Each Sunday, yours truly will take a look at some of the bigger stories and important notes of the week with a wrap up column.
This week we will look at things class by class as we have crowned Sectional champions.
CLASS 4A
Was Homestead the biggest winner locally in Class 4A? It could be true. Their Sectional at Wayne was the more challenging of the area’s three 4A sectionals, though both only had four teams so we didn’t see any action until Friday. Homestead had a tough road though, beating Huntington North and then host Wayne to win coach Chris Johnson‘s 10th Sectional title at the school. Friday it was Jake Coolman‘s 20 points to outdo Ethan Zahn‘s 15 points for Huntington North. Wayne advanced the finals convincingly after Chase Barnes scored 26 and Preston Comer added 22 in Friday’s win over South Side. In the finals, Homestead built up a comfortable lead before Wayne fired back. The Generals had chances to win or tie the game late, but didn’t convert in the 56-52 loss; Mack Welker led Homestead with 16 points.
Northrop‘s win over North Side on Friday was a big one for coach Shane Merryman‘s team in the 65-56 win. It set up a surprising finals battle with Carroll, who beat Snider by 20 behind 28 points from Paxton Crane and Miles Herring hitting three fourth quarter three pointers. On Saturday, Carroll topped Northrop 58-39 for the title as Crane scored 23 points this time. The win gives first year Carroll coach Chris Benedict his 9th Sectional title, something he has accomplished at four different schools over three different classes. The only stop on Benedict’s career where he didn’t win a postseason title is Wapahani, where he spent the first 3 seasons of his 33 year coaching career.
Warsaw continued to impress this week, playing really good basketball without Luke Bricker in the lineup. Saturday, the Tigers were one of three really fun overtime championship games as they topped Northridge 78-74. It was a really good win for Warsaw as they had four players in double figures, lead by Robbie Finlinson‘s 20; followed by 17 and an overtime forcing three from Parker Justice, 16 out of Mydin Burgher and 15 points from Brandt Martin.
CLASS 3A
On Tuesday night, Garrett opened up their home hosted Sectional by winning a 46-41 rubber match over Angola in a rematch of a decent regular season game, but most recently a fantastic NECC Tournament game that Garrett also won, but in overtime by a single point. The Railroaders’ win was their first in the postseason since 2009 and their first ever in Class 3A as Isaiah King had 14 points and 9 rebounds. Leo held off DeKalb in the next game after leading by as many as 12. Nolan Hiteshew led the Lions with 18 points. On Wednesday at Garrett, East Noble pushed back after Bishop Dwenger took them to overtime and the Knights outscored BD by 15 in overtime alone to win 67-52. Mason Treesh exploded in the fourth quarter and overtime to lead East Noble with 21 points while Kobe Ritchie had 17 points and 14 rebounds; Blackhawk Christian also beat Concordia on Wednesday at Garrett.
Leo ended Garrett’s big turnaround season of 19 wins on Friday as Jaiyre Sampson scored 20 points and Solomon Richard added 15. Leo also hit 20 free throws in their 33 appearances at the line in the game. Unfortunately for the Lions, Blackhawk Christian was waiting for them on Saturday in the title game after a 69-34 win over East Noble behind Kellen Pickett‘s 19 points. Pickett scored 17 points (15 in second half) and had 13 rebounds to lead the Braves to the 55-34 win on Saturday over Leo. The title is Blackhawk Christian’s 8th in a row over three difference classes due to success factor. It is an incredible run for the Braves, doing so under a variety of high caliber players and two different head coaches. Drake Sefton added 10 in the title game while the Braves held Leo to just one double digit scorer for the second time in as many weeks.
Elsewhere in Class 3A, Norwell opened up things at Bellmont on Tuesday night with a 10-point win over Mississinewa, holding off a good effort from Ole Miss’ star freshman Rayveon Fetz. Instead, it was the hoard of McBrides doing the Indians in, led by 19 points from Josh McBride, while Nick McBride followed with 13 and Adam McBride scored 11. The Knights got 22 from Josh McBride on Friday, but New Haven was well equipped to handle it as Jadrien Ezell scored 33 points, hitting on 9-of-16 three point attempts to send the Bulldogs to the title game. New Haven earned an intense game on Saturday, going to overtime with Marion in a wild contest. The game looked like it could be over in both ways throughout the game including a late big putback bucket from Lavell Ledbetter, but Marion ended up with the 92-88 victory in one of the highest scoring games in the state this season as Logan Barnes scored 25 and Tim Jones had 24 for the Giants.
At NorthWood, the host Panthers were upset by Columbia City on Tuesday, while Tippecanoe Valley topped West Noble. The exit of NorthWood from their own hosted Sectional so early really opened things up for a fun Friday and Saturday. That, in the end, meant that the Eagles were going to walk away from things as champions after beating the buzzer not once, but twice, to eliminate Tippy Valley on Saturday. Owen Marshall’s three at the regulation buzzer sent things to overtime, the third of the night for area teams. In OT, it was Stratton Fuller that put things away for Columbia City. Just really well known for his buzzer beaters, Fuller got a lob pass with less than two seconds to go and put it away over a Vikings defender for the win; Fuller scored 13 points in the second half and overtime.
CLASS 2A
As expected, Bishop Luers came out swinging in their Sectional at South Adams. Without Blackhawk Christian in this Class 2A sectional this season, most thoughts were that Luers could run the table and their effort Tuesday was a good start. Drelyn Truesdale and Danny Kelly each scored 18 to hold off Bluffton‘s Declan Greiser‘s 17 points. Kelly added six rebounds and three steals while Truesdale and Carmani Davis also each had three steals in the 71-51 win. The Knights would eventually topple a getting hot Woodlan team on Saturday in dominating fashion for the title. Woodlan got to Saturday by beating Whitko in the opening round behind Trey Yoder‘s 24 points and with a buzzer beating win over ACAC foe Adams Central Friday night. It was Yoder beating the buzzer for Woodlan in the 44-43 win behind his 20 points including three fourth quarter triples. That earned Woodlan a title game against Luers, who had beaten host South Adams convincingly on Friday night as Drelyn Truesdale surpassed 1,000 career points.
Westview continued their domination over the NECC by winning their Sectional on Saturday over Central Noble. The NECC champs topped all of the competition in the six-NECC team Sectional. On Friday, Kaden Grau was phenomenal as Westview avenged their lone conference loss by eliminating Lakeland 64-49. Grau dropped 35 points for the game but scored just two of them in the first quarter, after which the Lakers led Westview 10-8. The Warriors pushed back against a great effort from Central Noble in the finals though to win yet another title on their home court.
Is Manchester a state favorite now? They ran through their Class 2A Sectional and Gavin Betten was, of course, a big reason why. The senior surpassed 2,000 career points Friday in a 71-46 win over Rochester. On Saturday, they beat Oak Hill to give the program its first Sectional in 30 years. Betten scored 40 points in the win to outscore Oak Hill by himself.
CLASS 1A
Fremont came out swinging in their hosted Sectional but fell in overtime in Tuesday’s opener against Bethany Christian. Despite the loss, senior Ethan Grimm poured in a career best 28 points and Colten Guthrie scored 17 for the Eagles. Lakewood Park got one back for the area, beating Bethany on Friday behind Avery MacFarlane‘s 21 points and 18 rebounds. Canterbury picked up a victory Friday with a win over Lakeland Christian behind 18 points from Aran Padmalingam. Lakewood Park added a Sectional title to their trophy case on Saturday, upending defending Class 1A state champion Canterbury despite 16 points from Reed Hayes.
Davi Freitas made a pair of free throws with 29 seconds left to secure the 36-35 win. MacFarlane scored 16 points and had 11 rebounds to led the Panthers.
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