Morristown begins defense of its 1A boys basketball state championship in opening round sectional play Tuesday at Southwestern.  Shelbyville, Triton Central, New Palestine and Greenfield-Central also tip-off the postseason on the opening night of the postseason.

For Morristown (19-4), ranked #8 in the 1A boys basketball poll, it's been a strong follow-up to the 2018 state title.  The Yellow Jackets have won 10 of the season's final 12 games (the only loss at 4A Shelbyville) including a 48-39 victory over Rising Sun (10-12) on February 19. 

The Jackets - Shiners rematch will be played Tuesday in sectional quarterfinal play with the winner facing the Spartans (12-10) on their home floor in a Friday semifinal.

At 4A Columbus North, Shelbyville (12-10) and the host Bulldogs (16-7) meet for the second time.  On November 30 Shelbyville squandered a nine point lead with 1:25 to go in the fourth quarter and dropped an 82-76 overtime decision.  It was that same night that the Golden Bears' Zach Kuhn passed Harry Larrabee and became Shelbyville's all-time leading scorer.  

It's the 48th all-time postseason meeting between the two programs dating back to a Shelbyville 19-17 regional win in 1925.  Columbus holds a 25-22 advantage.

The Bulldogs - Golden Bears rematch follows the night's first quarterfinal with Bloomington North (13-7) vs Columbus East (11-10).

Coverage of Shelbyville - Columbus North is available on 96.5 FM, AM 1520 and online at www.giant.fm. Tuesday beginning at 7:10 pm.

At 2A Knightstown, the Triton Central Tigers (9-13) learned the IHSAA draw was unfavorable again.  The Tigers open Tuesday at 6:00 pm against #5 Indianapolis Howe (15-5).  It's the third straight season TC has drawn a first round meeting with Howe (a 0.8 percent chance).  The Hornets have ended the Tigers season each of the past two seasons.

At 4A Richmond, Greenfield-Central and New Palestine will meet in a postseason game for the first time since 1996.  Separated during most of the class basketball era the Hancock County and Hoosier Heritage Conference rivals will meet in the postseason for only the tenth time since 1973.  Greenfield-Central has won seven of the previous nine meetings.

New Palestine defeated Greenfield-Central 75-65 on December 7.

The winner will play Connersville (16-8) in a Friday semifinal.

New Palestine - Greenfield-Central coverage begins at 5:30 pm on 106.3 FM and online at www.realradioonline.com.