Tuesday’s Daily Dive: Marion, SIAC Tournaments
This week we have two big tournaments in the state as the SIAC and Marion County Tournaments get underway. Tuesday was the opening night for both and we recap everything that happened as we lead up to the Finals this…
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Continue ReadingThis week we have two big tournaments in the state as the SIAC and Marion County Tournaments get underway. Tuesday was the opening night for both and we recap everything that happened as we lead up to the Finals this weekend.
Memorial, Mater Dei Provide Drama
Heading into the SIAC tournament this week, Evansville Memorial was one of the bigger teams that kind of had fallen off a cliff. They had just dropped games to Gibson Southern, Castle, Heritage Hills, and Indianapolis Howe in the last few weeks for a 2-4 record in their last six games. However, they seemed to recover as they knocked off a young Evansville Reitz team to advance, 56-54.
Mater Dei, on the other hand, has been very impressive this season as they are now 9-1 after beating Evansville Harrison on Tuesday, 69-66. This is a team that has some solid wins but had yet to play and beat a really good 4A team this year. While Harrison isn’t very strong this year, Mater Dei was able to win a very close game and might be enough to vault them up the rankings regardless of how the rest of the week goes.
In the other two quarterfinal games, Castle knocked off Evansville North and Bosse made a late comeback to beat Evansville Central. Castle will play Bosse in the Semifinal while Memorial will take on Mater Dei on the opposite side of the bracket.
Franklin Central Gets First Win Of The Season To Open Marion County
In the biggest surprise of the night, Franklin Central, who came in 0-10 to start the year, was able to get their first win of the year as they beat Perry Meridian, 44-37. While Perry isn’t the toughest team Franklin Central has played all year, their schedule hasn’t been kind with every one of their 11 games coming around 4A schools with records above .500 and at least five teams that have been ranked in the 4A Top 10 this season. Now, they will get to go for win number two as they take on Southport who beat Lutheran on Tuesday. These two teams just played last week and Southport won, 35-26.
In the top half of the bracket, Pike beat Brebeuf Jesuit and will face rival Ben Davis on Wednesday. Ben Davis beat Park Tudor pretty handily. North Central won against Roncalli and Warren Central moved their record to 43 straight wins as they took down Speedway. In the finals quarterfinal matchup, Lawrence North will take on Lawrence Central in their second matchup of the season as they both beat Decatur Central and Beech Grove, respectively.
Quick Hitters:
- Westview opened up the NCC Tournament with a 83-54 win over Eastside as they start to regain their form from the winter break. They have now won back-to-back games and are 9-4 on the season with Central Noble coming up tonight.
- In the Johnson County Tournament, Whiteland knotted off Edinburgh while Franklin took overtime and a game winner from Reece Thomson to beat Indian Creek. Greenwood beat up on Greenwood Christian in the other quarterfinal game. Whiteland and Franklin will play each other while Greenwood will get Center Grove.
- Fort Wayne Carroll has had a tough season as they dropped three of their first four games but since have gone 6-1 after a win over DeKalb last night, 55-34. However, they still have yet to beat that marquee team dropping games to Penn, East Noble, and Homestead. They are now 7-4 overall.
- Culver Academies played and won their first game since December 14th. They have been off for nearly three weeks. The back half of their schedule is tough as they play two games each week with two three-game weeks near the end of the year. Could be a tiring stretch.
- Fishers got a win last night over Arsenal Tech to move to 10 wins on the season. They are now just five wins away from their best season since 2012-13 where they went 15-7 which would match the schools record. The school was established in 2006. Looking at their schedule, they should be able to beat that record if they are what they showed in the first half of the season. They are 8-1 in their last night including wins over Hamilton Southeastern, Gary 21st Century, and Lafayette Jeff.
- Be on the lookout for Gary West who is now 9-3 after a win over Lowell. They look like a legit contender in 3A as they now hold wins over Marquette Catholic, Evansville Bosse, Michigan City, and Bowman Academy. Their only losses have come from Lake Central, Brebeuf Jesuit, and loaded Chicago power Morgan Park.
- Homestead in now 10-1 after beating 1A #1 Blackhawk Christian, 51-44. They have been near perfect except a slip up against Bishop Dwenger by three points early in the season. They have proven they are the best team in Fort Wayne by now.
- Fort Wayne Concordia had been on a roll to start the season but after a loss last night to Huntington North, they have now dropped three of their last four games and are 7-4 on the season. In all seriousness, this is a great season for them to this point but they could use some more big wins in the back half of the schedule to solidify their standing in 3A.
- Monrovia has now dropped three straight games after winning their first ten games of the year. At 10-3, this team will need to take a step forward as they schedule was backloaded pretty bad. They had Ritter and Beech Grove beat them recently but still have Plainfield, Edgewood, Greencastle, and Park Tudor still to go.
- Mishawaka Marian has now moved to 10-0 on the year after a win last night against South Bend St. Joseph. This is one of their tough stretches as they have St. Joseph, Riley, and Marquette Catholic in three straight games. This will be the first of a couple multi-game stretches to watch.
- After dropping five straight games, Shelbyville gets back in the win column with a win over Columbus East. This team is now 5-7 but that would be tough to see the record and assume this is a bad team. Very difficult schedule and they might be just a tick below teams like Greensburg, Bloomington South, and New Castle. Tough start but a much easier back half to deal with to maybe flip the record.
- After dropping games against Bosse and Harrison early in the year, Princeton has now won eight straight games wins including games over Southridge, Wood Memorial, and South Knox.They have three games at the end of the season that might tell us a lot as they go to Jasper and Barr-Reeve and gets Heritage Hills at home.