Elkhart Christian, Marquette both lose
A pair of fabulous boys basketball postseason runs ended in tough fashion for both Elkhart Christian Academy and Michigan City Marquette Saturday.
No. 15 ECA dropped a 60-51 final to Fort Wayne Canterbury in the second semifinal game of the Class 1A North Semistate at Michigan City. Marquette lost 50-47 to Liberty Christian in the semifinal opener.
Canterbury (17-9) advanced to play Liberty Christian (18-9) in the title game Saturday night. The winner advances to the Class 1A state championship game March 30 at 10:30 a.m. at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
ECA, which won the first regional in program history, finished at 17-10. Marquette closed its season at 12-16.
ECA found itself in another thriller thanks to more March heroics from star Aiden Hibbard. The senior star drained a long trey from the left wing at the buzzer at the end of regulation play to tie the game at 49-49. Canterbury then pulled away with an 11-2 edge in the extra session.
Hibbard, who finished with a gamehigh 28 points, had hit the game-winning shots for his team in both the sectional championship game and again in the regional win last week.
ECA trailed 28-18 at halftime and by as many as 14 points in the second half before mounting a furious rally.
Sophomore Lewy Eyob scored eight points and sophomore Kian Hibbard and senior LJ Bevier each finished with seven points for ECA.
Devon Lewis netted 24 points for Canterbury, which has won 15 of its last 17 games.
A youthful Marquette team fell just short in its bid to play for a semistate title.
The Blazers, who play mainly three sophomores and two freshmen, led 2419 at halftime. Liberty Christian rallied to lead 36-32 at the end of the third period as Marquette had 12 turnovers in the key quarter. The Blazers were within 4442 with 2:17 to play, but the Lions used a 6-2 run to hold on.
Josiah Mays led Marquette with 13 points. Cole Dobre had 12 points, 10 rebounds and seven blocked shots. Vaughn Roal-Kludt and Aleks Pecoski each added nine points.
TJ English led Liberty Christian, winners of eight in a row, with 14 points.