Games of the Week: Week 13

The IHSAA basketball season is coming to an end, and the Sectional draw is actually less than a week away on Sunday evening. It is getting to be crunch time for these teams as they are all looking to be playing their best basketball of the year heading into March. Let’s take a look at the top 10 games of this week of basketball leading up to the Sectional draw.   1. NorthWood @ South Bend Washington - Saturday @ 12:30 3A #1 NorthWood comes in at 19-1 on the year with their one loss coming to Bloomington South in their holiday tournament in December. South Bend Washington comes in at 13-7, but they have lost 4 of their last 6 games. NorthWood is led by their inside-outside duo of Ian Raasch and [player_tooltip player_id="1226596" first="Cade" last="Brenner"] who have been nearly unstoppable this season. South Bend Washington will try to match these two with their own duo of Jawan Agnew and [player_tooltip player_id="868232" first="Marcus" last="Northern"]. This is NorthWood’s toughest remaining game before their probably trip to Regional. 2. Norwell @ Fort Wayne Concordia - Saturday @ 7:30 3A #8 Norwell (17-3) comes in this week on a 9-game winning streak. Fort Wayne Concordia (9-9) just hasn’t been able to get on a consistent roll this year as they play an extremely tough 4A Fort Wayne schedule. Last week, they lost close games to Fort Wayne Northrop and Homestead who both have Division 1 players. Norwell is led by their junior guard, [player_tooltip player_id="935745" first="Luke" last="McBride"], and Fort Wayne Concordia is led by their sophomore duo of [player_tooltip player_id="1158179" first="Ajani" last="Washington"] and [player_tooltip player_id="1158230" first="Cole" last="Hayworth"] who score 58% of their teams’ points. This will be another tough road win for Norwell if they can pull it out. 3. Brebeuf Jesuit @ New Castle - Saturday @ 7:30 In a big top-10 3A matchup, #5 Brebeuf Jesuit (12-6) takes on #9 New Castle (13-3). Brebeuf is just 4-5 in their last 9 games, but four of these five losses have all come to top-16 teams in their classes with Division 1 players like Zionsville, Mt. Vernon (Fortville), North Central, and Park Tudor. New Castle is 13-3 with several good wins on their resume. However, all three of these losses have come to teams with top-25 players, Wapahani, Anderson, and Mt. Vernon (Fortville). New Castle also has a tough road game the night before with Greenfield-Central that we will talk about later in the article. The matchup to watch with be [player_tooltip player_id="870225" first="Billy" last="Smith"] (Miami-OH) vs. [player_tooltip player_id="1160680" first="Gavin" last="Welch"] as both are very good scoring wings. 4. Ben Davis @ Indianapolis Cathedral - Friday @ 7:30 In this top-6 4A matchup, #4 Ben Davis (15-6) goes on the road to take on #6 Indianapolis Cathedral (16-5). Ben Davis started the year hot with an 11 game winning streak, but they are just 4-4 in their last 8 games. Cathedral has won 6 of their last 7. These two teams are two of the most talented teams in the state with Division one caliber players. Ben Davis is led by Karl Windham Jr. (2024) and [player_tooltip player_id="1042497" first="Zane" last="Doughty"] (2023) who are very undervalued talents across the state. Cathedral is led by 7 players ranked in the top 20 of their classes in the state. [player_tooltip player_id="870212" first="Tayshawn" last="Comer"] (Eastern Kentucky), [player_tooltip player_id="1063971" first="Jaxon" last="Edwards"] (Murray State), and [player_tooltip player_id="868219" first="Xavier" last="Booker"] (#1 in 2023) are the top players with [player_tooltip player_id="1297083" first="Lebron" last="Gough"] and [player_tooltip player_id="1297015" first="Deric" last="Cannady"] being some of the top freshmen in the state and providing great bench minutes. If you want college-level talent, this is one that you should not miss. 5. Tipton @ Oak Hill - Tuesday @ 7:30 Tipton (13-4) goes on the road to Oak Hill (14-4) in a big non-conference matchup with both teams playing great basketball at the moment. Tipton has won 6 of 7 with a loss on the road to Kokomo. Oak Hill has won 8 of 9 with a loss at Maconaquah last week. Each of these two teams is led by a duo of scorers who are combining for 35 points per game. For Tipton, [player_tooltip player_id="1158205" first="Nolan" last="Swan"], a sophomore guard, and Nate Powell, a senior forward, and for Oak Hill, their junior duo of [player_tooltip player_id="1273049" first="Landon" last="Biegel"] and Caleb Kroll. These two duos will decide this game. 6. Warren Central @ Center Grove - Saturday @ 7:30 Warren Central (12-6) travels on the road to Center Grove (8-9), and both of these teams are trending in completely opposite directions. Warren Central has won 7 of their last 8 games, but of these seven wins, they have won four of these games by four points or less. Center Grove on the other hand has lost 5 of their last 6 games with three of these 5 losses coming by one point. This game should be tight for most of the way, but Warren Central’s size with [player_tooltip player_id="769654" first="D’Ante" last="Davis"] and [player_tooltip player_id="787634" first="Chandler" last="Jackson"] should have the advantage over [player_tooltip player_id="1272949" first="Marcus" last="Ankney"] and [player_tooltip player_id="1273050" first="Ethan" last="McComb"]. 7. New Castle @ Greenfield-Central - Friday @ 7:30 In New Castle’s second top-10 game of the week, the Trojans (13-3) travel on the road to Greenfield-Central (12-7). New Castle has won 6 of 7 with their one loss coming on an overtime buzzer-beater by Wapahani. Greenfield-Central is playing their best basketball at the right time as they have won 8 of 9 with their one loss coming in overtime at Pendleton. [player_tooltip player_id="1160680" first="Gavin" last="Welch"] vs. [player_tooltip player_id="1049171" first="Dylan" last="Moles"] will be the scoring battle to watch, but the biggest thing that will decide this game is whether or not Greenfield can handle the size of New Castle inside. This should be a good one. 8. Indianapolis Tindley @ Lawrence Central - Saturday @ 7:30 In a big 1A vs. 4A matchup, the star-powered Indianapolis Tindley (12-7) takes on Lawrence Central (6-12). Tindley has yet to win in the month of January with tough losses to 2A #3 Fort Wayne Blackhawk and Indianapolis Attucks. Lawrence Central plays an extremely tough schedule, and they are looking to grow for the future. Both of these teams put up a ton of points, so this should be a run and gun thriller. Each team is led by three different players averaging double figures with [player_tooltip player_id="1174129" first="Aaron" last="Humphrey"] Jr., [player_tooltip player_id="868226" first="Jayden" last="Pinkston"], and [player_tooltip player_id="1252307" first="Arlondo" last="Hall"] for Tindley and D’John Craig, [player_tooltip player_id="868233" first="Joshua" last="Mickens"], and [player_tooltip player_id="1379216" first="Kamari" last="Jones"] for Lawrence Central. This game will probably be first to 70 wins. 9. Jasper @ Barr-Reeve - Tuesday @ 7:30 In our second straight 1A vs. 4A matchup, Jasper (16-3) takes on Barr-Reeve (12-7). Jasper has three road losses this year including one at 1A #5 Loogootee already. Barr-Reeve is just 12-7 on the year, but of those losses, 2 are to 4A schools and 3 are to teams ranked in the top 5 of their class. The two matchups to watch that will decide this one are Connor Foley vs. [player_tooltip player_id="958397" first="Hagen" last="Knepp"] and Carter Mundy vs. Kayden Graber. Knepp comes in averaging over 20 points per game, but he is averaging just 15 per game in their losses. Barr-Reeve might be the place to be on Tuesday night. 10. Columbus North @ Bloomington North - Friday @ 7:30 This game is the Conference Indiana Championship game as Columbus North (15-5) and Bloomington North (15-3) both come in at 4-0. Both of these teams also are playing outstanding basketball right now with Columbus North winning 9 in a row and Bloomington North winning 8 in a row. The two big matchups to watch will be the forwards, [player_tooltip player_id="1063983" first="Sam" last="King"] (6’8") vs. [player_tooltip player_id="868224" first="JaQualon" last="Roberts"] (6’7"), and the guards, [player_tooltip player_id="935735" first="Cooper" last="Horn"] vs. [player_tooltip player_id="870215" first="Nick" last="Klaiber"]. Look for [player_tooltip player_id="1152148" first="Marco" last="Fitch"] to be the difference-maker because when he has a good game for Bloomington North, they will be extremely tough to beat.