This was a season of big positives, big progress and big accomplishments. That it didn’t end ideally didn’t change that. Cathedral High School boys basketball turned in yet another solid season in 2024-2025, excelling against one of the state’s toughest schedules before a disappointing postseason ended an otherwise memorable season far too early. “Just being around these guys was a lot of fun,” Irish boys basketball coach Jason Delaney said. “It was a really good group of kids. Those are the positives of the season.” Added Delany, “Our guys improved; we saw a lot of improvement statistically. The whole point of coaching is the relationships for life and we feel like we established those.” The Irish, who finished the regular season No. 1 in the Class 3A Indiana Basketball Coaches Association state rankings and won the City Tournament, finished the 2024-2025 season 20-5. They won 11 consecutive late-season games before losing to Crispus Attucks, 59-54. in the Class 3A, Section 26 semifinals. The Irish led Attucks 48-37 after three quarters. “We just didn't finish it out for the first time all season long,” Delaney said. “We were really good in the fourth quarter and we kind of just fell apart.” Delaney called the finish particularly disappointing because the Irish in 2024-2025 were a tough, veteran team. “We had come back and won some pretty big games this year in the fourth quarter,” Delaney said. “We went into it (the fourth quarter against Attucks) with the lead and we just didn't make the plays necessary. “It’s daunting when you look at it and know you have to wait 365 days to get another chance at it. But we believe we’ll be right in the same category next year.” The Irish in 2024-2025 were led by: *Senior Brady Koehler (16.3 points per game, 6.6 rebounds per game, 3.0 assists per game), a 6-feet-9 swing player who will play collegiately at Notre Dame. “He didn’t play varsity his first two years and he just continued to develop,” Delaney said. “He was so versatile. He could do everything on the floor. We’ll miss that.” *Senior Aidan Hughes (7.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 1.5 apg). “He was just toughness and he did everything,” Delaney said. *Senior Deric Cannady (7.7 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 1.6 apg). *Senior Lebron Gough (6.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 3.2 apg). *Senior Lamose Waites (2.7 ppg, 1.3 rpg). “He played his freshman year and got cut his sophomore year,” Delaney said. “He never missed a workout from that spring on. He made the team his junior and senior year and did a great job this year.” Delaney called the senior class “a great group of kids.” “It’s kind of the end of an era,” Delaney said. “It’s the last guys from the [2022 Class 4A] state championship team. Now we start a new generation.” Also key for the Irish in ’24-25: *Junior Julien Smith (13.5 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 1.3 apg). *Junior Keaton Aldridge (11.2 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 3.4 apg). *Junior R’mani Wells (5.3 ppg, 2.5 rpg). *Sophomore Cash Daniels (4.1 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 2.1 apg) *Sophomore Skylar Rodgers (1.7 ppg). *Sophomore Owen Peterson (4.3 ppg, 2.6 rpg). “We went 20-5 and people keep saying what a great year it was, and it just doesn’t feel that way,” Delaney said. “The overall view of everyone in the program is it’s an extremely disappointing year just from the standpoint of the quality of the schedule that we played that we won 20 games against – and how it all just fell apart in a matter of eight minutes. “It's just disappointing. We fell short of where we wanted to go.” But even with an empty feeling at season’s end, Delaney said it is a sign of the overall program’s strength that the future remains bright even with the loss of a deep and talented senior class. “We feel we can win the title even though we graduate five guys,” Delaney said. “We’ve done a pretty good job in nine seasons as a coaching staff of guys graduating and we just keep going. There's never really a drop off because I think our coaching staff does a great job of developing players. “We return three Division I recruits, which is always a great base to start off of, but we have some other guys who got some really great experience this year and we had a freshman class who we feel we'll get a couple players out of. “It just kind of keeps going.”