For the seventh time in the past eight years, the Carmel boys basketball team is playing in a Class 4A regional.
The No. 1-ranked Greyhounds will travel to Logansport Saturday morning for a 10 a.m. date with Fort Wayne Northrop in the first semi-final game at the Berry Bowl. Huntington North and Zionsville play the second semi-final game at noon, with the winners advancing to the 8 p.m. championship game.
Carmel will be taking on a Bruins team that is 16-8 for the season. The two teams didn’t play each other in the regular season, but they had common opponents in Noblesville, Bishop Dwenger and Lawrence North. All three teams lost to Carmel but defeated Northrop.
The Bruins finished in a three-way tie for first place in the Summit Conference, sharing the championship with Homestead and Carroll. All had 7-2 records. Northrop then won the DeKalb sectional, beating Carroll 41-31, DeKalb 63-42 and East Noble 77-66.
The Bruins’ leading scorer is senior Sydney Curry. The 6-foot-8 Miami University commit is averaging a double-double of 17.7 points and 11.7 rebounds per game. Two other Northrop players are in double figures: Junior Qualen Pettus, at 6-3, contributes 12.7 points per game. Senior Isaac Anderson, at 5-9, scores at an 11.6 clip and leads the team in assists with 2.2 and steals with 2.1 per game.
The Greyhounds are 22-1 for the season, and undefeated Metropolitan Conference champions at 7-0. Carmel defeated Fishers 62-52 and Hamilton Southeastern 45-39 to win its own sectional. Senior John Michael Mulloy, a 6-10 Butler commit, leads the way for the ‘Hounds with 14.7 points, 8.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game (53 for the season).
Senior Andrew Owens, a 6-6 signee to the University of Findlay, averages 11.5 points and 4.1 rebounds per game, and leads the team in 3-pointers with 51. Karsten Windlan, a 5-10 senior, is scoring at an 11.3 points clip. Senior Luke Heady, a 5-11 Marian University commit, leads the team in assists with 2.3 per game (54 for the season).
In the other semi-final, Huntington North comes into the game with a 22-4 record and placed second in Northeast 8 Conference play with a 6-1 mark. The Vikings won the Fort Wayne Wayne sectional over No. 6 Homestead 48-34, Fort Wayne South Side 53-32 and Wayne 51-40.
Sawyer Stoltz, a 6-5 senior, leads the scoring for the Vikings. The IUPUI signee averages 13.2 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. Also scoring in double figures are 5-10 senior Zach Daugherty (12.6 points) and 6-4 senior Hank Pulver (11.9 points). Pulver has signed with Huntington University, while Daugherty has committed to play baseball at Purdue. Four players are averaging multiple assists per game: Pulver (3.2) assists, 5-7 junior Deven Newcomb (2.6), Daugherty (2.2) and 5-11 senior Trey Williams (2.0).
Seventh-ranked Zionsville is 20-5 for the season; that includes a perfect 7-0 mark in the Hoosier Crossroads Conference. The Eagles then took care of Lafayette Jefferson 71-66 and McCutcheon 64-41 to win the Kokomo sectional.
Senior Isaiah Thompson, a 6-0 Purdue recruit, has been pouring in 23.2 points per game for Zionsville, including 74 3-pointers, and also hands out 3.5 assists per contest. Another senior, Nathan Childress, adds 14.8 points per game. The 6-6 Childress, who is headed to Bethel College, leads the Eagles in rebounding at 6.8 and dishes out 2.8 assists. Anthony Scales, a 6-4 junior, pulls 6.3 rebounds per game.
