Luke Karam took a step back and nailed an imaginary three-pointer in the middle of the Giant Center arena Saturday night in Hershey.

His shot hit nothing but net, as the illustrious Bethlehem Catholic senior collected his third straight PIAA gold medal with a 1-0 decision over Central Dauphin’s Tyshawn White (49-1) in the 126-pound AAA championship.

His celebratory jumper was greeted with boos, but Karam expressed the most joy he ever has following a victory in his four years at Becahi, jumping into the arms of his coaches, including his father, Jeff Karam, before sprinting into the emotional hallways of the arena with a smile as wide as the joker.

“I think this was emotional for me because it’s my last match,” said Karam of his post championship boisterous mood. “I’ve been through a lot this year, dealing with different injuries and just being banged up. I thought I could have been a little more offensive in the finals, but I got it done.”

There isn’t much that Karam (37-3) hasn’t been able to do during his tenure in the brown and gold, where he arguably will go down as the program’s best wrestler to ever put on the singlet.

He leaves with a career record of 156-10 and an astonishing 43-1 postseason mark, with that one loss coming in the AA state finals his freshman year.

Through it all, Karam has always come out on top, which is why Saturday’s prevailing victory was no surprise.

“To be honest, I wanted Tyshawn in the finals,” Karam said. “He beat me 4-3 earlier this year and I wanted to get some revenge. He’s a fantastic wrestler, but this win probably means the most, because this was going to be the last time my dad was going to be in my corner.”

It did, however, come under duress, as White took a shot late in the third period that everyone in the arena, except for Becahi fateful, hoped would equate into a stunning takedown. Instead, it was a dramatic victory capping off a tremendous four-year run.

“He didn’t give up a point the entire tournament and still managed to get booed,” said Luke’s father, Jeff, with a laugh. “If people only knew how great of a kid Luke is and how hard he works, he gets everything he deserves.

“It wasn’t a pretty win [over White], but he won. Luke is such a complete wrestler. He was a man on the mission and he was better than Tyshawn White on the mat today.”

The only point awarded in Karam’s championship bout was a second period escape that he used to grind out the difficult victory.

His father just wished it would have come with less stress involved.

“I was nervous at the end because you never know what’s going to happen with a teenager out there,” he said. “He got a warning for stalling earlier in the match and then things got a little hairy there at the end, but we do a thing in the room called ‘play wrestling’, where we just have two guys rolling around in awkward situations.

“My assistant Randy [Cruz] looked at me after that match was over and said ‘play wrestling.’ If we don’t practice that type of stuff, I don’t think Luke comes out of that match with a win.”

The win also closed out the final time this father-son combo will ever be able to coach and compete at the same time.

“It’s the last time I’m ever going to coach my son and it’s really special,” Karam said. “He will go down as one of the best wrestlers from District 11 ever. He’s never lost to a wrestler from District 11. He’s never lost a league match and he’s been in the state final all four years. God blessed me with two unbelievable sons and I’m really proud right now.”