2016 Boys Basketball Regional Preview for Northwest Indiana A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith 03-11-2016

There may not be anyone in Kentland Saturday as South Newton tries to win a regional basketball title for the first time in history when they travel to the Triton Regional.

I always thought the 'Blue Jay' had an evil look in his eye, but he'll be smiling on one team at the Class 2A North Judson Regional Saturday.

Marian, Griffith and Twin Lakes all bring 20-win teams to the Kankakee Valley Regional Saturday.

The big schools will be in the shadow of Lake Michigan as EC, CP, Warsaw and South Bend Riley try to win the Michigan City regional title.

The Michigan City gym seats up to 7,200 fans and the bleachers could be packed Saturday with fans from EC, CP, Warsaw and South Bend Riley. (Photos by Mark Smith)

MICHIGAN CITY (03-12-2016) The biggest day of the state tournament as it is presently played, is regional championship day. A total of 64 teams begin play in the four classes and by late Saturday, only 16 will remain for the four state titles.

This is the ‘lost day’ for basketball fans because you can see, at most, three games. Maybe parts of four if you drive very fast. But no one gets to see all 12 games in their area and that’s a shame.

One day after all of us are gone, there will be an IHSAA network where you can watch selected regional games from around the state. Or, the regional will be a staggered. With semifinals played on Friday night and title games at different times Saturday.

There is no reason to play the semifinals and finals on the same day.

Going back to the 1930 and 40s, you couldn’t go back and forth from home to the site. But cars work much better now. There is no issue with Warsaw playing in Michigan City Friday night and going home before returning Saturday evening.
And the losing teams don't have to make the trip Saturday.

Where geography was a problem in Class 1A, you could still do the entire regional Saturday if you chose to. South Newton would have difficulty traveling from Kentland to Bourbon twice in 24 hours. Play all of that regional Saturday and that would allow fans to watch two games Friday and three more Saturday, if they chose to or were just crazy.
These are not new ideas. It's just that we like Indiana where it takes a few decades for new thoughts to seem logical.

In Lake and Porter County, which as we all know, are not true Indiana places, there is no television of any games that I know of for the regional round of the high school state basketball tournament.

If you have cable, you can watch Cornbread State play Dogfood Valley in the Nabisco Conference final on ESPN 3 for a trip to the ‘big dance.’ And there’s always that Saturday ‘Law and Order’ marathon on TNT.

But the only way to watch any of the following games, is to get in your car and get there. Gas up folks!

Class 1A
TRITON REGIONAL
Sat., March 12 – 10 a.m. (EST), 9 a.m. (CST)
(Gary) 21st Century (18-6) vs. Triton (18-7)
(Fort Wayne) Blackhawk Christian (16-11)
vs. South Newton (23-2)

BOURBON: Triton is the place Northwest Indiana small schools go to die and it will be a problem for the 1A No. 7 21st Century Cougars.

Kouts was eliminated at Triton in regional play in 2012. Morgan Township lost there in the 2011 (and the 2008) regional. In 2009, a supposedly unbeatable Bowman Academy team lost 60-58 in Class 1A regional play at Triton.

Triton, a 1964 consolidation of tiny hard core country schools Bourbon, Tippecanoe and Etna Green, has been pretty good for a couple of decades including 22-3 in 2010, 24-3 in 2009 and 25-2 in 2008.

The Trojans have good size in 6-foot-4 Mason Yeo and 6-foot-5 Grant Johnson up front and 5-10 senior guard Jordan Anderson.

21st century is led by 5-foot-10, 145 pound guard Eugene German, who averages over 33 points a game (with 70 of 186, 38% on 3-point shots) after averaging 32 a game last season.

I have never seen German play (here’s where we need local basketball TV), but his numbers are incredible. Story is notable. At Andrean as a freshman and Gary Roosevelt as a sophomore, German ended up at 21st Century and has scored on all comers.

6-foot-3 DeAndre Gholston (13.6 ppg,) and 5-7 guard Corvon Lott (10.6 ppg,) keep the scoreboard lit and 6-foot- 5 Tyree Booker has to be blocked out inside. Triton can and will slow down the Cougars, who average 78 points a game but Morgan Township slowed them, too and 21st Century won at Morgan in the sectional title game 54-48 last week.

The real fun here involves South Newton, which has played 11 games in Illinois and has won 18 games in a row. The Rebels play a slowdown style led by 6-foot-2 brothers Jay and Jarrett Hammell. South Newton was 0-21 four years ago and 2-18 in 2013. They have nobody taller than 6-foot-2. They’ll face a high-powered team in Blackhawk, which scored 116 points against Hamilton and has posted 80 or more five times.

This is a very entertaining foursome. Too bad nobody but the folks in the building will ever hear about it. And followers of 21st Century will have to get to Triton by 9 a.m. (Gary time) to see their boys play.

Class 2A
NORTH JUDSON REGIONAL
Saturday, March 12
(MC) Marquette (19-8) vs Bishop Noll (18-7)
(FW) Canterbury (14-10) vs. Westview (13-11)

NORTH JUDSON: 2A No. 9 Bishop Noll took down No. 8 Bowman Academy to win the sectional at Boone Grove so they won't be intimidated by anybody’s size or speed this weekend. The Warriors also won't be surprised. They beat Marquette 60-50 two months ago. Noll defeated Canterbury in the regional last season and they lost to Westview in two overtimes at the regional two years ago.

Guard Roman Penn (14.5 ppg.) is joined by Akil McClain 12.8 ppg,) and Kodi Greenwell (10.3 ppg.). The Warriors are small and that could be an issue against Marquette which has 6-foot-4 seniors Caleb Carnes, who scored 16 in the sectional tile win over Knox and 6-foot-4 Tyshaun Smallwood.

Marquette has seven seniors who have made deep playoff runs the last two seasons. Blackhawk has 5-foot-8 scorer Jalen Paul (19.4 ppg.), who has seven games of 25 points or more and the front court duo of 6-foot-5 Tanner Camp (12.4 ppg.) and 6-foot-5 Nate White (11.7 pg.). They play a strong schedule.

Westview has great tradition, but they needed two overtimes to top Prairie Heights (13-13) in the sectional final.
Westview seems overmatched here but eight of their losses are by 10 points or less. They don’t get blown out often.

Here’s another great old gym with high-rising stands which will lift the regional atmosphere. With three private schools, the crowds may not be huge (public schools usually bring more fans than private schools) but Bishop Noll kids usually show up. A note to the Noll kids who got into a ‘presidential discourse’ with Andrean students last month at a ball game. We all know you guys are just a fun-loving bunch, but the folks in Starke County may not appreciate your political humor. Bass Lake (that pretty body of water you saw as you entered North Judson is a wonderful place to jump into in July. It's much less fun to be thrown into Bass Lake by angry locals in mid-March.

Class 3A
KANKAKEE VALLEY REGIONAL
Saturday, March 12
No. 5 (Mishawaka) Marian (21-4) vs. Twin Lakes (20-6) 10 a.m.
No. 3 Griffith (23-3) vs. Northwestern (10-12)

WHEATFIELD: This regional is set up for Griffith to win because they are facing the only losing team remaining in the entire tournament. The Panthers have lost only to East Chicago, Bowman Academy and Munster and the 6-foot-5 Murphy twins Tremmell and Anthony Murphy should be too much up front for a smaller foe in the semifinals. Tremmell Murphy, who scored 22 against Hammond in a 65-53 sectional title win over Hammond, suffered an ankle injury in that game which might come into play as he has to play twice.

But the Panthers' guard play, led by 5-foot-10 Martin Schiele (12.1 ppg.) should control Northwestern easily if they take the game seriously.

One note here: Griffith has a large fan following, but Twin Lakes can get their people to Kankakee Valley as well. The Kougars fell behind by eight against an inferior Hammond high team last week.
If they do that this Saturday, they’ll be home before dark.

Marian (21-4) was 20-1 last season so they won't be intimidated by Twin Lakes or Griffith. One of the Marian losses is to 4A No. 5 Warsaw (23-1) and another is to 4A South Bend Washington (17-6). Guard Jair Rogers (21.4 ppg.) is 139 of 159 (87%) from the foul line. Wing Zach Lattimer 9.9 ppg.) is a 46% (61 of 126) three-point shooter and guard Jake Whitfield (11.6 ppg.) somehow averages 6.6 rebounds per game. 6-foot-5 senior Anthony Blum (10.9 ppg.) averages 5.3 rebounds a game.

Twin Lakes can prevent Marian from facing Griffith. They are big enough with Big Dane Holmes (6-6, 237) averaging 19.3 points and 6.6 rebounds. 6-foot-2 brothers Blake Bennington (11.3 ppg.) and Bryce Bennington (9.3 ppg.) also add firepower. Guard Matt Conrad (7.7 ppg.) is 48 of 109 on 3-pointers. Justin Crabb is 46 of 60 (77%) from the foul line. Twin Lakes is 54-23 the last three seasons.
The longer I do this the more I realize how unpredictable these games are. But I’d guess Griffith would beat Twin Lakes, but they’ll have a hard time with a superior Marian squad.

Class 4A
MICHIGAN CITY REGIONAL
Saturday, March 12
(South Bend) Riley (22-5) vs. No, 5 Warsaw (23-1) 10 a.m.
East Chicago (18-5) vs. CROWN POINT (18-8)

MICHIGAN CITY: Here’s a regional where you can make a solid argument for any of the four teams. Warsaw has won 23 of 24 times, but Riley is more athletic than even East Chicago. They have 6-foot-6 16-year old Division I prospect Damezi Anderson, who during the regular season averaged 18.1 points and 7.4 rebounds while making 66 of 174 (38%) 3-point shots. 6-foot-2 senior Reontre Lawrence (17.2 ppg.) is another quick stepper. 6-foot-3 wing Nate Marino was a 49% 3-point shooter (51 of 105) during the regular season. But Riley’s biggest strength is that they are relentless. When challenged to play up-tempo (as Warsaw won't), they keep coming.

The Tigers have lost only 36-33 at home to Carmel. Warsaw is undefeated on the road this season after an 18-5 season in 2015. The Tigers, who have seven varsity players back from last season, have won four overtime games this year. The guards: Junior Kyle Magas and senior Paul Marandet, control everything. Nobody runs on them. Warsaw allows just 38 points a game because you are forced to play their game. If you can get to Michigan City by 10 a.m., this game is worth seeing because it’s a huge contrast in styles. If it's 12-7 after the first quarter, Warsaw is winning no matter who is ahead. If its 24-18, Riley is winning no matter who is leading on the scoreboard.

The East Chicago-Crown Point game might be the most entertaining of the two. It’s a rematch of an earlier 80-73 EC win in East Chicago last month, a game Crown Point led 41-30 at halftime. EC’s double trouble attack of 6-foot-5 Jermaine Couisnard (17.2 ppg.) and 6-foot 4 senior Damien Jefferson (25.2 ppg.) are well equipped to take on CP’s 6-foot-6 Grant Gelon (93 3-point baskets) 6-foot-4 junior Sasha Stefanovic (16 ppg.) and 6-foot-6 post man Andrew Kenneally (11.2 ppg.). EC was 20-4 last year, so they’re 38-9 over two seasons, but CP got to the regional final in 2015.

The problem here for both sides is: If they play a hard-running, hard fought second semifinal game as expected, how much does the Warsaw-Riley winner have from playing at 10 a.m.?

Crown Point topped Munster at the 2015 Michigan City regional, but wore down at the end of an 80-73 regional championship loss to Riley 77-74.

Can Warsaw handle the talent of Riley and EC? Can EC’s Jefferson and Couisnard continue to bank 40 points every game against these teams? Can Riley handle Warsaw’s slow down?

And my question: How many people from Crown Point and East Chicago will show up? One note about Warsaw, a city the size of Lowell which is named after the capital of Poland. I haven't seen a Warsaw game in person in 10 years. But traditionally, the entire town shuts down and follows the basketball team. If Warsaw is in the championship game, there could be 3,000 people wearing bright orange Warsaw shirts the 7,200-seat Michigan City gym. I’d advise EC and CP folks to show up early Saturday because the crowd for the 10 a.m. game will be large and the gym (and parking lot) will be full as the second game people begin to arrive.

You have been warned.


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Revised: March 11, 2016 .