See how Penn, Concord earned first-round boys sectional victories
ELKHART — Everyone expected the Class 4A Elkhart Sectional to feature plenty of excitement.
The first round of the tournament Tuesday night did not disappoint.
Penn capped play by slipping past Northridge 39-34 after No. 13 Concord outlasted a game Goshen squad 50-44 in the opener at historic North Side Gym.
Concord (18-4) advances to play Warsaw (17-5) in the first semifinal contest at 6 p.m. Friday. Penn (17-6) will meet host Elkhart (3-19) in the second semifinal Friday evening. Concord beat Warsaw 56-45 on Jan. 19 in Northern Lakes Conference play and Penn defeated Elkhart 55-49 on Feb. 16 in a Northern Indiana Conference contest.
The sectional championship game is set for Saturday at 7 p.m.
Kingsmen earn win
For the second time this season, the Kingsmen and the Raiders went toe-totoe.
Penn, in the end, earned a second win over Northridge to keep its season going.
The Kingsmen, two-time defending sectional champions, outscored the Raiders 12-5 in the fourth quarter to advance. Penn had defeated Northridge 57-49 in overtime at Northridge back on Jan. 17.
The Raiders, who entered sectional play having won eight of their last nine games, led 11-8 after the opening period. Mason Bales scored five points in the first frame for the Raiders.
Penn used a 7-0 run to close the first half to take a 21-16 lead at intermission. Dominic Bonner led the way with nine points in the opening half for the Kingsmen.
Northridge outscored Penn 13-6 in the third quarter to lead 29-27 entering the final period.
Senior Bonner led first-year coach Barak Coolman’s Kingsmen with 14 points. Senior Maverick Brown scored 10 points and junior Alexander Hawthorne added eight for Penn.
The Kingsmen, who entered play Tuesday night having won seven of their last nine games, graduated all five starters from last season’s team that lost in the semistate title game.
Sophomore Brady Scholl led the Raiders with 13 points. Juniors Bales and Kam Radeker and sophomore Hayden Johnson each had five points for Northridge.
Northridge, which had no seniors, finished at 18-6.
Minutemen move on
Concord, which entered sectional play 4-1 versus the field, closed the game with a 6-2 run to sideline the RedHawks. The Minutemen, who beat Goshen 4722 in Northern Lakes Conference play Jan. 5. led 44-42 after a pair of Goshen free throws with 17.7 seconds to play.
Goshen, which finished at 10-13, led 11-5 after the opening period thanks to nine points from Levi Sawatzky. Concord rallied to lead 22-17 at halftime as Lucas Prough scored 10 points in the opening half. The Minutemen led 37-32 at the end of the third period.
Prough, a junior, paced Concord with 18 points. Prough entered postseason play averaging 8.6 points per game. Senior Parker McCuen netted 14 points and senior Braeden Messenger, Concord’s top scorer all season at 14.8 ppg., finished with 10 points.
Junior Sawatzky finished with a game-high 19 points to lead Goshen. Senior Andre Williams had 10 points and senior Gage Worthman six for the RedHawks. Worthman was averaging 13.3 ppg. entering sectional play.