Indians Looking at Path to NIC-10 Title

By Chris Johnson, REPORTER

The Hononegah Boys’ Basketball Team remains just one step behind the NIC-10 leading Boylan Titans and they have a chance to change that situation this Friday night, Jan. 20. With game play in the annual Martin Luther King Memorial Invitational at Hononegah High School completed this past weekend, details are unavailable. Information on the weekend of play will be available in next week’s edition of the Herald. This Friday night it’s Rockford Boylan. Hononegah hopes to have a good road contingent and a potent offense as it prepares for the trip down Main. The Titans lead the NIC-10 with a 7-0 record.

Statistics indicate that a loss to Boylan will drop Hononegah two games back. Right now, the Indians are in the best position to prevent Boylan from running away with the Conference title. They are the closest to tracking down Boylan in the NIC-10 race. A win will push Hononegah to the front of the pack and tie them for the lead. A loss will assure the Titans have no less than a three game lead in the NIC-10.

A lot of games remain for both teams, and it appears a lot of wins are there as well. Hononegah will deal with the E-Rabs Wednesday, Jan. 25 at East High School. Two days later the Indians head home for a quick visit from Belvidere.

It’s a three-game road trip for the Indians, beginning at Jefferson on Feb. 4 and running to Belvidere North on Feb. 8 and back to Machesney Park for a meeting with Harlem on Friday, Feb. 10. All of the focus right now though, has to go to Boylan this Friday night. In the match against the Titans it is expected that the winner will get a boost heading into the final month of games. That boost could lead to momentum heading into the State Playoffs. This year’s tournament begins in late February.

The IHSA Selection Committee will look at Conference meetings and head-to-head records to help determine who matches up where when seeds are issued. If there is a possibility the two teams could meet in the post-season, the winner of a “two wins to no loss” record in Conference play would almost always get the higher seed. This year, the game matters even more. Boylan and Hononegah have the chance to meet in the upcoming Class 4A Regional-Sectional Complex. In many ways, the Friday night match with Boylan is for the NIC-10 Title for Hononegah and a better chance to win when the playoffs begin.

With a month of games remaining, wins and losses will happen that will forge the champion of the NIC-10. It will also affect which team gets the one-seed and which one gets the four, or which one gets the two and three, as examples in various post-season scenarios.