2004-2005 Boys Basketball  IHSAA - Class 3A, 2A Regional Preview A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith (3-8-2005)

95^th Indiana State Tournament

PLYMOUTH, IN (3-12-2005) You can be lucky at the sectional level. You can get a bye and play two games. You can draw losing opponents and play close to home. It gets real at the regional. When you take the floor for the sectional, you look up at empty seats and yawn about lack of sleep on week nights. Nobody gets a bye. Everybody plays twice. And, at the end of the day, you're either dead tired or just dead period. 

In 2005, 2A and 3A may be where it's at. Tri-Central (23-0) is dominating 1A and no one really believes they'll beat Lawrence North (21-2) in 4A. This is one of the Mark Burnett reality shows where you can get the six-figure job or win the million dollars. Or you can get fired or knocked out in the first round. It's all about getting to the state finals, but the regional is now the toughest level of the state playoffs. When the day starts, you're just another team and if you lose, you run home. By 10 p.m., you can hit a home run bigger than Barry Bonds on steroids and you are one game away from the biggest stage in all of high school sports.

Northwood (3A) Regional - 10 a.m. (EST)

Wawasee (18-6) vs. Tippecanoe Valley (21-1)
Bellmont (23-2) vs. Delta (15-7) 

NAPPANEE - The big dog here is Bellmont, the 2004 state runner up with 6-7 senior forwards Adam Arnold and Aaron Richie. The Braves were the state runner-up in 2004 and they are a severe matchup problem for everyone they face.

Bellmont has lost only to 4A superpower Muncie Central (24-1) and in two overtimes to Bishop Dwenger (15-7). The Braves had to win three games in 5 days at the sectional and they reversed that loss to Dwenger.

Bellmont played eight 4A schools and went 6-2. Delta never won more than three in a row at any time all year Delta has three 6-4 players and they have played tough competition in the Muncie area.

Tippecanoe Valley didn't have to beat a winning team to take the Whitko Sectional title smoking Norwell (7-14) by a 79-45 score and Peru (9-14) by a 55-39 count.

TV is also big with 6-7 junior Shane Drudge and 6-5 junior David Lash, who scored 13 in the win over Peru. Lash, Drudge and 6-2 forward Bryce Kelly all scored in double figures in the win over Norwell. 

The Vikings were 20-3 last year but got beat at the sectional. TV's only loss is to Plymouth and they do not play any 4A teams so I wouldn't be shocked if Wawasee, which returned all five starters from a 16-5 team in 2004, upset them in Saturday's semifinals.

Wawasee took out No. 8 Lakeland (19-4) 58-53 in the Northwood Sectional. Lead guard Austin Kaiser scored 24 in the semifinals and 21 in the finals. Guard Kory Lantz was the quarterback on Wawasee's state finalist football team and he has four three-point goals against Lakeland.

The Warriors are a distance shooting team with no real center and I see them as well-suited to taking out TV. But in the finals, Bellmont is very experienced and bigger than Wawasee at every position. When teams play two game sin one day, lean towards the quicker shooting teams in the morning and ride with the bigger team in the nightcap. As the day goes on, the quick get slower but tall folks are still tall all night. Bellmont is the favorite and is bigger than Wawasee at every position.

Bellmont 60, Wawasee 50

Plymouth (3A) Regional - 10 a.m. (EST)

ANDREAN (21-2) vs. Twin Lakes (19-5)
Hammond (16-9) vs. Plymouth (19-3)

PLYMOUTH - The entire 3A bracket will be watching if the matchup is Plymouth and Andrean with 6-1 senior Kyle Benge (28.7 ppg.) for the home team and 6-7 Luke Harangody (22.3 ppg.) for the 59ers. But here are four teams that want to run and only Plymouth has shown the ability to slow it up.

Can Hammond beat Plymouth?  Maybe. Hammond played 10 4A teams but they won the weak Hammond sectional over three losing teams. The Wildcats can't buy into the myth of 'region' superiority. One player won't stop Benge, who has scored over 1,900 points in four years. There is no one like him in Lake County who can get the shot away that quickly. 

Hammond's option is to push the ball up the floor and try to outscore the Pilgrims. Speedy Jere Taylor (15 ppg.) a four year starter, must
lead the assault in the hopes of wearing down Benge and Plymouth at the defensive end.

In the other semifinal, Twin Lakes wants to push the pace of the game. Controlling the pace of the game will be star lead guards Tyler Provo (11.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 2.7 steals - 22 games) and Jacob Brown (10.1 points, 3.2 rebounds, 5.2 assists,3.1 steals). 

Provo scored nine in the fourth quarter last Saturday as TL rallied to beat Western 57-49. But TL, despite seven seniors, has no one over 6-3 and I don't know what they can do against the 6-7 Harangody and 6-7 Chris Kaba. The 59ers will take the challenge of an up tempo game after running down Lew Wallace and Roosevelt last weekend. Get a ticket for the finals as Andrean tries to get the ball into the post against the smaller (nobody over 6-3) Plymouth players while the 59rs chase Benge through screens and set plays that Plymouth coach Jack Edison has been running for 30 years.

Plymouth shot 60 percent in last week's 68-58 semifinal win over St. Joseph's and 51% in Saturday night's 63-50 win over Marian.
Benge has 73 three-point goals in 22 games but it must be noted that 5-8 senior teammate Geoff Sheetz has 74 three-point baskets. You have to play a defense that doubles up on the perimeter without leaving the pivot unguarded. The Pilgrims have attempted almost 600 three pointers and has made 187. I've heard people say that Plymouth has no chance against Andrean because of the size differential but you shouldn't under-estimate a shooting team playing on their home court.

Plymouth is expecting sellout crowds for Saturday's games and they won't care how many games Andrean won in the the Lake Athletic Conference. The big factor here may be how much Hammond runs Plymouth. I think the Wildcats end up being Andrean's best friend by running the legs off Plymouth before the night game even starts. In a single game Plymouth wins at home. But because they have to play twice, the bigger team stands tall in the nighttime. 

ANDREAN 73,  Plymouth 70

Blackford (2A) Regional - 10 a.m. (EST)

Fremont (13-9) vs. Northfield (9-13) 
Harding (13-9) vs. Northwestern (17-6)

BLACKFORD - This what I mean by being lucky. Northfield, from Wabash, IN, has won five in a row after losing 14 of their first 18. Lewis Cass (13-9) is the only winning team they beat in that last stretch. 

Now, you're supposed to be positive here and not say what you really thing but Northfield, a team of five seniors, all under 6-3, has
advanced as far as they could. 

Wait a minute. Fremont is not the Boston Celtics either. They also have no one taller than 6-3 and they slipped by Churubusco (who, Where?) to get to the regional.

Northwestern is a perennial power from the Howard County (Kokomo) are. They have four players who are 6-4 and five seniors. They play no 4As and have never won a regional so they may be up against it against Harding, a player in the strong Summit Athletic Conference. 

After going 10-9 against a schedule that included 7 4As schools, Harding crushed three sectional foes by 18 points or more.

5-11 guard Rodney Bell and 6-5 football star Selwyn Lymon are key inside-out players while 6-8 Jermaine Muff has to be dealt with along
with 6-5 forwards Kenny Agnew and James Humphrey.

Harding scores 70 a game and gives up up 60. You want to play them in the second game of the day, not the first. This appear obvious. Harding outruns Northwestern and outclasses either Fremont or Northfield.

(FW) Harding 67, Fremont 51

North Judson (2A) Regional  - 10 a.m. (EST)

Rensselaer (16-6) vs. John Glenn (18-6)
BOONE GROVE (18-6)  vs.  North Montgomery (13-9)

NORTH JUDSON - John Glenn did everybody here a favor in theory by upsetting No. 1 Jimtown 45-36 last Saturday in the title game of the LaVille (2A) Sectional. Jimtown just  had a melt down. The defending 2A state champs  shot 11 of 40 from the floor and 12 of 23 from the foul line. Give Glenn credit. They have four returning starters from last year's 16-7 season and some football players who reached the semistate last fall.

But with no one taller than 6-2, the Falcons are going to have to control the ball on the perimeter to defeat a more physical, but equally
small, Rensselaer team, which eliminated North Judson 62-48 Monday night. 

Rensselaer leads with football backfield Andrew Malone (15.4 ppg.) and Jacob Kiger (9 ppg.) plus long range shooter Johnny Igoe (17.2 ppg.).  All three are 6-1 guards. 

North Montgomery got a good sectional draw, defeating two losing teams on their home floor. The Chargers sank 21 of 29 free throws Saturday to beat Delphi (10-13) in the North Montgomery (2A) Sectional by a 72-68 score and they have 6-5 junior Kevin Kyle to match against Boone's 6-4 Danny Borys (22.7 ppg.). Guard Jake German will play with a broken nose and 5-11 guard Steven Benge, who scored 28 last Saturday, had six of the Chargers' 11 three-point baskets, although North Montgomery is not known for distance shooting. They had less than 100 three-pointers during the regular season.  Truthfully, the Chargers play in an area south of Lafayette where there isn't much good small school competition.  NM will have to step up their game here or they'll be headed back to Montgomery County before the sun sets.

Boone has played four 4A schools during the regular season while while North Montgomery went  7-8 after a 6-1 start.  If Boone can contain the 6-5 Kyle (16.0 ppg.), who scored 18 with nine rebounds last Saturday, it is unlikely that North Montgomery shoots as well as they did last week at home.

If it's John Glenn and Boone Grove, Boone has seen this before. A quick team with a perimeter game. A doughnut team (a hole in the middle). Boone also shot 80% from the foul line in the sectional including an insane 43 of 54 (79.6%) in a 75-69 win over Bishop Noll. Glenn is potent at guard, but long, tall defenders Will Mitchell and Joe Faron can disrupt their game and no one has truly stopped Borys all season.

Boone has prepared for this by playing two games in one day at the PCC tournament in January. They also played at North Judson on Feb. 5. The Wolves are 18-6 but they are 18-2 if you subtract the four Class 4A schools. No one they will see this weekend is bigger than Valparaiso and no one is quicker than Merrillville or Bishop Noll, all teams Boone has played.

Once Jimtown went down, the door was left wide open for Boone Grove. Boone's first ever regional title is there for the taking.

BOONE GROVE 55, John Glenn 45

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