IHSAA SECTIONAL VS MISHAWAKA HIGH SCHOOL 43 45 Team 1 2 3 4 OT1 IHSAA Sectional 14 7 12 4 3 Mishawaka High School 14 6 6 12 7 On Saturday night the Mishawaka Cavemen strolled into the Sectional Final against #11 ranked South Bend Riley. A team they played back on December 22nd down at the Kokomo Phil Cox Invitational Tournament and was handed a lopsided loss to Riley in the morning game of that tournament. Tonight would be different. The Cavemen and Wildcats would find themselves notted up at 14 all after one and at 21-20 at the half with the advantage to Riley. In the second half there was as much ups and downs that you could imagine in this thriller. Riley came out and ended the 3rd quarter on a 7-0 run to take the lead at 33-26. But, that would not phase the Cavemen and they would start the 4th with a 9-0, keyed by a Jackson Snyder three and a Cooper Pritchett putback during the run of their own to take the lead at 35-33 with 4:18 to play in the ball game. With under 50 seconds to go in the game Riley’s Payton Baird would hit a baseline jumper to make it 37-35 Riley. Mishawaka wouldn’t fold! Under 25 seconds to go Riley fouled 3 times as a strategy to run some clock but not allow the Cavemen to get a clean look at the rim to tie it, but the 3rd foul would prove to be costly as Riley’s Ayden Kent would foul Mishawaka’s Brady Fisher behind the three point line with 2.1 seconds to go to send him to the line with a shot to tie it up. Brady would sink the first two free throws, timeout Riley. After the timeout Fisher would have an attempted at the third free throw and he would sink it to tie the game at 38 all. Time out Mishawaka. After the time Rasauun Johnson would check back onto the floor to guard the inbound pass by Riley. He would end up deflecting the ball, catching it in mid-air and attempting a shot at the buzzer that would just miss short! Overtime! In the extra period Rasauun Johnson would score all 6 points from the field as well as adding a Trey Thomas free throw and Jackson Snyder steal that would seal the deal for the Mishawaka Cavemen in earning their second straight Sectional Championship! History had been made as it was the first time Mishawaka had won back-to-back Sectional Titles in basketball since 1927-1928 which if you are counting at home ended a 96 year drought! The Cavemen were paced by Brady Fisher with 14 points and 3 of the biggest free throws of his life and in the Mishawaka basketball program history, 8 for Jackson Snyder, 8 for Cooper Pritchett as well as 10 rebounds, 7 for Trey Thomas and 6 of the biggest points of his life from Rasauun Johnson! Mishawaka will travel to Michigan City this Saturday to play in the Regional Championship against East Chicago Central with tipoff time being 5 PM Eastern/4 PM Central. Get your tickets now at Mishawaka Athletics website! By Bodie Bender on Mar 5, 2024