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1914 – present
The finals trips: The IHSAA Boys Basketball Records Book's appearances table gives Mishawaka exactly two State Finals appearances: 1914 and 1927. Neither team reached the championship game, and the school holds no boys basketball state title.
1914, first-hand: The South Bend News-Times of 10 March 1914 records the first trip in the week it happened: Mishawaka's squad, coached by Hindelang, went to the state tournament at Bloomington, and the trip's expenses were raised locally by charging cash admission at the South Bend–Mishawaka game — the town paid for its team out of a gate.
The modern high-water mark: The 2023–24 Cavemen, playing in The Cave — the gymnasium's standing name — finished 20–8 with a share of the Northern Lakes Conference championship, won back-to-back sectional championships for the first time since 1927–1928, and won a regional title for the first time since 1955, before losing the semi-state semifinal to Fort Wayne Wayne 62–47 at Elkhart's North Side Gym (the school's own athletics record, 20 March 2024). The 2025–26 team finished 6–17, its season ending in a 57–55 first-round sectional loss to South Bend Adams at The Cave (South Bend Tribune, 3 March 2026).
Sources:
- IHSAA Boys Basketball State Championship Records Book (last update 16 July 2026) — appearances by team: 1914, 1927.
- South Bend News-Times, 10 March 1914 (Hoosier State Chronicles) — the first trip, Coach Hindelang, the admission-funded expenses.
- cavemensports.com (School City of Mishawaka athletics), 20 March 2024 — the 2023–24 season lines.
- South Bend Tribune, 3 March 2026 — the 2025–26 sectional loss at The Cave.