Cameron Donovan had 19 points and 12 rebounds as he led Union County to a 56-32 win over Northeastern in the sectional championship game on March 3. Photo by Ryan Tincher.
LIBERTY, Ind. – The celebration is over and it’s time to get back to work.
As the Union County boys basketball team prepares for its upcoming contest regional against Indianapolis Scecina, the Patriots have moved on to the next phase of the season after sharing the Tri-Eastern Conference title and winning a sectional title.
“Our guys are ready to work,” Union County Head Coach Jesse Moses said. “We celebrated and soaked up our championship on Saturday.”
“It’s important to celebrate things worthy of a celebration,” Moses added of his team’s first sectional crown since 2013. “Our guys have worked too hard all season long to not enjoy the moment, but we aren’t ready to be done.”
Last Saturday, Union County beat Northeastern 56-32 to win the sectional at Hagerstown to earn the trip to the Class 2A Greenfield-Central Regional. Indianapolis Scecina defeated Heritage Christian 54-47 to wins its sectional finale.
This Saturday, the Patriots (20-6) meet the Crusaders (17-9) at 10 a.m. Cloverdale (20-6) and Shenandoah (21-4) play in the other semifinal at noon, while the championship contest is slated for 8 p.m.
“Scecina likes to play a lot of aggressive, pressure man, looking to run and jump into trapping action,” Moses said. “They will also run a half-court trap similar to a few teams in the TEC. As a team, they shoot the ball pretty well and like to use their dribble to create.”
Like the Patriots, the Crusaders have not won a regional title and also claimed their first sectional since 2013.
Scecina had four players in double figures against Heritage Christian led by Manual Brown, who had 14 points. Cobie Dillard added 11 points with Kobe Clancy and Jayvon Hatton finishing with 10 each.
The two teams have never met in the tournament.
“At this stage in the tournament, everybody is on a winning streak and everybody is playing good basketball,” Moses said. “Familiarity is nice in preparation, just because you know tendencies and you’ve been able to see a lot games in person.”
Union County has won six games in a row since a 65-47 loss at Northeastern on Feb. 9, while the Crusaders have four straight and seven of their last nine.
“We know a majority of our preparation is about what we can do well,” Moses said. “We know there’s some things we need to clean up and we will.”
Cameron Donovan led the Patriots in their three sectional contests with three double-doubles as he scored 15.3 per game and grabbed 12.0 rebounds per outing.
“Our guys want more, we still have a hunger,” Moses said. “This time of year, it’s always nice to still be practicing. Their focus is now on this week. Let’s work, let’s get better.”
Also in sectional action, Mason Miller tossed in 12.7 PPG and Preston Scott added 10.7.
Game Two
Shenandoah comes into the regional with the longest winning streak at 10 games.
The Raiders won their sectional title with a 61-50 victory over No. 11 Indianapolis Howe. Chase Kinsey led the way in the win with 15 points. He scores 14.5 PPG.
Cloverdale has five wins in a row and has taken seven of its last eight.
Jalen Moore leads the Clovers at 37.0 PPG. He has 2,373 points in his career and is 13th on the all-state list in Indiana.
Moore had 33 points in Cloverdale’s 63-38 sectional championship win over North Putnam.