IHSAA boys basketball state tournament: An Insider's look ahead to sectional weekend

Time to reset.

Two nights and one round of IHSAA sectional basketball is in the books. There are 256 teams still dreaming of holding that sectional championship trophy — from Class 4A No. 1 Fishers to 2-18 Smith Academy in Class A. By late Saturday night, just 64 teams will remain.

Bouncing around a bit here as we look ahead to the weekend:

Five best Friday semifinal sites

Call these the “best bang-for-your-buck” for two games:

∎ Sectional 8 at Noblesville: I don’t think it is arguable this year. The 4,200 capacity Noblesville gym was sold out by Thursday morning. Not only do you have No. 2 Noblesville (21-2) vs. No. 3 Westfield (19-2), but you also have top-ranked Fishers (23-1) against Mudsock rival Hamilton Southeastern. The combined record of the four teams: 78-14. Hamilton Southeastern (15-9) has most of the losses, including 0-3 against the remaining teams, but played Noblesville to a double-overtime game and only lost to Fishers by seven points. Noblesville’s only two losses are to Fishers and Westfield. Drama at “The Mill.” Five stars. I’m picking Noblesville and Fishers to get through.

More: Fishers, Noblesville wins mean No. 1, 2, 3 will play on same night in same gym in semis

∎ Sectional 10 at Lawrence North: It feels like No. 7 Cathedral (17-5) and No. 5 Lawrence North (22-3) have been on a collision course, but that game would not happen until Saturday. First, Cathedral has to get through Warren Central (14-10) and Lawrence North has to deal with Crispus Attucks (19-6) in a Marion County champion vs. City champion showdown. These are both rematch games but from the way back machine. Cathedral beat Warren Central 92-71 in the season opener; Lawrence North beat Attucks 72-71 on Dec. 19. I’m taking Cathedral and Lawrence North to advance to Saturday.

More: McGrew's fingerprints on Lawrence North's sectional win over North Central

∎ Sectional 37 at Bluffton: This 2A sectional is LOADED. The early game will matchup defending state champion and sixth-ranked Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian (18-6) against Adams Central (20-4). Blackhawk Christian has won 18 consecutive sectional games dating to a 77-75 loss to Lakewood Park in a 2017 Class A sectional final. Adams Central played Blackhawk Christian to a seven-point loss in last year’s sectional title game. The second game between fifth-ranked Fort Wayne Bishop Luers (19-5) and Whitko (19-4) will be good, too. Potential of a Luers-Blackhawk Christian championship, which could potentially determine a state finalist. I think that matchup will happen.

∎ Sectional 9 at Greenfield-Central: The potential Greenfield-Central vs. New Palestine matchup will bring all of Hancock County … but you have to get to Saturday first. New Palestine (20-5) plays Pendleton Heights, a more dangerous team that its 11-12 record might show. The Arabians lost to New Pal by three points in January and took Greenfield-Central to double overtime. Pendleton Heights has six losses by six points or less. Seniors Josiah Gustin (14.7 ppg) and Seth LaRavia (9.1 ppg) and junior Evan Mozingo (10.1 ppg) will look to match New Palestine juniors Julius Gizzi (29.5 ppg, 8.4 rebounds), Moses Haynes (11.3 ppg, 7.0 assists) and Ben Slagley (9.5 ppg, 7.0 rebounds). Braylon Mullins and Greenfield-Central (23-0) puts its unbeaten mark on the line against Muncie Central (8-16), which provided one of the stunners of the first two nights with a 54-51 victory over 20-win Richmond on Wednesday.

More: Third time's the charm for Greenfield-Central vs. Anderson as state's last unbeaten advances

∎ Sectional 1 at East Chicago Central: Hammond Morton nearly pulled off one off the biggest shockers so far as the 7-17 Governors fell 67-66 in double overtime to Munster on Tuesday night. Munster (17-8) got through to set up a matchup with Lake Central (18-3) in a rematch of a game Lake Central won 40-37 on Dec. 19. Lake Central 6-6 senior Jake Smith is a good one. The other game is Gary West Side (15-8) vs. East Chicago Central (20-4). The Cardinals had to knock off a tough Merrillville team 60-55 to advance. Dominique Murphy (21.1 ppg, 9.4 rebounds) is one of the top juniors in the state. I'll take Lake Central vs. East Chicago Central.

“OTHER” 10 BEST GAMES

Outside of those sectional matchups listed above, here are five matchups that will be worth your money (even if the other game isn’t great):

Crown Point (17-5) vs. Valparaiso (19-6): Crown Point won the regular season game by three. Winner likely gets host Chesterton for Sectional 2 championship.

Terre Haute North (21-3) vs. Brownsburg (14-11): Terre Haute North takes an 18-game winning streak into a Sectional 12 matchup at Terre Haute South against a Brownsburg team that has been playing its best of late.

Franklin (16-4) vs. Whiteland (15-10): These Johnson County schools travel to East Central for a Sectional 14 game that will likely decide the sectional. These teams split two three-point games over a 10-day span in January.

South Bend St. Joseph (15-9) vs. Mishawaka Marian (17-8): The winner of Sectional 19 at South Bend Washington might be the favorite to represent the north half of 3A in the state finals. Mishawaka Marian won the regular season meeting 54-51.

Lawrenceburg (17-7) vs. Greensburg (18-7): This game went double overtime during the regular season with Greensburg eeking out a 46-42 win. Greensburg is the host here in Sectional 29.

Clinton Prairie (18-3) vs. Lafayette Central Catholic (15-8): Clinton Prairie has not won a sectional since 1982. Tough matchup here in Class 2A Sectional 38.

Brownstown Central (22-4) vs. Southwestern (Hanover) (21-3): Class 2A top-ranked Brownstown Central will have to get through host No. 7 Southwestern in Sectional 46 just to get to a showdown with No. 4 Providence.

Linton-Stockton (18-4) vs. Sullivan (19-5): Sullivan took down host Paoli in Class 2A Sectional 47. Next up in last year’s 2A state runner-up.

Tindley (16-8) vs. Lutheran (14-8): Defending Class A state champion Lutheran has a challenge here in Sectional 59 at Lutheran.

Barr-Reeve (21-2) vs. Loogootee (16-7): Whew. Class A top-ranked Barr-Reeve at No. 7 Loogootee in Sectional 63. The winner gets No. 3 Orleans (likely) on Saturday.

Wildest sectional

How about Class 3A Sectional 23 at Mississinewa, where the three first-round games were decided by a total of six points. No. 8 Bellmont is out. Maconaquah is out. Norwell is out. You could argue those were the top three teams — with a combined 49 wins — in the sectional. Mississinewa (15-8), a 57-55 winner over Bellmont, will play Northwestern (12-7) in the first semifinal on Friday. Oak Hill (13-10), a 67-66 winner over Maconaquah, will play Peru (13-10), which knocked off Norwell 45-42. Wild stuff.

Zionsville, North Central look for better days ahead

An up-and-down season for Zionsville ended Tuesday night in Class 4A Sectional 8 at Noblesville with a 67-49 loss to the host Millers. The Eagles (11-13) did not have enough firepower to keep up with second-ranked Noblesville, which put four players in double figures, led by Aaron Fine’s 18 points.

Zionsville’s top players, juniors Drew Snively (18 points) and Maguire Mitchell (10 points), were effective at times but held 11 points under their combined average. The points the duo did score were hard-earned and included a 55-foot bomb from Snively at the end of the third quarter.

“Any attempt that those two had at the rim was always contested,” Zionsville coach JR Howell said. “They had to move around with it. I would have maybe liked to see them get more contact like they did in the second half, but they just did a really job of guarding those lanes and they made it difficult for us to get any type of penetration because of that.”

It was the third consecutive year for Zionsville to lose to Noblesville in the sectional, including last year in the title game at Carmel.

“It’s three years in a row now they have killed us in the paint,” Howell said. “Hopefully it’s something we can look at and figure out what’s going on and get corrected going into next year.”

The good news for Zionsville is that the 6-6 Mitchell (21.3 ppg, 5.2 rebounds) and 6-5 Snively (17.8 ppg, 3.9 rebounds) return next season, along with third-leading scorer, Jackson Tielker (6.3 ppg).

“We got a lot of guys who got experience (Tuesday night) and that’s huge for building for next year,” Howell said. “We still have to put together a good offseason plan and figure out how to figure out and fix the flaws that we have. We have some pieces, but we have to figure out how to make our weaknesses a little better.”

Much of the same could be said for North Central, which battled fifth-ranked Lawrence North for three-plus quarters before the Wildcats pulled away for a 65-51 victory on Wednesday night in Sectional 10 at Lawrence North.

North Central will miss seniors Jaxson Bell (12.4 ppg, 4.9 rebounds) and Tim Williams (10.0 ppg, 2.8 rebounds), the team’s second and third-leading scorers, but return leading scorer Papi Rivera, who led the Panthers with 21 points on Wednesday, along with juniors Nijah Jewell and Denhm Holt, sophomores Gavin Petty and Chrishon Woodward and freshman Jeremiah Bellamy, who all played major minutes on Wednesday.

“We have a great core coming back,” said third-year coach Kevin Gant. “They learned from Jaxson and Tim. I thought Jaxson did a great job leading by example since lost to these guys (Lawrence North) last year. We came in and worked and our bodies got stronger. I tip my hat to those seniors and for those young guys, that locker room is super emotional. So that gave me hope that they care about this and fueled them to really go to work after these next couple weeks and get back to it.”

Final thoughts

∎ (Not a complaint) but already spent one game this week with a guy screaming in my ear ABOUT EVERY CALL that went against his team. Advice: expect not to get every call going in. I get it. Fans are biased. I’ve been there. The officials aren’t going to get everything right. Screaming about every single call isn’t helping anything, including my hearing.

∎ Trent Sisley’s Heritage Hills team was eliminated by Princeton, 57-52, in Class 3A Sectional 31 at Princeton. Quite a turnaround from Heritage Hills’ 15-point win last week.

∎ Heritage Hills is one of four misses already on my 64 predicted sectional champions. I also missed on Mt. Vernon (lost to New Palestine in Sectional 9), Maconaquah (lost to Oak Hill in Sectional 23) and Bethany Christian (lost in overtime to Elkhart Christian in Sectional 59). I’m sure I’ll get 60 out of 64.

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

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana basketball: A brief reset before high school sectional weekend