Game Reports: Sectional 29 Quarterfinals

<p>Wednesday at the historic Spartan Bowl was a perfect example of what Indiana High School Basketball and Hoosier Hysteria is all about. Nearly 6000 people crammed themselves into the "Grand Palace on Grand Avenue" for the Sectional 29 quarterfinals featuring the host Connersville Spartans against conference rival Greensburg, followed by Franklin County versus Batesville. Here is a recap of Wednesday night’s two games.</p> <h2>Greensburg 39 Connersville 36</h2> <p>If you wanted to experience Indiana High School Basketball at its best, you needed to be at the Spartan Bowl for this game. The 5800+ seat gymnasium was filled to a standing room only capacity as the two sectional favorites battled it out on Wednesday night. Connersville led for the vast majority of the game playing their patented slow, deliberate pace. The Spartans defense was keeping Greensburg star [player_tooltip player_id="870278" first="Colin" last="Comer"] in check for the most part while virtually eliminating all other contributors. After holding a 21-14 halftime advantage, Connersville expanded their lead to 31-20 entering the final period. Comer had 14 of the 20 points for the Pirates.</p> <p>Momentum started to change about midway through the fourth quarter. Comer hit a couple of tough shots and got his teammates involved as well to cut their deficit to 34-31 with 3:29 left to play. At that point, game pressure had officially been applied to Connersville. The Spartans went through an uncharacteristic stretch of four consecutive turnovers that eventually allowed Greensburg to capture the lead. [player_tooltip player_id="1160678" first="Ki" last="Dyer"] drove the baseline and scored at the rim with just under a minute to go to give the Pirates a 37-36 advantage. That proved to be enough as they would finish off the ferocious fourth quarter comeback to move to 21-4 on the season with a 39-36 victory. Connersville finished 18-7 on the year.</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="870278" first="Colin" last="Comer"] finished with a game-high 23 points, including nine in the fourth quarter, to lead Greensburg. Junior wing Josh Williams had 12 points for the Spartans in the loss.</p> <h2>Franklin County 33 Batesville 25</h2> <p>In all my years of going to Indiana High School Basketball games, I don’t think I’ve every seen a 10-7 halftime score. However, that is what we had between Franklin County and Batesville on Wednesday night. Franklin County held on for a 16-13 lead after the third before the pace really "blew up" in the final period. In the end, the Wildcats simply had [player_tooltip player_id="870269" first="Chad" last="Cox"] while the Bulldogs did not as FC advanced with a 33-25 victory. Batesville ended their season with a 10-13 record while the Wildcats are now 17-5.</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="870269" first="Chad" last="Cox"] finished with 16 points and 5 assists, accounting for all but seven of the Franklin County points.</p>