IHSAA releases sectional pairings for boys’ basketball state tournament

By CRAIG ADKINS

For The Reporter

On Sunday, Feb. 22, the IHSAA released the sectional pairings for the 116th Annual IHSAA Boys’ Basketball State Tournament. Over Classes 4A through 1A, there will be 404 teams vying for 64 sectional championships starting Tuesday.

Class 4A Sectional 8 at The Mill at Noblesville features five of Hamilton County’s nine teams, along with Zionsville. All five games will be streamed by Hamilton County TV via the IHSAA Champions Network app.

Noblesville (11-10) meets up with Zionsville (12-10) in the opener at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, followed by Westfield (13-7) taking on No. 12 Hamilton Southeastern (13-9).

No. 11 Carmel (15-5) drew the first bye and plays the Noblesville-Zionsville winner at 6 p.m. Friday, March 6 in the first semifinal. No. 1 Fishers (22-0) meets up with the Westfield-HSE winner in the second semifinal Friday night. The championship will be Saturday, March 7 at 7 p.m.

Class 3A Sectional 24 is hosted by New Castle at the famous New Castle Fieldhouse, the world’s largest high school gym.

No. 11 Jay County (18-3) opens with No. 17 Yorktown (13-7) at 6 p.m. Tuesday, followed by New Castle (10-10) hosting the Hamilton Heights Huskies (12-9).

Connersville (13-9) drew a bye and plays the Jay County-Yorktown winner in the first semifinal at 6 p.m. on Friday, March 6. Delta (13-9) also has a bye, matching them with the New Castle-Heights winner. The championship is Saturday, March 7 at 7 p.m.

Sectional 25 in 3A is in Frankfort at Case Arena (The Hot Dog House) with seven teams.

Tuesday’s lone game at 7 p.m. pits No. 14 Brebeuf Jesuit (14-6) and Tri-West (13-8). On Wednesday, March 4, Danville (8-13) and Crawfordsville tangle in the first game at 6:00 and Guerin Catholic (18-5) plays Frankfort (2-19).

Lebanon (10-11) drew the lone bye and plays the winner of Brebeuf and Tri-West at 6 p.m. Friday, March 6 in the first semifinal. The second semi has the Danville-Crawfordsville and Guerin-Frankfort winners. The semifinal winners play at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 7 for the championship.

Class 2A Sectional 39 is at Elwood, where Sheridan hopes to bring home its first sectional title since 1983.

Tipton (5-15) and Taylor (14-7) are up first at 6 p.m. Tuesday, with 10th-ranked Lapel (15-5) and 15th-rated Frankton (16-5) will battle for school-district supremacy in the second game.

No. 13 Sheridan (17-3) got the first bye and plays the Tipton-Taylor winner at 6 p.m. Friday, March 6 in the first semi. The second semifinal has Elwood (10-13) against the Lapel-Frankton winner. The championship is Saturday, March 7 at 7 p.m.

University travels to Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter in Sectional 42.

The Trailblazers (13-9) play first against Monrovia (12-8) at 6 p.m. Tuesday and will be followed by Cardinal Ritter (11-10) facing one-loss No. 16 Indianapolis Riverside (21-1).

Covenant Christian (12-9) plays the University-Monrovia winner in the first semifinal at 6 p.m. Friday, March 6. Park Tudor (12-8) meets up with the Ritter-Riverside winner in the second semifinal and the championship is Saturday, March 7 at 7 p.m.