Most athletes will tell you that the hard-fought victories are the ones that mean the most. This is perhaps most true for this season, the season that almost wasn’t. With this in mind, the Region witnessed one the toughest battles on the court in recent memory as the Bowman Academy Eagles went head-to-head against the Marquette Catholic High School Blazers in Saturday night’s Class 2A Sectional Championship game.
Bowman (11-12 overall) came into the game with their eyes on the prize and jumped out to an early 20-11 lead in the first quarter, thanks in part to a series of field goals by #11 Koron Davis, 6’ 6” PG, SG, SF senior. Davis scored nine of the teams 20 points in that quarter, and went on to nab a game-high total of 33 points.
BOYS BASKETBALL SECTIONALS CHAMPIONSHIPS Bowman Academy VS Marquette Catholic High School 2021
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The Blazers (16-10 overall) turned it up in the second quarter, closing the Eagle’s lead to just five points to head into halftime at 36-31 Bowman.
Both teams seemed to struggle a bit heading into the second half, but the Eagles quickly found their rhythm again in the fourth quarter, adding another 24 points to their side of the scoreboard for a final score of 70-58, good enough to send the Blazers home for the season, while Bowman advances to face off against Boone Grove High School at next Saturday’s Regional tournament in North Judson.
Tyrone Robinson has coached the Eagles for the last four years.
“This feels wonderful,” said Robinson after the game. “This is the second consecutive year that we’ve been able to take the sectional championship.”
“I’m so happy for these kids. They had a really rough schedule. We played a lot of 4A schools, we took a lot of lumps in those games, but it made them stronger and prepared them for this game here tonight.”
Robinson said that last year’s season was cut short due to the onset of COVID-19.
“It shattered everybody. Not just my kids, but all the kids across the state of Indiana. We weren’t able to move on to the Regionals. That really hurt, but this time, we’re going. We ran a good offense here tonight and got to the basket, which is our strength. They played well and I’m really proud of them all.”
Coach Robinson has plans for next Saturday’s game against Boone Grove.
“Man-to-man defense. We have to play with more intensity. We have to get more physical. We have to know what we’re playing for,” Robinson said.