It’s sectional draw week! The tournament path will be set Sunday. We will dive into that more next week, but for now a look at what we learned from the week in high school hoops:
Greenfield-Central, Mt. Vernon and a loaded sectional
I spent Saturday in Hanco*ck County watching Mt. Vernon and Greenfield-Central play home games. Different teams. Different styles. But both sectional-champion quality teams in a field (Class 4A Sectional 9 at Muncie Central) that is going to be as competitive and balanced as any in the state.
“Right now, there’s nobody I’d tell you that I want to play,” Mt. Vernon coach Ben Rhoades said. “We’ll play who we have to and hopefully we’ll be a team that people have to prepare for, also.”
Mt. Vernon (13-7) is the two-time defending sectional champion, but the roster turned over quite a bit going into this season. In Saturday afternoon’s 72-64 win over Pike, freshmen Luke Ertel (17 points) and Julien Smith (15 points) combined for five 3-pointers and 32 points. Sophom*ore Tanner Teschendorf added two more 3s and 14 points.
The all-underrated list:25 players who are better than people realize
None of those players had a role on varsity last season. Another freshman, 6-4 R’Mani Wells, came into the game averaging 4.9 points and 3.3 rebounds. Those newcomers are not so new by February, though.
“It was a lot more of a learning curve than I think initially a lot of them thought it was going to be,” Rhoades said. “Especially only having (senior Eli Bridenthal) coming back. The main thing is they are trusting each other a lot more than they did in the beginning.”
The Marauders have won six of their past eight with a huge game coming Friday at Class 4A No. 10 New Palestine (18-2) with a chance to claim a share of the Hoosier Heritage Conference championship.
“I feel like we’ve been in every game we’ve played this year,” said Bridenthal, who is averaging 10.6 points and 5.3 rebounds. “We’re just now starting to finish out those tough games, kind of like IU from last year to this year finishing out those tough games. As the freshmen have gained more experience, I feel like we’re doing that more.”
Mt. Vernon is the rare (only?) team in the state led in scoring by two freshmen with Smith (13.6 ppg) and Ertel (12.6 ppg, 4.4 assists). Bridenthal and senior Adam Hackett (8.7 ppg, 3.9 rebounds) provide at least a little bit of experience on a youthful team.
Greenfield-Central, mostly, is on the other end of the spectrum. The Cougars (19-1) are led by two seniors in Marian University recruit Dylan Moles (20.4 ppg, 5.2 assists) and Tyler Kerkhof (9.4 ppg, 3.0 assists) and a 6-4 sophom*ore in Braylon Mullins (17.5 ppg, 5.3 rebounds, 2.5 steals) who plays more like a senior than an underclassman.
Greenfield-Central, a 49-43 winner over Avon on Saturday night to extend its winning streak to 16 games, runs set after set on offense, usually looks to free up one of those three players for a look or an advantage. But as senior Owen Anderson showed with two fourth-quarter 3-pointers, others can also make opponents pay.
“I think they may have the most sets in Indiana, even in college basketball,” Avon coach Drew Schauss said. “It shows they have very smart kids who have bought into what they are doing. They have a tremendous amount of shooters and they’ve bought into what (coach Luke Meredith) is doing. They are dangerous team because they can hit 12 of 15 (3-pointers) in a game and it may not be Moles or Mullins.”
I’ll have more on the Cougars later this week, but back to the original point here: As tough as Mt. Vernon and Greenfield-Central are, the sectional favorite might be Anderson (18-3). Or New Palestine (18-2). Richmond (14-6) and Muncie Central (12-7) are much improved and Pendleton Heights (6-14) is competitive.
“It’s almost like, ‘Who do you want to draw?’” Meredith said. “It’s one of the better sectionals in the state.”
Greenwood Christian on a roll
Class A Greenwood Christian had a statement win Thursday at Class A third-ranked Bethesda Christian, getting out to a big first-half lead on the way to a 66-43 win. The Cougars (13-6) have won seven consecutive games and avenged a 12-points loss to Bethesda in the championship game of the Monrovia holiday tournament.
Junior Max Booher had 20 points in the win, but he said the team’s biggest improvement is on the defensive end.
“We’ve been working on defense for about a month now hardcore and it’s paid off,” Booher said.
Greenwood Christian’s strength on offense is its ability to spread the floor and shoot with multiple players. The Cougars drained nine 3-pointers in the first three quarters in the win over Bethesda. Ian Reed (12 points), Blake Shewmaker (11 points) and Evan McIntyre (10 points) joined Booher as double-figure scorers.
“I think our strength is that our kids are really unselfish,” second-year coach Jackson Williams said. “So whoever is hot that night, they are really willing to give the ball up to whoever is hitting baskets. Everything for us is building toward playing our best basketball at the end of the season.”
The Cougars have one of the toughest sectional fields in Class A in Sectional 59 at Lutheran. The host Saints (10-7) are the defending champs and Tindley (9-11) will also be a contender.
“We’ve battled through a lot this season,” Booher said. “We lost some games early, but we’ve kept fighting and will keep fighting.”
Snively growing into big role for Zionsville
Zionsville coach J.R. Howell knew what he had coming into the season with seniors Logan Imes (Penn State) and Nick Richart (Charlotte). He hoped sophom*ores Drew Snively and Maguire Mitchell would be able to step into bigger roles, a necessary transition for the Eagles to be a real contender in Class 4A.
Both 6-3 sophom*ores were ready for the challenge. Snively (9.4 ppg) is third on the team in scoring behind Imes (15.6 ppg) and Richart (10.8 ppg) and Mitchell (8.8 ppg) is fourth. Both are outstanding 3-point shooters (Mitchell at 35.9% and Snively at 37.3%), and are proving to be well-rounded players. Snively is averaging 3.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists and has scored in double figures in his past four games and six of eight.
“I didn’t really think (coming into the season) that I was going to be playing this many minutes,” Snively said. “But I think me and Maguire fit in well and we’re kind of getting into a groove here.”
Snively said it helped, even going back to last year, to go head-to-head with Imes in practice. “We would guard each other all the time,” Snively said. “It was tough. He would get under my skin a little bit.”
But it obviously helped Snively get ready for this season. On a team with two Division I players, the sophom*ores are now players opponents must respect and prepare for. Zionsville (13-6) defeated Class 4A third-ranked Center Grove (54-44) and Lebanon (54-35) this week to extend its winning streak to four and six wins in seven games.
“We knew the sophom*ores were going to be weapons, it just took them a little time to get going,” the 6-9 Richart said. “Drew and Maguire have been killing it for his these last few games and I have all the confidence in the world that they are going to keep doing it for us.”
Zionsville is at Fishers (Friday) and hosts Tech (Saturday) before closing the regular season at Cathedral (Feb. 21).
Conference champions and races
Some conference championships are decided and others will be soon. A look at how the local league races are shaking out:
>> Class 4A fifth-ranked Brownsburg (18-2, 6-0) clinched the Hoosier Crossroads Conference outright with a 60-54 win over Noblesville on Friday night. The Bulldogs still have one conference game remaining at home Friday against Hamilton Southeastern, but everyone else in the HCC has at least two conference losses. It is the first outright conference championship for Brownsburg since 2004 and fifth overall.
>> Class 4A No. 1 Ben Davis (24-0, 5-0) knocked off Lawrence North 62-45 Friday to clinch the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference outright. It is the first outright MIC title for the Giants since 2002 and only the third MIC title overall.
>> The Circle City Conference race is a jumble. Class 3A No. 8 Brebeuf Jesuit (12-6, 2-1) still leads, but lost 51-49 at home to Covenant Christian (13-7, 2-3). Brebeuf still has conference games remaining — both at home — against Heritage Christian (Feb. 17) and Roncalli (Feb. 24). Bishop Chatard (12-7, 3-2) is still alive, along with Guerin Catholic (13-8, 2-2) and Heritage Christian (10-9, 2-2). If Heritage Christian defeats Brebeuf, there could potentially be a four-way tie for the conference title.
>> Southport (13-7, 4-0) can clinch the Conference Indiana title with a home win over Terre Haute South on Friday. Terre Haute North (14-8, 4-1) will share title if Southport loses.
>> Crispus Attucks (14-7, 8-0) can clinch the Greater Indianapolis Conference with a win at Metropolitan (7-11, 3-3) Wednesday.
>> New Palestine (18-2, 6-0) can clinch the Hoosier Heritage Conference title with a win Friday at home vs. Mt. Vernon (13-7, 4-1). The Marauders are still alive to claim a share and Greenfield-Central (19-1, 6-1) would claim a share with a Mt. Vernon win.
>> Defending Class 3A champion Beech Grove (11-5, 6-0) is the Indiana Crossroads Conference champion.
>> Eastern Hanco*ck (14-5, 6-1) is still alive for the Mid-Eastern Conference title, but would need Class 2A third-ranked Wapahani (18-1, 7-0) to lose to either Daleville (8-10, 3-5) or Shenandoah (8-11, 3-4). Blue River (15-5, 6-1) is also alive.
>> The Mid-State Conference race is currently a tie at the top between Plainfield (14-5, 5-1) and Decatur Central (10-8, 5-1). The Quakers close league play Friday at Franklin (9-10, 4-2). Decatur Central closes Friday at home vs. Perry Meridian (4-14, 1-5).
>> This is not our immediate area, but the North Central Conference will be decided with a winner-take-all game Friday as Anderson (18-3, 8-0) hosts Kokomo (16-4, 8-0).
>> Class A No. 5 University (17-1) won the Pioneer Conference championship with a 66-57 victory over Park Tudor on Saturday night.
>> Lebanon (15-5, 7-0) put away the Sagamore Conference championship with a 40-37 win over Southmont two weeks ago.
>> Indian Creek (10-7, 9-0) has a one-game lead in the Western Indiana Conference with one game to play Feb. 24 vs. South Putnam (10-6, 5-3). Sullivan (15-5, 8-1) is still in the mix, but lost 50-49 to Indian Creek Friday night.
Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.
