Portage's arrival to Richmond High School was delayed due to an apparent bus malfunction. Fort Wayne North Side had extra warmup time because of that. That often lowers the intensity of the team to start the game and that happened to North Side.

Luckily for North Side, junior post player Jaylen Butz came to play. He was locked in from the start. He scored 14 points in the opening quarter and could have had more if he would have hit his free throws.

The rest of North Side was flat in the first quarter. Butz was enough to give North a cushion. Portage helped North Side with its shot selection. It was often one pass and wild shot from Portage in the first half. That led to North Side blowing the game open. North was up 46-21 at the half.

Keion Brooks stepped up his game in the second period after going 0-2 with a turnover in the first quarter. He scored 12 points and grabbed five rebounds in the second stanza.

North Side put on a dunk show in the third quarter with Butz, Brooks and Chris Hill getting into the action. The lead reached 40 points in the period.

North Side advanced with an 85-38 victory. They will play Franklin Central on Tuesday at 5:30.