Top Storylines from North Posey @ South Knox

Friday night, I traveled to Vincennes to watch the South Knox Spartans take on the visiting North Posey Vikings. On paper, it seemed like a great game, but on the court, it proved to be a different story. South Knox outshot, outrebounded and outhustled North Posey en route to an easy 19 point lead halfway through the third quarter. However, thanks to a North Posey full-court press and some unnecessary rushing by South Knox, the Vikings were able to cut the lead down to single digits, but in the end, the deficit was too much to overcome. Now, let’s look at five storylines from Friday night’s action.   1. Both teams will need to step up their play if they want a Sectional title As we look ahead to the Sectional draw in just over three weeks, we see that both of these teams are going to have a difficult road to a sectional championship. For South Knox, their road runs through Linton-Stockton who currently sits as the #5 team in 2A. These schools face off next week with Linton-Stockton as a 15 point favorite, but should South Knox shoot the ball well, they have a chance. For North Posey, they also have a tough sectional with South Spencer and Evansville Mater Dei both in the top 15 in 2A. North Posey fell to both of these schools earlier in the regular season, but the deficits in the two games were 6 and 12 points respectively. If <a href="https://prephoops.com/player/josiah-ricketts/">Josiah Ricketts</a> can heat up and the Vikings can find another play to help him consistently, they have as good of a chance as ever to win the sectional championship.   2. <a href="https://prephoops.com/player/justin-fickling/">Justin Fickling</a> has the ability to play at the next level There is no doubt in my mind that <a href="https://prephoops.com/player/justin-fickling/">Justin Fickling</a> was the best player on the court on Friday night. He showed his athleticism early with nifty moves to the basket. On the defensive end, he showed off his nonstop hustle with 4 steals and 2 blocks. He also saved a couple of possessions late by hustling back on defense. On the offensive end, he finished with 7-10 shooting all inside the paint. He was able to create his own space through the defense with ease. He ended with an 18 point and 13 rebound performance for the double-double. Fickling has grown up his entire life wanting to attend Vincennes University, but with his senior year coming to an end, he has been thinking more and more about the possibilities of playing college basketball. He has yet to receive any offers to play at the next level, but there is no doubt in my mind that Fickling has all of the attributes for a college player. Every college coach hopes that their players have heart and hustle, and Fickling has an endless amount of both of those. If he is noticed, he has the potential to have an outstanding college career.   3. North Posey is going to struggle when <a href="https://prephoops.com/player/josiah-ricketts/">Josiah Ricketts</a> struggles <a href="https://prephoops.com/player/josiah-ricketts/">Josiah Ricketts</a> came into Friday night’s game putting up over 24 points per game throughout the season. However, thanks to an outstanding defensive performance by the Spartans, they were able to hold him to 3-11 shooting and 12 points. This was only the third time this season that Ricketts has been held to under 20 points. Ricketts’ struggles were a big reason for the big early deficit that the Vikings faced. This game showed that the biggest key to success for the North Posey Vikings is getting <a href="https://prephoops.com/player/josiah-ricketts/">Josiah Ricketts</a> going early and often. He has the potential to have a big game every time that he steps onto the court, and if the Vikings are going to make a late-season push, he will be the reason. He does need to figure out how to stay under composure when being double-teamed. In this game, he forced shots and passes through the double-team when a simple skip pass would have resulted in an open shot. North Posey’s season really does come down to the performance of this man, but for the Vikings, he is the man that they would want in that position.   4. Both teams need to find an underclassman to step up When these two teams take the court, it is evident that they are senior-led teams that play through their upperclassmen. For North Posey, they are averaging over 68 points per game throughout this season, but they will only be returning 17 of those points next season. If they are going to continue their success into next season, they will need to have an underclassman to step up. The best guess would be that either Harold Bender or Johnathan Ricketts would be the guy to step up, but which one of these guys will step up to keep North Posey at the top level. For South Knox, only six players scored in Friday’s game, and four of these players were seniors. The only other two to score were Brennon Robinson and Tristan Wirth. One of these two players is going to have to step up at the conclusion of this season and in future seasons in order to keep South Knox basketball at the top level in Southwest Indiana.   5. Brennon Robinson is a player to watch in the future This storyline bounces off the previous one as Robinson is going to be that player that steps up in the future. Robinson led the Spartans in scoring in the first half with three 3-pointers, but in the second half, he fell quiet as he did not hit a three. He will definitely be a difference-maker for the Spartans in both upcoming seasons and the end of this season as well. If he can develop better ball-handling ability and more team leadership, he will be the leader that they need in the future.