Familiar foes square off in Seymour Regional

The Seymour Regional will open with a pair of teams that know each other rather well. Mid-Hoosier Conference foes South Decatur (18-6) and Hauser (24-2) will tip off at 1 p.m. Saturday for the regional championship.

Hauser is ranked No. 3 in Class A and won the MHC championship this season. The Jets finished the conference schedule a perfect 6-0. The Jets won the sectional title at Milan last week to earn a trip to the regional.

South enters the regional on a 5-game win streak, including the sectional title last week at Tri.

The Jets defeated Rising Sun, Oldenburg Academy and Milan en route to claiming the sectional championship at Milan. Hauser won by an average of 35 points in sectional action.

The only losses for the Jets on the season came Nov. 29 at Columbus North by five points and Dec. 29 against Mt. Vernon (Posey) by one point.

South defeated North Decatur, Edinburgh and Tri en route to winning the sectional title at Tri. The Cougars have won 6-of-7 games entering regional action.

Hauser hosted South Feb. 3 and the Jets posted a 69-40 victory.

The Cougars have three players averaging double digits in scoring. Drake Scaggs leads South at 20.6 points per game. Cayden Drake averages 17.5 ppg and Karson Templeton scores 11.6 ppg.

Drake leads South with 7.6 rebounds per game. Templeton is next with 6.7 rpg. Scaggs dishes out 5.8 assists per game.

Aidan Bryant leads South from long range, shooting 40 percent from beyond the 3-point arc. Brayden Gerrian shoots 38 percent from 3-point range and Templeton shoots 36 percent from long range. Gerrian leads the Cougars at the charity stripe, shooting 83 percent.

Hauser is led in scoring by Gavin Keller at 20.1 ppg. Stryker Gill averages 16.1 ppg and Kameron Blair averages 9.9 ppg.

On the glass, Blair grabs 5.8 rpg. Gill chips in with 5.2 rpg.

Gill sets the Jets’ offense, dishing out 6.0 apg. Blair averages 3.3 apg. Gill leads Hauser with 51 3-pointers on the season. Waylon Harper has made 40 3-pointers. Gill also leads the Jets in free throw percentage at 85 percent.

Both teams can score at a high clip. The Cougars average 65.9 ppg offensively. The Jets’ offense averages 70.3 ppg.

One key will be how well the defense can hold up against these potent offenses. South’s defense held opponents to 56.1 ppg. Hauser’s defense was even stingier, allowing just 44.9 ppg.

The winner Saturday will advance to the 4-team semistate. The draw for the semistate will be held at 2 p.m. March 15 and streamed on IHSAAtv.org.