New Palestine took a lead going into the fourth quarter and then began to pull away. Led by Michael Morris and Josh Penley, the Dragons won their second sectional championship in three years, beating the Franklin Central Flashes 58-51.
The Dragons (17-6) move on to face the Castle Knights (18-4) in next Saturday's Shelbyville regional. New Palestine will play in the noon semifinal, which we will broadcast at HancockCountySports.com.The teams who will play in the first semifinal are yet to be determined -- the title games between Columbus North and Bloomington South, as well as Bedford North Lawrence and Jeffersonville -- will be contested Monday.
The game was close throughout before NP pulled away down the stretch to win its third sectional title in four years and second straight. The sectional championship is the seventh in New Palestine school history. The Dragons' first two class-era titles -- in 2009 and 2011 -- came in 3A. Now, as the second-smallest school in 4A, the Dragons won a sectional title their first year out.
Junior Michael Morris continued his strong tournament play, scoring 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting and grabbing six rebounds. Josh Penley had 18 points, hitting 5-of-9 from the floor and 8-of-12 from the line. He had six boards and three assists. Reid Clark had a six-point, eight-rebound night. Brandon Collins had seven points. Solomon Haynes added five boards from the guard spot.
The Dragons trailed 25-21 at halftime, but outscored FC 15-9 in the
third quarter to take a two-point lead going into the final eight
minutes, and began to pull away in the latter half of the fourth
quarter. The Dragons' victory was their second over the Flashes this
season, having also beaten FC 64-63 on Dec. 17.
At Hagerstown, Eastern Hancock fell to Union County 53-45, as UC went on a 20-4 run in the last six and a half minutes to take the lead and pull away. The Royals, who were playing without leading scorer Victor Vincz, had a lead for much of the night before falling to the Patriots in the fourth. EH finishes the year 12-11. Union County is now 21-2.
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