HENRYVILLE — Borden took the drama out of its anticipated matchup against Lanesville early.

The defending champion Braves used a huge first-half run to bury the Eagles and roll to a 60-40 semifinal victory in the Class A Henryville Sectional at Furnish Gymnasium on Friday night.

“Never would I have imagined the game going that way,” said Borden head coach Doc Nash about the lopsided outcome. “I think the guys showed how hungry they are to continue their careers.”

The Braves will look to make it two sectional titles in a row tonight in the finals, when they face off with New Washington at 7:30.

In the opening contest Friday, the Mustangs heated up from behind the 3-point arc in the fourth quarter to finally subdue a stingy Christian Academy of Indiana defense and post a 48-30 win over the Warriors.



BORDEN-LANESVILLE

It was systematic, precise and prolonged.

During their first-half run, the Braves played as close to perfect as their coach could possibly imagine during a stretch at the end of the first quarter and the early part of the second period.

Borden tore through Lanesville’s defense and put the clamps down on its own defensive end, exploding for a 21-0 run that began with three minutes left in the first and didn’t end until a layup by Lanesville’s John Kissel that made the score 26-7 with 4:33 to go before halftime.

Lee Kirchgessner had a pair of 3-pointers and a perfectly-executed backdoor alley-oop for a layup during Borden’s epic march. Another highlight of the spurt came when Chance Clark blocked a Jeffrey Hammond 3-point attempt, recovered the loose ball near midcourt and scored a transition layup for the final points of the first quarter and a 16-7 Borden advantage.

“Really for a stretch there in the first half, we played probably as perfectly as we could have hoped to play,” said Nash. “We were able to get a couple shots to go down on our end of the court, building our confidence, and then we were able to force them into shots that they probably were not comfortable with. And maybe more importantly than anything else, we rebounded their misses. Their length and ability to score second-chance points is what really concerned us coming into the game.”

Drake Potts led Borden with 13 points and seven rebounds in the win, while Kirchgessner added 12 points off the bench. Clark also reached double figures for Borden, recording 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting in the victory.

Every starter scored at least seven points in the victory for the Braves (17-5).

Kissel was the lone Eagle win double figures. He had 10 points in the contest, as Lanesville’s record ended up 16-6.



NEW WASHINGTON-CAI

The Mustangs (14-10) were held in check through the opening three periods, but exploded for 21 points in the final eight minutes.

Drake Krohn hit three of New Washington’s four fourth-quarter 3-pointers and the Mustangs held the Warriors to four points on two field goals in the stanza.

Devin Freels had a game-high 17 points for the Mustangs, 12 of them coming in a second half in which the Mustangs outscored CAI 32-9 overall.

Freels sparked New Washington’s fourth-quarter surge with a 3 in the Mustangs’ opening possession. From there, it was Krohn who provided the Mustangs’ offense. The sophomore canned three consecutive 3s during a 14-2 run that put the Mustangs in front for good.

Freels went 3-of-5 from behind the 3-point arc. Krohn and Dustin Bowman each had nine points for New Washington.

Justin Sturgeon and J.T. Taylor each had six in the loss for CAI (7-15).

The Warriors held a five-point edge at intermission, limiting the Mustangs to two points in the second period to hold a 21-16 advantage.



CLASS A HENRYVILLE SECTIONAL

SEMIFINALS

CHR. ACADEMY 13 8 5 4—30

NEW WASHINGTON 14 2 11 21—48

Christian Academy of Indiana (7-15) — McKain 5, Hammer 3, Taylor 6, Hayes 4, Sturgeon 6, Heinz 2, R. Heinz 2, Carruthers 2.

New Washington (14-10) — Minton 7, Freels 17, Bowman 9, Radford 2, Jones 1, Bower 3, Krohn 9.

Three-point field goals — New Washington 7 (Krohn 3, Freels 3, Bowman); Christian Academy 1 (McKain)

Rebounds — Christian Academy 17 (Hayes 6); New Washington 22 (Minton 8)

Turnovers — Christian Academy 14, New Washington 12.



BORDEN 16 10 17 17—60

LANESVILLE 5 4 19 12—40

Borden (17-5) — Beam 9, Potts 13, Chester 7, Wagoner 8, Clark 11, Kirchgessner 12.

Lanesville (16-6) — Hammond 6, Jn. Kissel 10, Conder 8, Beach 7, Horton 2, Teeter 5, N. Hammond 0, Mullens 2.

Three-point field goals — Borden 5 (Kirchgessner 2, Chester, Potts, Beam); Lanesville 4 (Jn. Kissel 2, Hammond, Beach).

Rebounds — Borden 24 (Potts 7); Lanesville 15 (Beach 5).

Turnovers — Borden 11, Lanesville 14.