Exciting sectional games ahead this week

Sunday, February 28, 2016

This week's sectional matches will pit familiar boys' basketball teams against each other and will feature two of the highest-scoring ballers in Indiana hoops this season.

South Putnam (4-18) drew the bye in the Southmont sectional and will play the winner of Tuesday's North Putnam and Cloverdale rematch. Cloverdale (16-7) defeated the Cougars early in the season by 13 points. Cooper Neese currently sits third on the Indiana scoring list with 29.1 points per game. The junior's scoring average is ranked 34th in the country according to Maxpreps.com.

Neese is 33rd in the state with nine rebounds a game, ninth in field goals made with 223, fifth in three-pointers made with 90 and 16th with 3.3 steals per game.

North Putnam (8-15) has won five of its last seven games, with one bucket being the difference in both losses, while Cloverdale has won seven of its last eight.

Cascade (7-15) will play Monrovia (9-14) in the sectional game before the Clovers and Cougars collide at 6 p.m. with the winner taking on Southmont who also drew a bye.

Monrovia lost to Cascade by four but defeated North Putnam and South Putnam by double digits. The Bulldogs lost to Cloverdale, however, by 17. Cascade also lost to Cloverdale and beat North and South Putnam. Southmont defeated North Putnam and South Putnam early in the season by double digits and took a loss to Cloverdale.

The Greencastle boys' basketball team (10-12) will have a second crack at the Western Boone team who defeated GHS in an overtime game on the Stars' home floor. The Tiger Cubs will take on Western Boone (10-11) in the Frankfort Sectional on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

GHS has Indiana's fourth-highest scoring threat in Ryan Coble, who has averaged 28.4 points per game and is 41st on the national scoring list.

Frankfort (8-13) will play Lebanon (15-8) on Tuesday with the winner taking on North Montgomery and Crawfordsville (8-13) will take on Tri-West (15-6) after the Greencastle game.

Greencastle has not played Lebanon or Frankfort this season but has beaten Tri-West on the Bruins' home floor and GHS lost to Crawfordsville in its first game of the season. Should the Tiger Cubs and North Montgomery make it to the sectional championship, it would be a rematch of the Friday night game where the Chargers just barely outlasted Greencastle.

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