SECTIONAL RECAPS for Tuesday 3/3

Some outstanding play marked the first big night of Sectional play across the state of Indiana. Two top ranked 4A teams battled and were on the ropes throughout the game. Who came out victorious? And a few upsets were in the makings against highly ranked teams. Which underdogs were able to slay their Goliath? Read on to find out!

Sectional 3: South Bend Clay 59 - South Bend Riley 45 - Clay (16-6) got off to a blistering start, leading 15-4 after the first quarter, and they never looked back. The Colonials had multiple double-digit scorers, led by Brad Cameron, who had 25 points. Andrew Adeniyi added 13 points and IWU-bound George Jones added 11 points. Riley (15-7) got nice performances from two departing seniors, as Larry King scored 12 points and Karl Columbus chipped in with 11 points. Clay will face Mishawaka (13-8) on Friday in the semifinals.

Sectional 4: Warsaw 75 - Concord 72 - The top ten ranked Tigers from Warsaw (19-2) were supposed to waltz through this one with relative ease, and it looked to be the case heading into the second half. Concord (13-8) had other ideas, however. The Minutemen cut the lead to seven heading into the fourth and outscored the Tigers 19-15 in the final frame, but it simply was too little, too late. Sophomore sensation Nic Moore led Warsaw with 23 points, while Justin Clemens added 20 and Ryne Robinson contributed 14 points. David Yoder led Concord with 20 points, and the team as a whole hit ten three pointers. Warsaw moves on to face Elkhart Memorial (11-9) in the semifinals.

Sectional 6: Marion 94 - Ft. Wayne North 86 - The Redskins (13-8) upset bid fell just short against the number six ranked team in 4A. Senior guard Justin Jordan put on a scoring barrage, a frenzied scoring spree, going for 40 points on the night, which included six treys and an outstanding 16 for 18 from the line. North actually led the Giants (18-3) by the score of 76-73 midway through the fourth quarter, but that's when Marion senior JaRob McCallum went to work. He scored two consecutive buckets, and the Giants never trailed again. McCallum, a UW Milwaukee recruit, finished with 27 points, as did NC State signee Scott Wood. North also got 20 points from Reggie Lytle. Marion moves on to face Jay County, a one-time top ten 4A team, on Friday.

Sectional 7: Lafayette Jeff 74 - Logansport 49 - Playing in front of their home crowd, the Bronchos (17-7) staked their claim as the dominant team in the Jeff Sectional by manhandling the Berries (12-9). Widebody Shane Wyant led the charge for Jeff, scoring 25 points and pulling down 19 rebounds with his non-stop motor. Junior guard Jesse Berry added 24 points, and in doing so, broke the Jeff single-season scoring mark held by Mark Jewell. The Bronchos also got another solid game from Roddy Richardson who scored ten points, grabbed seven of the boards Wyant didn't gobble up, and dished out five dimes. The Berries tried to use long-range gunning to knock off Jeff, but they were 10 for 37 as a team from deep, and leading scorer Jordan Champion, while finishing with 16 points, was 4 of 16 from downtown. Jeff will meet Kokomo in the next round Friday night.

Sectional 8: Anderson 73 - Pendleton Heights 50 - The Indians (18-4) thoroughly outplayed the Arabians (12-9) and it showed up on the scoreboard. Troy Taylor notched yet another double-double as he continues to regain the passion he played with earlier this season, going for 24 points and 14 boards. Heights got solid performances from Nathan Hendershot and Kendall Waters, who finished with 15 and 12 points, respectively. Anderson advances to face Anderson Highland in the next round after the Scots handled Connersville last night as well, 45-37.

Sectional 9: Noblesville 51 - Zionsville 45 - The Eagles (18-3) dream season came to an abrupt end last night on the Millers (13-8) home floor. Zionsville had aspirations of winning their first Sectional title in a loaded bracket for the first time since the 1994-1995 season. Noblesville, who had won four in a row heading into this one, got behind a fully healthy Leland Brown and shut down the high powered Eagles, who were led by David Smith, with only ten points and six rebounds. The Millers will take on Hamilton Southeastern (13-7) and Charlie Duffy Friday night. The Royals were winners of seven in row before a regular season-ending loss to Jeff.

Sectional 10: North Central 73 - Cathedral 61 - The most highly anticipated game of the night did not disappoint, despite the margin in the final score. The two teams, which are both in the top seven of 4A, went back and forth all night, with eight ties and eleven lead changes, until North Central (22-1) put the game away with eleven consecutive points during a fourth quarter stretch that lasted just under two minutes. The Irish (20-3) led the game 42-39 going into the fourth, and the game was tied at 54 apiece with just under four minutes remaining. But that's when the Panthers, led by senior Damon Ellison, put the game away for good with that timely spurt. Ellison led the Panthers with 19 points, which was huge since Purdue-bound junior Terone Johnson was hampered with foul trouble. Cathedral senior Kelsey Barlow, another future Boilermaker, played admirably, dishing out assists to teammates, finishing with around ten helpers. North Central advances to face Lawrence Central (10-9) on Friday.

Sectional 17: Gary Roosevelt 95 - Gary Lew Wallace 84 - This upset was helped out by Lew Wallace (14-7) being without one of their best players due to an untimely grades issue. Damion McGee was ruled academically ineligible at the worst possible time, and his teammates sorely missed him, as the fell to Roosevelt (10-8) after previously beating them 74-67 only twelve days prior. The quickness of the Panthers was able to neutralize the size of the Hornets. Steven Jenkins scored 29 points in the win, and Thomas Pierce added 23 points of his own. Super-soph Branden Dawson, who has an offer from Purdue, led Wallace with 31 points. Roosevelt moves on to face Hammond Gavit (4-16) Friday night.

Sectional 26: Brebeuf Jesuit 71 - Indianapolis Northwest 55 - The Braves (13-8) used their stingy defense to hold the much more athletic Space Pioneers (9-12) in check all night long. Junior guard Evan Kroot led Brebeuf with 19 points, including some timely threes, and Austin Bruen added 11 points. Senior guard Eric Prather led Northwest with 18 points, while junior wing Ronald Ross, a transfer from Washington, added 13 points. The Braves advance to face off with the high-octane Howe Hornets (14-7), who are without top player Jordan Manuel due to an injured hand.

Sectional 34 - North Judson 57 - Boone Grove 45 - The final score is not representative of how this game began, with fourteen lead changes in the first nineteen minutes of play. But midway through the third quarter, the Bluejays (16-5) took control for good. With the score 32-31 at half in favor of the Wolves (13-7), North Judson clamped down on defense, allowing Boone Grove only five points in the third frame. Freshman big man John Eckert led the way for the winners with 16 points, while a full-strength Myles Thies added 14 points of his own. Michael Eleftheri scored 13 points in the loss. The Bluejays will take on Hebron (5-13) in the next round.

Sectional 63: North Daviess 57 - Loogootee 47 - The winners of this game led big early on by a 15-2 margin midway through the first. Loogootee (12-9), a scrappy team, didn't fold, but fought back to 19-15 after the first. It was nip-and-tuck throughout, but North Daviess (17-5), a top ten 1A squad, proved their pedigree by pulling away in the second half. Thomas Nugent scored 16 points in the win, while teammate Jacob Miller scored 15 points. Loogootee got a game high 17 points from Roland Slaubaugh in the losing effort. The Cougars move on to face last year's Sectional champ Barr-Reeve (18-3) in a clash of 1A titans on Friday night, with the Vikings looking to avenge and earlier 50-44 loss to the Cougars. This should be a great one, as Barr-Reeve is hot and the higher ranked of the two, but the Sectional is being played at North Daviess.

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