Many great 4A regional match-ups on Saturday. Here is a breakdown of the games...
Marion Regional
Fort Wayne Northrop (19-7) vs. New Haven (17-5)
Kokomo (22-2) vs. Carmel (21-2)
Northrop features the Scott twins…Bryson and Brenton who have been the heart of the Northrop program for the last 4 seasons. Bryson recently went over the 2,000 career point mark while Brenton has about 1,500 career points. They are as tough as they come. New Haven is led by Notre Dame-bound V.J. Beachem. They also have 6-11 junior Steve McElvene. Kokomo has not missed a beat without D.J. Balentine, who is now starring at the University of Evansville. Junior Tayler Persons is a huge reason for that continued success along with senior LaBradford Sebree. And then there is Carmel who was extremely dominant their last time out against North Central. The defending state champs look poised to repeat. They are extremely disciplined on both ends of the court. The right player takes the right shot on the offensive end; you do not see that often in high school. Senior Michael Volovic will walk-on at Butler next season while James Crowley is set to play at Marian University in Indianapolis. Zach McRoberts does all of the little things and cleans the glass for Carmel while sophomore Ryan Cline stretches defenses with his outside shooting.
I predict a Carmel/Northrop final and I cannot pick against Carmel. It will be a true battle if these two meet with the Scott twins not wanting their high school careers to end without a state championship.
Michigan City Regional
Warsaw (13-10) vs. South Bend Adams (21-2)
Merrillville (20-3) vs. Munster (25-0)
Merrillville and Munster always seem to play great games. Munster is the only 4A undefeated team. They are led by seniors Michael Schlotman (William & Mary) and Nate Bubash (Indiana Wesleyan) along with sophomore Drew Hackett. Merrillville has a team full of seniors including Texas Pan-Am signee Jake Raspopovich, Jelani Pruitt, B.J. Jenkins and Zoran Talley. This could very well be a one possession game, but I will give the slightest edge to Munster. South Bend Adams has had a great season. They are loaded at the guard position. Junior Terry Davis Jr. is their leading scorer and does a lot of the dirty work for them. Juwan Johnson is an outside threat while Joe Beard, Mike Bush and Jalen White are best at breaking down defenses and getting to the basket. Warsaw is led by senior guard Jared Bloom. Bloom is a scoring guard that averages about 18 points per game.
I see Munster capturing the regional championship, but Adams and Merrillville are more than capable of winning it as well.
Seymour Regional
Columbus North (23-1) vs. Franklin Central (11-10)
Jeffersonville (22-3) vs. Evansville Harrison (22-1)
High school teams do not get much taller than the Columbus North squad. They can put college type height on the floor at all times. Columbus North has four players averaging double-figures with Evan Henry (14ppg), Sawyer Glick (13ppg), Josh Speidel (13ppg) and Tori Jackson (11ppg) then have the 6-7 shooter Elliot Welmer (48% 3-pt) as well. Franklin Central has the most losses of any team in the 4A regional round with 10. Franklin Central has Maryville-bound Forrester Sims.
Jeffersonville against Harrison should be a great game. Harrison won the regular season game by three points. Jeffersonville is led by Darryl Baker (25ppg). He has had a breakout senior season. This is the type of season that I expected from Baker last season. Harrison is one of the most entertaining teams to watch in the state because of their skill level and the way they pass the ball. Harrison was my darkhorse state champion before the tournament started so I am sticking with them to win this regional.
Southport Regional
Cathedral (22-5) vs. Pendleton Heights (15-9)
Martinsville (13-9) vs. Pike (22-3)
Cathedral and Pike are heavy favorites in the opening games. Cathedral has won 16 games in a row with a winning margin of more than 14 points in those games. They are led by Indiana signee Collin Hartman and sophomore Jalen Coleman. Hartman has been great especially since the suspensions of Mo Evans and Justin Baker. Pendleton Heights will need a monster game from Brogan Gary to pull the upset. Gary is going to play college basketball at St. Francis in Fort Wayne. Sean McDermott is a sophomore for Pendleton Heights that is more than capable of getting hot from the outside as well. Martinsville is led by Troy Spears and Greg Spina. Spears was once verbally committed to New Mexico but is no longer. Pike has the guard trio of Jordan Pickett, Zavier Turner and Taishaun Johnson and then has Anthony Patterson and Kendall Rollins to clean things up around the rim.
This is another tough one to call, but I will go with Cathedral because of how well they have played the last two months.
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