1956 IHSAA State Championship: Indianapolis Crispus Attucks 79, Lafayette Jefferson 57

The Tigers of Indianapolis Crispus Attucks defeated Lafayette Jefferson 79-57 in the Butler Fieldhouse to win their second straight Indiana high school championship. In winning they broke a jinx by becoming the first Indiana undefeated team to win the state crown. The Tigers finished with 45 straight victories over a two-year period with 31 of them this season.

Attucks won this one just as it had captured most of the other 44, grabbing an early lead and then applying the pressure by some excellent shooting from the field and an air tight defense.

The Tigers started fast leading at the quarter 20-11 and maintained that margin during the second quarter with a 34-25 half-time lead. In the third period, Attucks increased the margin to 56-41 closing with a 23 point splurge to gain a 22 point victory. Crispus Attucks hit 32 out of 71 attempts from the field for .451 to Lafayette's 20 of 58 for .345 in the title game. Both squads were about even at the foul mark, the Tigers dropping 15 of 22 for .682 and the Bronchos 17 of 25 to stay close at .680.

Oscar Robertson broke the championship game scoring record by dropping in 39 points and his four game total of 105 beat the old
mark of 97 established in 1955.

In the first afternoon game, Lafayette Jefferson stepped by Elkhart 54-52. This game was a tight, tense battle all the way. The lead changed hands 14 times and the score tied on 12 occasions. The Blazers had possession of the ball with only 25 seconds to play in the game. After a time out they went to work on getting that one last shot but did not connect. At half time the Bronchos held a 30-25 advantage.

The champions dropped Terre Haute Gerstmeyer in the second afternoon game 68-59. In this game, they dropped in 27 of 57 field
attempts for a .473 shooting average while Gerstmeyer managed to garner only 22 out of 70 for .314. The Tigers led 25-18 and 37-30 at the first two quarter stops and it was 51-39 going into the fourth quarter.

All four clubs came to the final tourney with good won and lost records for the season. Crispus Attucks, 29-0, Lafayette Jefferson
24-4, Elkhart 23-4 and Terre Haute Gerstmeyer 26-7.

A total of 742 schools entered the sectional tourneys.

The Board of Control selected Dennis Tepe of Elkhart to receive the Arthur L. Trester Award for Mental Attitude.