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The Indiana Pacers will honor the eight Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) 2017 state basketball champions during Thursday's game against the Milwaukee Bucks during the final "Hickory Night" of the season. Continue reading to learn more about each state champion. (Note: All quotes are from the Indianapolis Star)

Four girls state champions were crowned on Feb. 25 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, including two schools winning their first state title in any sport and one winning its first girls basketball championship.

Wood Memorial, located in Oakland City and coached by Johnnie Bartley, defeated Union City 68-43 to take home the Class A title and finish the season 28-1. The Trojans' victory was Wood Memorial's first state title in any sport.

Boasting four senior starters, Wood Memorial wore down Union City throughout the game, especially on the boards, where the Trojans posted a 46-23 rebounding advantage.

Class 2A: Eastern (Pekin) 42, Oak Hill 31

The Class 2A title game also featured a school winning its first-ever state championship. Eastern High School, in Pekin, defeated Oak Hill 42-31. The 2016-17 season was a season of firsts for Eastern, as the Musketeers not only won their school's first state title, but also won the girls basketball program's first regional and semi-state titles along the way.

"We're going to do a good job of celebrating this one for as long as we can," Eastern head coach Mike McBride said. "It might be December before we get focused again."

Class 3A: South Bend St. Joseph 57, North Harrison 49

In Class 3A, South Bend St. Joseph defeated North Harrison 57-49 to win the program's second state championship. The game was a defensive struggle, with both teams shooting below 37 percent from the field.

The Indians' coaching staff, comprised of head coach Sydney Smallbone and assistants Melissa Lechlitner and Kristin Dockery, were all members of St. Joseph's 2005 state championship team. Smallbone became the first person to win an Indiana girls state title as both a player and head coach.

"It took every single player on our team buying in and investing," Smallbone said about this year's team, which finished the season 26-2.

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To finish out the night, Homestead (Fort Wayne) defeated Pike (Indianapolis) 61-54 in the Class 4A title game. The game featured nine lead changes and neither team led by more than eight points throughout the contest.

Although the win marked Homestead's first girls basketball state title, The Fieldhouse was not unfamiliar territory; the Spartans were state runner-ups in 2015, helping to set the goal of winning it all in the future.

"This team played through a lot of expectations," Homestead head coach Rod Parker said.

"To be able to get it done under the pressure and expectations they played through is special."

The boys state finals, held on March 25 at The Fieldhouse, had a strong local presence and were full of late-game drama. Three of the four champions hailed from Indianapolis and each of those three teams won by three points or less.

Class A: Tindley 51, Lafayette Central Catholic 49

In the Class A final, Indianapolis' Tindley Academy defeated Lafayette Central Catholic 51-49. The Tigers hit a shot in the final seconds and stole LCC's inbounds pass to seal the victory, Tindley's first state championship in any sport.

It was an evenly matched game with four ties and five lead changes, and each team's largest lead was just six points. The Tigers finished the season 24-5.

"I'm just so happy," Tindley head coach Bob Wonnell said after the game. "I've been in team sports since seventh grade and we've never finished my year like this where we won our last game. It's amazing. We did it."

Class 2A: Frankton 60, Crawford County 32

The Class 2A final involved an historic defensive performance as Frankton defeated Crawford County 60-32. Frankton recorded 19 steals, an all-class record in state championship games, and the 32 points were the fewest allowed in a Class 2A final.

"Obviously this ranks up there defensively for us," Frankton head coach Brent Brobston said. "Our kids knew what they had to do to win the game. The came out, competed and played hard, and did exactly what we had planned. In the state-championship game you expect your players to step up defensively. It's a credit to our kids and how well they played defensively."

This was Frankton's second trip to the state finals in three years, as the Eagles fell to Park Tudor in 2015. Frankton finished the season 23-6.

Class 3A: Crispus Attucks 73, Twin Lakes 71

The Class 3A final included more last-second drama and saw one of the country's most historic programs once again reach the pinnacle of high school basketball.

Indianapolis' Crispus Attucks, which became the first all-black school in America to win an open state title in 1955, defeated Twin Lakes 73-71 on a putback layup as the clock wound down.

It was a back-and-forth game with seven ties and nine lead changes, and Twin Lakes led by as many as nine late in the third quarter, but Attucks fought back.

The team, which finished the season 25-4, won the school's first state championship since 1959 with Attucks and NBA legend Oscar Robertson—among many other former Tigers from that era—in attendance.

Robertson donned the team with their championship medals during the postgame ceremony.

Class 4A: Ben Davis 55, Fort Wayne North Side 52

To round out the festivities, Indianapolis' Ben Davis defeated Forth Wayne North Side 55-52 in the Class 4A championship.

The Giants, who finished the season 23-5 and on a 14-game win streak, took home their third boys basketball championship in their first finals appearance since winning back-to-back titles in 1995 and '96.

They prided themselves all season on winning with a team-first mentality.

"We've been nameless and faceless all year. It's not one or two guys," Giants coach Mark James said. "It's been a team effort all year. That's what we've talked about since day one."

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Pacers Honor IHSAA 2017 Basketball State Champion Teams

Wheat Hotchkiss

As the saying goes, "In 49 states it's just basketball, but this is Indiana." On Saturday, the Hoosier State's love for the game will be on full display when FOX Sports Indiana broadcasts the first-ever Basketball Day in Indiana.

FOX Sports Indiana will broadcast five games — three marquee high school matchups, Butler hosting Cincinnati, and the Pacers' 1970s Decade Game against Portland — as part of 13 continuous hours of live basketball coverage.

According to FOX Sports Indiana senior vice president and general manager Jack Donovan, the idea was inspired by Hockey Day Minnesota, a partnership between FOX Sports North and the Minnesota Wild, where they broadcast high school, college, and NHL games on the same day.

"I've seen that for a few years and I've thought 'Basketball Day in Indiana' just makes a whole lot of sense because the people in Indiana are as passionate about basketball as the people in Minnesota are passionate about hockey," Donovan said.

So last spring, FOX Sports approached the Pacers and Fever with the idea. The organization was thrilled with the concept. So, too, were the IHSAA and Butler, and Basketball Day in Indiana was born.

Saturday's coverage begins at 8:00 AM with two half-hour taped TV specials celebrating some of the great stories in Indiana high school basketball history, The Wigwam and The Milan Miracle. Then, at 9:00 AM, live coverage tips off from Georgia Street outside Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Donovan said that Georgia Street will be "the center of activity" for the day. The FOX Sports set will be outside and they'll have large monitors so fans can watch the day's action. They also will have a variety of activities going on outside, so fans will have a chance to do anything from shoot free throws for prizes to meet Pacers mascot Boomer and members of the Indiana Pacemates dance team.

At 10:00 AM, the basketball games will start, beginning with a high school doubleheader at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The first game is a matchup between the Carmel and Center Grove girls basketball teams. Then at noon, the Lapel and New Castle boys teams will square off.

Admission for both of those games is free and open to the public. For fans who can't make it to The Fieldhouse, both games will air across the state on FOX Sports Indiana and will be simulcast nationally on FOX College Sports. Pacers broadcaster Pat Boylan will handle play-by-play duties for both games and will be joined by Fever TV analyst Tully Bevilaqua for the girls game and Pacers TV analyst Eddie Gill for the boys game.

Then at 2:00 PM, the action will shift over to Southport High School for a must-see meeting between the two top-ranked boys teams in Class 4A. New Albany, ranked first in this week's AP poll, will take on second-ranked North Central. Like the games at The Fieldhouse, this game will also air statewide on FOX Sports Indiana with a national simulcast on FOX College Sports.

The Pacers TV broadcast duo of Chris Denari and Quinn Buckner will call the game at Southport. Despite a grueling travel schedule, both Denari and Buckner jumped at the opportunity to participate in this statewide celebration of basketball. They will broadcast the Pacers' 8:00 PM game on Friday night in Dallas — the final stop on a five-game Western Conference road trip — before flying back to Indianapolis, where they'll call the game at Southport at 2:00 PM and then the Pacers game at 7:00 PM. All told, Denari and Buckner will call three games at three different locations in less than 24 hours.

Following the conclusion of the New Albany-North Central game, live coverage will resume from Georgia Street until 4:30 PM, when Butler hosts Cincinnati in a top-25 showdown at Hinkle Fieldhouse. The Bulldogs are currently ranked 16th in the AP poll, while the visiting Bearcats are 22nd. In addition to airing statewide on FOX Sports Indiana, the Butler game will also air nationally on FS1.

Finally, at 6:30 PM, the Pacers Live pregame show will air from Bankers Life Fieldhouse, leading into the Pacers-Trail Blazers game at 7:00 PM. As part of the Pacers' 50th season celebration, Saturday's game is a Decade Game, and they'll be honoring the Pacers greats from the 1970s. All fans in attendance will receive a bobblehead of either Hall of Famer Mel Daniels or Pacers legend George McGinnis.

Rather fittingly for Basketball Day in Indiana, McGinnis is the perfect embodiment of the state's rich basketball history, having starred in Indiana at the high school, college, and professional levels. McGinnis was Mr. Basketball in 1969 out of Washington High School, was an All-American at Indiana University in 1971, and starred for the Pacers in both the ABA and NBA. He was named MVP of the 1973 ABA Finals and shared regular season MVP honors with Julius Erving in 1974-75.

Coverage will conclude with the Pacers Live postgame show from Bankers Life Fieldhouse, followed immediately by a Basketball Day in Indiana Live wrap-up show on Georgia Street, putting a bow on a busy day of basketball across the state.

The hope is that Basketball Day in Indiana, like Hockey Day Minnesota, becomes a yearly tradition.

"The big vision is an annual event, just a celebration of basketball in Indiana," Donovan said.

Basketball fans across the state can participate by attending the games, joining the live broadcast on Georgia Street, watching on FOX Sports Indiana or posting on social media with #BasketballDayIndiana. Please note that admission is free for the 10:00 AM and 12:00 PM high school games at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

IHSAA

Pacers Honor IHSAA 2017 Basketball State Champion Teams

First-Ever Basketball Day in Indiana Full of Exciting Matchups