LEBANON — Crawfordsville found its way through nerves and whistles to win 47-37 over Benton Central in the first round of the Class 3A sectional at Lebanon High School.
After 16 fouls called in the first quarter and 26 in the first half, both teams used players that don’t typically see so much playing time as they did Wednesday night, but the Athenians found a way through defense and mass quantities of free throws to advance to the semifinal round Friday against Greencastle.
The Bison, who lost by 39 to Crawfordsville early in the season, slowed the pace of an already slow game down and kept things close, but they were hobbled by as many foul issues as the Athenians.
Cameron Harris scored nine of his team-high 14 points in that last period before fouling out, the only Athenian in double figures. Karsten Williamson had eight points to go with his three rebounds, three assists and two steals. Overall Crawfordsville was 13-of-36 from the field, 2-of-10 from long range and 19-of-29 from the line. They won the rebound battle 36-32, with Jesse Johnson-Hall grabbing eight and Cam Saunders seven.
Brock was held to nine points, while leading scorer Payton Hall was limited to 10, eight under his average. Hall did complete his double-double with 10 rebounds. Morgan Knotts scored 10 first half points for Benton Central, and was shut out in the second. Benton Central finishes 8-16.
The win sets up a rematch of the first game of the season between Greencastle and Crawfordsville, which was a 51-44 Tiger Cubs win.
Greencastle made it to the semifinal round with a 68-46 victory over Western Boone in first game played Wednesday. The Tiger Cubs were led in scoring by Colin York with 26 points and Gavin Bollman with 17 points.