Thursday’s Daily Dive (1/6)

<p>Last night, Thursday, I was able to catch the live stream of Penn vs. South Bend St. Joseph. This was an excellent chance to see two of the top teams in the area as the Kingsmen came in undefeated and the Indians continued to prove themselves as a sneaky contender in Sectional 19. Elsewhere around the state, John Glenn remained unbeaten and we had action from four different county tournaments. Let’s recap all of the action from Thursday evening.</p> <p>Penn was in control of the game pretty much from the tip, but they took just a two point lead into the halftime break. South Bend St. Joesph made just enough shots to keep it close until the Kingsmen pulled away in the fourth quarter. After an early barrage of three-pointers from junior sharp-shooter Joe Smith, it was classmate [player_tooltip player_id="1049169" first="Markus" last="Burton"] who got going in the second half scoring 10 points in the third. Then, Smith took back over in the final period as Penn built a comfortable lead on the back of 16 points in the fourth from the guard.</p> <p>The Kingsmen moved to 8-0 on the season with a 73-56 win. Joe Smith led all scorers with 30 points including six three-pointers on the night. [player_tooltip player_id="1049169" first="Markus" last="Burton"], who entered the game averaging 27 points per game, finished with 19 points and 5 assists. For the Indians, senior guard [player_tooltip player_id="769712" first="Cole" last="Hatkevich"] finished with 19 points.</p> <ul> <li>The John Glenn Falcones moved to 10-0 on the season with an easy 69-36 victory over New Prairie. Junior forward Brycen Hannah finished with a game-high 21 points. He leads the way for the Falcones averaging 18.9 points and 5.9 rebounds per game this season.</li> <li>Senior guard [player_tooltip player_id="870246" first="Chrishon" last="McCray"], a Kent State football signee, scored 26 points to propel the Avon Orioles to the Hendricks County championship game with a 51-48 win over Danville.</li> <li>Meeting Avon in the championship game will be Brownsburg as they defeated the Quakers of Plainfield 63-43. Elhadj Diallo finished with 20 and 9 rebounds to lead the Bulldogs while [player_tooltip player_id="1295337" first="Grant" last="Porath"] added 17. The Hendricks County Championship will tip-off at 6:00 p.m. at Plainfield High School.</li> <li>Luke Jones, a 5’11" junior guard, scored 20 points as Class 2A #5 Monroe Central defeated Randolph Southern 63-33. The Golden Bears are now 9-0 and will play Union City for the Randolph County Championship at 8:00 on Saturday night.</li> <li>Blue River moved to the championship game of the Henry County Tournament with a 57-32 win over Tri. 6’5" senior forward [player_tooltip player_id="870281" first="Brevin" last="Hallatt"] finished with 16 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 blocks to propel the Vikings to victory.</li> </ul>