It’s Sectionals’ week for Girls’ Basketball, and that means the beginning of the last leg of the high school basketball scene. Here’s a look at the 5 best boys basketball games in the area, as well as area girls’ basketball sectional picks.

Thursday 

(6-8, 4-3 NECC) West Noble @ (11-4, 5-2 NECC) Westview 

A huge NECC game in Emma presents a game that could be huge in the event Westview finds itself in position to win a conference championship. 

West Noble led by Jordan Eash’s double-double of 17 points and 10 boards pulled off a huge upset on Fairfield. Now can they create more chaos tonight? Their 45.6 scoring defense will give West Noble a fighting chance. 

But if Westview can get Wyatt Zepp involved on offense and knock down some perimeter shots. I like Westview in this one. 

Players to Watch:

West Noble: Bradyn Barth Senior Power Forward 

Westview: Wyatt Zepp Senior Combo Forward (Concordia College Commit)

Westview by 7

(6-8, 1-3 NE8) DeKalb @ (7-8, 2-3 NE8) Leo

Leo has lost 6 of their last 7 games and are in grave danger of being mathematically eliminated from the NE8 race if they fail to pick up a win tonight against DeKalb. 

This is a very tricky game that could go in either direction. You have the Beasley aspect of the Barons vs the quick tempo Leo offense. Caden Pettis of DeKalb vs Jackson McGee of Leo. It’ll come down to which team can assert their will tonight. 

Leo really needs this win tonight regardless of their status in the NE8 race, so I think Leo gets it done at home. 

Players to Watch

DeKalb: Caiden Hinkle Junior Power Forward

Leo: Jackson McGee Senior Guard (Grand Valley State Commit)

Leo by 3

(8-7, 2-2 NE8) East Noble @ 3A #7 (13-3, 4-1 NE8) Bellmont 

Very interesting matchup at the Teepee as the Braves hope to take one step closer to an NE8 title. A win tonight for Bellmont would almost certainly make the CC-Norwell game an even more important game. 

East Noble, while not entirely out of the race, knows this is must-win territory. For EN to get the win at Bellmont, they’re going to need to shoot the ball decently well tonight. But this Bellmont defense is tough and their starting 5 is loaded with experience and strong athletes. 

I think it goes down the wire with Bellmont hanging on. 

Players to Watch:

EN: Ryker Quake Junior Forward

Bellmont: Kord Fuelling Senior Combo Forward

Bellmont by 4

Saturday 

(12-6, 4-1 NE8) Columbia City @ (9-7, 4-1 NE8) Norwell

In a 1:30pm tip-off, this is the game of the week outside of the SAC, and this game is so, so fascinating on paper. You have two teams who graduated two super talented players after last season in Luke McBride and Andrew Hedrick (both now at Bethel), and these are two teams that came in maybe a little under the radar from the perspective of outsiders. 

Norwell has won this conference in each of their last 2 seasons, and they’ve managed to make enough big plays to get past not one but three straight conference games. Against Leo, New Haven, and East Noble, they have all been decided by no more than 6 points. Expect this one to be close once again. 

Columbia City has the thrill for the dramatics with close games. 11 of their 18 games have been decided by less than 10 points with the Eagles posting a 7-4 record. If it wasn’t for EN’s 3-point win over the Eagles and the Eagles’ “Bryce Drew Play” to beat Bellmont at the buzzer, who knows where this conference would be right now. 

The big matchup player wise is Ashton Federspiel, Norwell’s Senior big, and Columbia City’s backcourt of seniors Brady Hartman and Matthew Mulligan. We shall see which side comes out victorious, but I give the Eagles with the slightest of marginal wins. 

Players to Watch

CC: Matthew Mulligan Senior Combo Guard

Norwell: Ashton Federspiel Senior Power Forward/Center 

Columbia City by 1

(12-5) North Side @ 4A #1 (17-0) Lawrence North 

Gary Andrews’ Legends make the trip down to Indianapolis to face the top ranked team in all of Indiana in Lawrence North. 

Lawrence North is led by junior shooting guard Azavier Robertson who is averaging 19.5 points, 3.1 assists, and 2.2 steals per game on 45% shooting. If you know anything about the Wildcats, you know they have a plethora of athletes down there, and so this is an awesome job by the Legends’ staff to use that non conference schedule to get them ready for the state tournament against the best competition possible. 

While this could be an exciting game, we need to understand that Lawrence North is undefeated for a reason, and that’s because they average 72 points per game and nearly 34 rebounds per game. This is an awesome team. I think ‘We the North’ competes for LN is just too strong. 

Players to Watch

North Side: Eugene Young Jr. Senior Guard/Forward

LN: Azavier Robertson Junior Shooting Guard 

Lawrence North by 10

Undercard 

1. Thur. Bethany Christian @ Elkhart Christian: Bethany by 4 to win the HPC
2. Thur. Concordia @ Angola: Concordia by 7
3. Fri. Bishop Dwenger @ Peru: Dwenger by 6
4. Sat. Fremont @ Canterbury: Canterbury by 7
5. Sat. Leo @ Adams Central: J-E-T-S JETS by 8
6. South Side @ Woodlan: We the South by 4

Area Sectional Picks

1. 4A 5: Snider over Carroll
2. 4A 6: Homestead over Columbia City
3. 3A 20: Fairfield over NorthWood
4. 3A 21: Angola over Woodlan
5. 3A 23: Norwell over Bellmont
6. 3A 24: Hamilton Heights over Jay County
7. 2A 35: Central Noble over Fremont
8. 2A 37: Bishop Luers over Whitko
9. 1A 51: Blackhawk Christian over Bethany Christian 
10. 1A 53: Northfield over Southern Wells

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