Sectional Championship Games to Watch

<p>The field for the 112th annual IHSAA Boy’s Basketball State Tournament continues to shrink. Tonight, 128 teams will take the floor fighting for a chance to cut down the nets and go down in history as Sectional champions. Here are some of the top games that you’ll want to follow this evening.</p> <h2>Carmel (18-5) vs. Westfield (20-6)</h2> <p>I’ll be in the house for the Sectional 8 championship game this evening at Noblesville. They Greyhounds lost the regular season matchup by one point at Westfield back on January 8th. Much more is riding on tonight’s contest. Westfield point guard, and future Purdue Boilermaker, [player_tooltip player_id="870222" first="Braden" last="Smith"] has been excellent so far in the Sectional making a big run at the Indiana Mr. Basketball award. Can the Shamrocks take down [player_tooltip player_id="769662" first="Peter" last="Suder"], [player_tooltip player_id="1042491" first="Sam" last="Orme"], and [player_tooltip player_id="769678" first="Charlie" last="Williams"] once again?</p> <h2>Lawrence North (17-6) vs. Cathedral (21-6)</h2> <p>Indiana University signee [player_tooltip player_id="870213" first="Chris" last="Gunn"] exploded for 38 points in Lawrence North’s semi-final win over Warren Central. It may take a similar performance to take down the Fighting Irish this evening. Cathedral has won seven of their last eight games including Friday night’s come-from-behind win over Arsenal Tech. The Irish won the fourth quarter 27-9 and will look to carry that momentum into the championship content tonight.</p> <h2>Mishawaka Marian (20-3) vs. John Glenn (24-1)</h2> <p>Mishawka Marian hasn’t lost since their 49-45 defeat at John Glenn on January 25th. Both of these teams have aspirations of deep state tournament runs, but only one will cut down the Sectional 19 nets. The Knights have the home crowd advantage as the Sectional host. 6’5" junior forward [player_tooltip player_id="1391323" first="Brycen" last="Hannah"] could be the difference inside for Glenn, but guards [player_tooltip player_id="1049162" first="Deaglan" last="Sullivan"] and [player_tooltip player_id="769703" first="Richard" last="Brooks"] provide a lot of firepower for Marian.</p> <h2>Central Noble (24-2) vs. Eastside (25-1)</h2> <p>There is nothing like a Sectional championship rubber match. Central Noble beat Eastside 62-44 on January 15th only to turn around and lose 42-34 on January 21st. The Blazers survived a double overtime scare against Fairfield, but have still only lost the one game to the Cougars all season long. Wisconsin signee [player_tooltip player_id="769682" first="Connor" last="Essegian"] will likely be the different to lift Central Noble to the Sectional 35 victory at Westview.</p> <h2>North Daviess (22-3) vs. Barr-Reeve (17-7)</h2> <p>Two Class 1A teams with legitimate state championship aspirations will meet this evening in the Sectional 63 championship at Loogootee. Junior guard [player_tooltip player_id="935727" first="Jaylen" last="Mullen"] has led the way for North Daviess this season while the Vikings feature Grace College signee [player_tooltip player_id="958397" first="Hagen" last="Knepp"]. Barr-Reeve won the regular season matchup 54-51 in overtime, so the Cougars are out for revenge. </p>