over Michigan State in 2020-21.
With a fifth-year of eligibility, Wise transferred to IUPUI this year after appearing in 113 games with 68 starts for Iowa State.
Wise and the IUPUI women’s basketball team reached the 2021-22 NCAA women’s basketball tournament by winning the Horizon League championship over Cleveland State, 61-54, inside the Indiana Farmers Coliseum in early March.
Wise finished with nine points in the victory, which propelled the Jaguars to their first-ever NCAA tournament. IUPUI also won the conference in 2019-20, but the NCAA tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Jaguars (24-5) narrowly lost to Oklahoma, 78-72, in the opening round of the NCAA tournament at the Lloyd Noble Center in Oklahoma on March 20.
IUPUI held a No. 13 seed, but No. 4 seed Oklahoma escaped despite a late charge by the Jaguars in the second half. IUPUI finished eighth in the women’s mid-major top-25 poll this season.
Wise, a three-time Academic All-Big 12 First Team honoree at Iowa State, averaged 6.4 points, 4.8 rebounds and started all 29 games for the Jaguars.
At Greenfield-Central, Wise averaged 24.0 ppg, 10.8 rpg, 3.1 apg and 3.1 blocks as a senior. She averaged a double-double all four years in high school with 1,091 career rebounds. She was the fifth player in Indiana history to surpass 2,000 career points and 1,000 rebounds, finishing with 2,109 points. She was a four-time All-HHC selection, was named all-state twice, a 2017 Indiana All-Star and an Indiana Miss Basketball finalist.
