Regional preview, 3A Greenfield-Central

By CRAIG ADKINS

For The Reporter

No. 5 Guerin Catholic Golden Eagles (23-4) vs. No. 3 New Palestine Dragons (24-3)

Greenfield-Central will host two regional championships on Saturday. The first game at 1 p.m. pits North Decatur (14-13) against Liberty Christian (17-8) in Class 1A. At 4 p.m., the Golden Eagles and Dragons will play for a Class 3A regional trophy.

Guerin and New Pal have met four previous times, but this will be the first time in the state tournament. The Dragons won the most recent meeting, 66-51, on Feb. 11 at New Palestine.

Guerin Catholic captured its eighth sectional championship on Saturday night at Frankfort against Tri-West, 63-39. The Golden Eagles are in just their 19th season as a program.

The Golden Eagles are in search of their seventh regional crown in school history. They won the regional last season, also at Greenfield-Central, over Indianapolis George Washington, 56-39. Their quest for a fourth state finals appearance was halted by eventual 3A state champ Scottsburg in the semi-state championship game, 70-54.

Head coach Bob Allen is in his seventh season at Guerin (128-55) and is 184-129 overall in 13 years. Allen was at Knightstown for six seasons before taking over at Guerin Catholic.

Guerin has been on a pretty good postseason run lately. The Golden Eagles have won three regionals in the last four years and hope to make it five. They also peppered in that mix a state runner-up finish in 2023 two years ago to Northwood, 66-63 in overtime.

Starting off the season, Guerin was at 6-2 just before Christmas with its losses to 4A schools Westfield (53-40) and on a neutral court to Evansville Harrison (55-51).

The Golden Eagles would then win four games in two days at the Ray Furney Holiday Classic at Lawrenceburg on Dec. 27 and 28 against the likes of Gainesville (Fla.), Jennings County, Whiteland and Silver Creek, all by 11 or more.

Those four wins started a 10-game winning streak that included knocking down Circle City Conference opponents Bishop Chatard, Heritage Christian and Brebeuf Jesuit, along with a last-second home win over Cathedral.

Since then, the Golden Eagles have gone 7-2 heading into the regional with the only losses to Noblesville (54-39) and on the road at regional opponent New Palestine, 66-51.

So, this rematch with the Dragons is for more than a regional title. It’s for redemption from a double-digit loss just over a month ago.

Senior Bryson Cardinal leads with 19.5 points and 9.3 rebounds per outing. Sophomore Jake Grissom’s 12.7 points and 2.7 boards, along with senior Ryne Paris’ 10.4, 4.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists compliment the Golden Eagle offense for three averaging in double figures.

Senior Malcolm Houze scores four per game and grabs 2.5 rebounds and dishes out 2.6 assists. Sophomores Hayden Rogers (2.6 assists) and Carter Murans (3.8 points) and senior Jack Toles (3.6) help chip in for depth.

Historically, Guerin Catholic has been quite successful in its short history. Coming out of the south, the Golden Eagles have won six regional and three semi-state championships and are on the upward swing this postseason for a possible fourth state finals berth.

Guerin won the 2012 Class 3A state championship over Norwell, 64-48 and their second title in 2015 over Griffith, 62-56.

New Palestine has 12 sectional championships in program history. They have won five sectionals in the last seven seasons. A win in this week’s regional and the Dragons would be in brand new territory, having never advanced out of the regional level.

Beefing up their schedule this season, New Pal played 13 of its 23 regular season games against 4A competition, going 11-2 in those matchups. Among those were wins over Zionsville, Franklin Central, Castle, Whiteland twice in one week, Pendleton Heights, Franklin, Lawrence North, Perry Meridian, Southport and Warren Central.

The two losses were to Greenfield-Central and Mr. Basketball candidate and UConn signee Braylon Mullins, and Mount Vernon and Purdue commit junior Luke Ertel.

Going 9-1 against 3A foes, New Palestine has itself fueled for the tournament.

Head coach Trent Whitaker is 162-93 in his 10th season with four sectional titles.

The Dragons are led by senior Julius Gizzi’s 26.1 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. Classmates Moses Haynes (12.2), Ben Slagley (9.3) and Austin McMahan (7.6) and junior Evan Darrah help provide a majority of their 69.7 points per game as a team. Other factors that keep New Pal going are Haynes’ 7.2 rebounds, Slagley’s 6.4 boards and 4.9 assists and McMahan grabbing 4.1 rebounds.

Other regional matchups in 3A south that are potential semi-state opponents are: Crispus Attucks (19-6) vs. Northview (24-2) at Lebanon, Jennings County (12-14) against Princeton (23-2) at Southridge and Brownstown Central (23-2) faces Evansville Memorial (18-6) at Washington’s Hatchet House.