10 Wednesday Night Standouts From Sectional Play

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>After two nights of Sectional play we have whittled down the overall field from just shy of 400 teams to 256 that will compete in the semifinals on Friday night. Prep Hoops Indiana had boots on the ground coverage from Class 4A Sectional 9 at Greenfield-Central High School and Class 2A Sectional 37 at Bluffton High School. Also, as always, we had eyes and ears in gyms all across the state of Indiana. Let's sort through all of the results and highlight 10 of the individual standouts from Wednesday night's action.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:separator --> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" /> <!-- /wp:separator --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In a contest that was tied over halfway through the fourth quarter, East Chicago Central escaped with a 60-55 win against Merrillville. 6'6" junior wing [player_tooltip player_id='1297020' first='Dominique' last='Murphy Jr'] led the way scoring 24 points as the Cardinals secured their 14th straight victory.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Playing in front of Notre Dame head coach Micah Shrewsberry, junior guard [player_tooltip player_id='1296984' first='Braylon' last='Mullins'] finished with 26 points and 9 rebounds to help his Greenfield-Central Cougars remain undefeated. They held off Anderson 50-44.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Whitko defeated Manchester for the second time in just over a week as they advanced to the Sectional 37 semifinals with a 63-42 victory over the Squires. Senior wing [player_tooltip player_id='1158228' first='Sam' last='Essegian'] finished with 20 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists for Whitko.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Both [player_tooltip player_id='1297040' first='Jace' last='Jenkins'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1560964' first='Edwin' last='Holmes'] scored 17 points as Princeton pulled off a first round upset defeating Heritage Hills 57-52. The Tigers had just lost to Heritage Hills 67-52 last Tuesday night.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Grand Valley State recruit [player_tooltip player_id='1272450' first='Jackson' last='McGee'] posted a double-double of 22 points and 12 rebounds as Leo defeated Woodlan 64-54. This was another example of a team avenging a regular season loss as Woodlan had beaten the Lions 60-46 back on December 9th.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>University of Indianapolis signee [player_tooltip player_id='1275771' first='Ron' last='Rutland III'] scored 19 points, and surpassed the 1,000 career point milestone, in Crispus Attucks' 63-55 win over Arsenal Tech.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Junior guard [player_tooltip player_id='1296979' first='Azavier' last='Robinson'] put up 20 points as Lawrence North moved passed North Central 65-51.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1749046' first='Drelyn' last='Truesdale'] scored or assists on Bishop Luers' first 21 points of the game as the Knights cruised to a 68-37 win over Sectional 37 host Bluffton. The junior guard, who recently picked up his first offer from Central Michigan, finished with 15 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Valparaiso defeated Hobart 60-35 led by junior guard [player_tooltip player_id='1297042' first='Jack' last='Smiley'] posting 21 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Oak Hill sophomore RJ Shugart scored a career-high 24 points, including knocking in the game-winning three-pointer with 1.9 seconds left, as Oak Hill upset Maconaquah 67-66. Maconaquah had won the regular season matchup 88-60.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->