Semis set
Warren takes on Grove City in D10 4A playoffs tonight
Warren’s boys basketball team has worked all season to advance to the District 10 championship game. At this point, that means the Dragons have all their focus on beating Grove City in the D10 4A semifinal playoff game at 7:30 p.m. today at General McLane High School.
Warren’s semifinal playoff game will follow Eisenhower’s 2A semifinal there at 6 p.m. against Iroquois.
“I’m excited for the kids from both teams to think that there would be a good turnout from Warren County with both us and Eisenhower at the same venue,” said Warren coach Jeff Berdine.
The Dragons defeated Corry 72-52 on Thursday in the 4A quarterfinals to improve to 18-5 overall.
Grove City is 14-9 after a 10-point win, 58-48, over Harbor Creek. GC 6-foot-4 senior guard Brett Loughry, who averaged 17 points during the regular season, had 27 points, including five 3-pointers, and hit all six of his free throws. Junior guard Nathan Greer added 17 points against the Huskies.
“We will need to be good defensively early until we find a flow on offense,” said Berdine. “They are physical and well-coached, so we’ll have to make sure we are hyper-focused on ‘D,’ and good screeners all game long. They have two kids that are as good as we’ve seen offensively, so we’ll have to make sure we give our guys some help on them.”
Konnor Hoffman jump-started Warren’s offense against Corry with a season-high 22 points. Regular-season leading scorer Brady Berdine added 18 points and Braylon Barnes 13. All three are seniors and the offense runs through senior point guard Tommy Nyquist.
“Coach-speak tells me to tell you the same thing I would normally tell you, which is our goal is the same every year — to get to the D10 4A championship,” said Coach Berdine. “This year, I like our chances a little bit more.”