Regular season wraps up this weekend

GCDW photo by Terry Schwinghammer Linton-Stockton senior point guard Joe Dieball was recognized prior to Tuesday's West Vigo game for establishing a school record for career assists. Athletic Director Charlie Karazsia presented Dieball with a game ball commemorating the milestone.

It's hard to believe but March is almost here. This weekend marks the end of the boys high school basketball regular season. And sectional play begins Tuesday!

Two games are on Thursday night's ticket.

Shakamak closes out its season at Owen Valley. White River Valley plays host to Vincennes Rivet.

Friday features a battle of ranked teams when Bloomfield plays at Barr-Reeve. And the final Southwestern Indiana Athletic Conference game of the season takes place Friday when North Daviess visits Eastern Greene.

WRV makes the lengthy trip to South Spencer in the lone Saturday contest.

At least that's the schedule for now - unless Mother Nature says otherwise.

***

The Bloomfield Cardinals improved to 19-3 on the season with an 88-52 thrashing of visiting North Knox last Friday. I did not attend Bloomfield's earlier games against Shakamak, Washington Catholic and White River Valley so I hadn't seen the free-wheeling, high-octane version of the Cardinals putting up 80-some points.

I must admit - I liked what I saw.

This Friday brings us the latest installment of the Game of the Year for area basketball.

A pair of state-ranked, 19-3 teams - Bloomfield and Barr-Reeve - take the court in Montgomery. The Cardinals are ranked third in Class A and the Vikings ascended to the top spot in 2A in this week's Associated Press poll.

This game could tell us a lot about where these two teams are and how they're playing headed into the postseason. And it could give us observers a "measuring stick" of sorts.

This one will be well worth the price of admission.

***

Shakamak (10-12) at Owen Valley (13-10) could be a compelling matchup.

Both teams feature high scoring guards, a tall player in the post, and a scoring option off the bench.

Could we see a shootout between Shakamak's Tanner Yeryar and Owen Valley's Cam King?

Mathias Caucheteur at 6-6 should match up very well against Owen Valley's 6-7 Jonah Arthur.

And if the Patriots' Michael Light comes off the bench and lights it up, can Laker super sub Rylee Landry match him?

We'll see.

Owen Valley is a hard team to figure. The Patriots have had less success against teams like West Vigo, Cloverdale, Linton-Stockton and White River Valley than the Lakers have had.

But Owen Valley is a 3A school playing a tougher schedule.

Will it be Patriot Time in Spencer Thursday? It always is, win or lose.

***

Eastern Greene hopes to finish the regular season on a winning note headed into the sectional.

The Thunderbirds would finish 16-7 and 5-2 in conference play with a win over North Daviess. The Cougars enter Friday's SWIAC and season finale with .500 season and conference marks (11-11, 3-3).

***

Linton-Stockton wrapped up its regular season on the home court Tuesday with a 54-38 win over West Vigo.

Tuesday was a night of team and individual records in Linton.

With the win over West Vigo the Miners finished 20-4. Never before had the Miners won 20 regular season games.

Senior point guard Joe Dieball was recognized before Tuesday's game as the school's career assist leader.

Dieball eclipsed previous record holder Dess Fougerousse's career mark of 322 assists in the first half of the Greene County Invitational championship game against Bloomfield.

Dieball's assist total stood at 387 and counting entering Tuesday's West Vigo game.

Next week when the North Knox Sectional gets underway Linton-Stockton begins its pursuit another first. The Miners are taking dead aim at a fourth consecutive sectional championship.

Four straight sectional titles is unprecedented in school history.

Twice previously Linton has won three sectionals in a row, in 1945-47 and 1974-76.

And the Miners, winners of 10 straight, have been on a roll and are playing their best basketball at the right time.

***

Linton-Stockton's continued success on the court the past several years has to be attributed, at least in part, to its highly successful junior varsity program coached by Noah Hawkins.

The Miner jayvees completed an undefeated season Tuesday. Not only were they undefeated, only one opponent managed to stay within double digits when the final score was tallied. Linton-Stockton's junior varsity won 56-51 in double overtime at Barr-Reeve.

According to Hawkins, the team has been outscored in just six quarters all year.

Coach Hawkins often employed a 10-deep platoon system. Five players would play one quarter and another five would take over for the next seven minutes.

"We had 10 guys - three juniors, two sophomores and five freshmen - who all got about the same amount of playing time."

The junior varsity program has just five losses in the last four years. The young Miners lost once last year and lost twice in both 2013-14 and 2012-13.

Congratulations to Coach Hawkins and the Linton-Stockton junior varsity on another superb season!

Terry Schwinghammer is a sports writer for the Greene County Daily World. He can be reached by telephone at (812) 847-4487, ext. 27. He can also be reached via email at tschwing32@yahoo.com.