Nothing in baseball can match an ace pitcher, not even the weight of history.
FORT WAYNE – The Homestead boys basketball team got a break in the sectional draw just two days after suffering its first loss of the season.
The Class 4A No. 2 Spartans (19-1) drew the bye at the Huntington North Sectional, the IHSAA announced Sunday. Sectionals begin Feb. 27.
Homestead, which lost to Snider 71-66 in overtime Friday, will play the winner of South Side (4-13) and Huntington North (4-17) in the sectional semifinals.
“We are fortunate that we get the bye, but we are going to have to be ready to play on that Friday night (March 2 in the semifinals),” Homestead coach Chris Johnson said. “Are we happy to have the bye situation? Yes. But on any given night if you aren’t ready to play, anybody can beat you.”
In the other bracket at Huntington North, Jay County (16-2) and New Haven (15-3) will be playing in the first round. The winner will likely advance to the finals and meet the Spartans.
Homestead was one of two unbeaten boys teams in the state.
“I can learn as much in winning a close game than I can in losing a close game because you don’t feel very well afterward about how you played,” Johnson said. “We didn’t play very well (in the 71-66 overtime loss to Snider), and that’s the first time I have had to say that in 15 or 16 weeks. It is not a good feeling, but our kids have been playing pretty well, and we just happen to run into a Snider team that played pretty good on that night. Our kids shouldn’t hang their heads because there are a lot of teams who would like to be 19-1.”
Homestead still has two regular-season games remaining – at Northrop on Tuesday and home against North Side on Friday.
In another competitive sectional field, Bluffton (16-3) comes in as the defending sectional champion at South Adams. The sectional field took on a different look when Bishop Luers sophomore and Indiana recruit James Blackmon Jr. was lost for the season with an ACL injury. But the Knights (12-8), along with ACAC champion Adams Central (16-2) and Churubusco (12-6), will also be looking to dethrone the Tigers.
The Tigers play Eastside (3-16) in the first round with the winner getting the Knights in the semifinals. The Jets and Eagles play in the first round, and South Adams (5-13) got the other bye.
“I thought it was an important and fair draw,” Bluffton coach Kevin Leising said.
“It gives the four teams almost an equal chance to win the title.”
