Sabien Cain scored 24 points as University won the Class 2A Sectional 42 championship Saturday at Park Tudor with a 67-57 win over Heritage Christian.
Seth Hogg added 15 points and Larry Pierce 12 as the Trailblazers won their first sectional championship in 2A and fifth overall.
University never trailed in the contest as the Blazers got out to a fast start, built an eight-point halftime lead, then pushed the lead to 18 late in the third quarter. Heritage Christian mounted a charge in the fourth quarter but never got closer than 10 points as University made enough plays to salt away the win.
Coach Brandon Lafferman was effusive in praise for his team. “Our senior leadership on the floor tonight was huge from Larry Pierce and Nate Jeffrey. The defensive game plan worked out really well. Our guys did a good job holding (Myles) Colvin under his average.” Colvin, a Purdue commit, did not play in the first quarter and scored 12 points.
Lafferman remarked that his squad played with a chip on its shoulder. “In the locker room at halftime our guys were talking about how no one picked us this season to win any of our games against our major sectional opponents, including last night and tonight. After beating those teams during the regular season we wanted to prove we belong here and we have a spot to keep going in the post season.”
Pierce got the Blazers on the board just 20 seconds in to the game, scoring at the rim after a set up from Hogg. Robert Russell hit a corner three pointer on the University’s next possession for a 5-0 lead. Cain hit his first three pointer of the night before Pierce added four straight Blazers points on a rebound basket and a pair of foul shots and University held a 12-6 lead.
The Eagles battled back to tie the game at 14 and then again at 15 before University took the lead for good in the closing seconds of the first quarter. Jeffrey kicked the ball to Cain for a three pointer and then Jeffrey added a rebound basket for a 20-15 University lead after one period.
The scoring pace slowed down in the second quarter. Heritage Christian’s Tyler Allemeier opened the quarter with a three pointer but the Eagles went nearly five minutes with scoring just one foul shot as University opened a 29-21 lead. Cain scored with 11 seconds left and University went to the half up 31-23.
Hogg hit a couple of huge three pointers midway through the third quarter for University, connecting from the right wing and right corner to give the Blazers a 39-27 lead. After Colvin scored for the Eagles, Jeffrey converted an old-fashioned three-point play and University led 42-29 with 3:28 left in the quarter.
Cain added a basket and split a pair of free throws before Hogg found Pierce for an easy basket and University led 48-30 with two minutes left in the quarter and had a 48-32 advantage entering the final period.
Heritage Christian cut the lead to 10 on several occasions in the fourth quarter but the Blazers scored their last 10 points on foul shots and made 11 of 17 free throws in the final period to finish out the win. Russell was 2 of 2 from the stripe in the final quarter and Hogg was 4 of 5, making his last four.
Jeffrey had six points with Russell and Ozlowski adding five each to round out University’s scoring.
Allemeier led Heritage Christian with 16 points. Colvin and John Henry McLimore had 12 points each and Andrew Wiggins had 10 for the Eagles. Heritage Christian ends the season with a 12-12 record.
University will carry a 15-9 record in to the Greenfield-Central Class 2A regional. The Blazers will face Triton Central (13-11) in the second game Saturday. Eastern Hancock (20-5) and Southmont (19-6) play in the 10 a.m. game. The winners will meet at 8 p.m.
UNIVERSITY 67, HERITAGE CHRISTIAN 57
University FG FT TP PF
Robert Russell 1 2-2 5 2
Sabien Cain 8 5-10 24 4
Andre Ozlowski 2 1-3 5 3
Larry Pierce 5 2-4 12 2
Seth Hogg 4 4-5 15 4
Nate Jeffrey 2 2-3 6 2
Kahmi Bracey 0 0-0 0 1
Steven Scott 0 0-0 0 0
Totals 22 16-27 67 18
Score by Quarters
Heritage Christian 15 8 9 25 – 57
University 20 11 17 19 – 67
University 3-pointers (6) Cain 3, Hogg 3.