Bethesda Christian senior breaks scoring record of his assistant coach... and brother.

BROWNSBURG – Sam Mlagan grew up wanting to be like his brother Jake.

“I remember every game like it was yesterday,” Sam said. “I was in fifth grade when he was a senior. I remember when he dropped 44 points, or he’d lose a game and I’d be crying. I looked up to him a lot.”

The past four years have been special for Sam, who is a senior at Bethesda Christian. Mlagan has helped the Patriots to sectional titles three of those four seasons, including this season. Class A No. 8 Bethesda Christian (20-7) will attempt to win its first regional title against No. 5 Clay City (21-5) at the Hatchet House in Washington on Saturday.

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Not only has Mlagan been able to help the Patriots to unprecedented team success (the program had just one sectional title prior to 2021), he has also been able to do it with Jake on the Bethesda bench. During last week’s sectional semifinal game against Purdue Poly North, Sam broke Jake’s all-time scoring record at Bethesda since the program became a member of the Indiana High School Athletic Association.

Sam is at 1,530 points and counting.

“Sam has been the ultimate winner for us,” Bethesda Christian coach Jon Grubaums said. “He really started as a lead by example guy who morphed into a guy who leads by example but can communicate. He’s grown so much in that aspect.”

When Grubaums took the job at Bethesda Christian in 2020, he asked Jake Mlagan to join him as an assistant. Jake, who graduated from Bethesda, in 2016 played one season at Division III Wheaton College (Ill.) before transferring to Indiana as a student.

“After that first year, I fell in love with it,” Jake said of coaching. “I love building a team. Starting at the beginning the year and not knowing what you have, seeing them go through adversity and going through the battles. Seeing a team grow closer is my favorite thing about it.”

It was also a chance for Jake to connect with his brothers, twins Sam and Isaac, who were incoming freshmen at the time.

“We always talked about what stays on the floor stays on the floor,” Jake said of coaching his brothers. “Then we can go back to being brothers off the court. I don’t know if I really appreciated until this last year. Not a lot of people get to coach their brothers.”

Sam passed the 1,000-point milestone before the end of his junior season as he averaged 16.9 points and 4.5 rebounds for a team that had a regional title in its sights but saw a late lead slip away in a 61-59 loss to Jac-Cen-Del. Grubaums said Sam breaking Jake’s scoring record was just a matter of time.

“We knew it was pretty likely going to happen this year,” Grubaums said. “Sam’s been kind of an iron man for us, too. He’s played varsity since his first game as a freshman so we had a good feeling it was going to happen.”

Sam and Isaac, the last of six Mlagan siblings, are two of seven seniors on the Bethesda roster. Grubaums said it is the closest team he has coached. “Whether we win Saturday or not,” he said, “this team has been something special.”

Sam, a 6-2 guard, is averaging 15.3 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.8 assists this season to lead the Patriots. But this team has been a bit more balanced than in previous years with seniors Luke Douglas (14.2 ppg, 2.5 assists) and Cooper Jackson (8.0 ppg, 5.8 rebounds) and junior Steven Tierney (6.3 ppg, 3.1 rebounds) as other top players. Isaac, who missed a few games due to injury, is averaging 5.7 points and 3.0 rebounds.

“Sam has really worked hard on his game and improved a lot as a player,” Jake said. “But I’m most proud of how he’s grown as a leader from his freshman to senior year. I’m super proud of him for that. I think that’s his biggest improvement. It’s incredible how he’s matured.”

Until the twins were old enough to drive themselves home from practice, Jake had that responsibility.

“He was hard on us,” Sam said. “But we needed that. I respect him and feel like I take his advice and encouragement really well. I love having him as a coach.”

Sam said he was not aware how close he was to breaking his brother’s scoring record until he was about eight points away in the sectional semifinal.

“It was cool to do it on the homecourt with everybody here and Jake coaching,” Sam said.

For the record, Jake was cheering for Sam to break his record. So was Isaac.

“I have a little twin bias,” Isaac said. “I’ve been playing with him since kindergarten so it’s awesome to see all his work pay off.”

Sam said he might not have broken his brother’s record if not for his coaches. Including Jake, of course.

“He saw potential in us,” Sam said. “He’s harder on me than anyone else but I love that.”

Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IHSAA basketball: Sam Mlagan breaks Bethesda Christian scoring record