NorthWood star senior Braxton Linville has his top-ranked team headed to the Class 3-A regional for the third straight year. Linville will play at Grace College next season. (File photos by Keith Knepp)

NAPPANEE – The NorthWood boys basketball team has already tasted success once this season on the court at Bill Green Arena in Marion.

The top-ranked, tournament-tested and veteran Panthers hope to repeat the trick two more times come Saturday.

No. 1 NorthWood returns to the Class 3-A regional round of the state tournament series for the third straight year. The Panthers (23-2) will match up with No. 13 Angola (25-2) in a loaded field at the Marion Regional.

The Marion Regional opener, set for the 7,500-seat Bill Green Arena, pits the host and No. 11 Giants (19-7) versus No. 18 Columbia City (20-6) at 10 a.m. NorthWood then meets the Hornets at approximately noon. The regional title game is set for 8 p.m. Saturday.

NorthWood also hopes that a change in regional scenery may make for some better results this time around. The Panthers, who lone regional championship came in 2007, lost in the regional each of the past two years at Blackford, including 43-30 to Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger in the final in 2015. NorthWood also lost in the regional at Blackford in 2012.

The Panthers defeated Danville 62-61 in the Marion Basketball Classic on Dec. 22. NorthWood has won its last 10 games since a 51-35 home loss to Class 4-A No. 5 Warsaw back on Jan. 29. Their other loss was a 49-48 final to Fishers.

NorthWood is led by its tremendous trio of Vinny Miranda, Dakiyron Fox and Braxton Linville. Junior guard  Miranda averages a team-best 16.3 points-per-game, while leading his team in both steals (46) and 3-pointers (42). Senior Fox, a powerful presence on the interior, averages 13.8 points and 9.7 rebounds per outing. Senior guard Linville averages 11.7 points and better than six assists per contest. Linville, who will play at Grace College, poured in 25 points Saturday night as NorthWood beat Tippecanoe Valley 60-50 in the NorthWood Sectional final.

NorthWood coach Aaron Wolfe (at left) is shown with Warsaw coach Doug Ogle. Wolfe, a former assistant coach at Warsaw, has done an outstanding job with the regional-bound Panthers.

The Panthers, under the direction of Aaron Wolfe (a former assistant coach at Warsaw), have also gotten big contributions from Luke Zurcher (8.1) and Trey Bilinski (6.5). The duo of Caleb Lung and Chad Sellers have been strong off the bench for the Panthers.

“They have the most wins in Indiana right now, they have the best defensive average in Indiana, and their sectional was daunting,” said Wolfe about Angola.  The combination of those three things makes them a very challenging opponent.

I feel in the regional our team needs to be concerned with valuing possessions rather than tempo. Experience has shown us that the opponents you see in a regional, and Angola is no different, makes it very difficult to score.

They have two very efficient scorers in No. 4 (Jake Honer) and No. 5 (Hunter Kohart), but they’re very balanced after that, with quality shooters. They value shot selection.

They’re very disciplined. All five guys are connected on the defensive end. They are very good at challenging every shot (man defense). There’s some similarities to Warsaw (not as much switching, though).”

NorthWood will meet an Angola team chartering into new waters. The Hornets beat host New Haven 48-45 in overtime Saturday night to win the program’s first sectional title since 1999. Angola, whose only regional title also came in 1999, started the season 13-0. The Hornets won the Northeast Corner Conference title at 11-0 and also won their league tournament championship.

Angola is led by guard Jake Honer. The junior scored his team’s final three points Saturday in the overtime session of the sectional final and finished with 14 points.

The Hornets have won eight in a row since a 39-30 loss to Leo on Feb.9. Angola then defeated Leo 40-38 in the sectional semifinals at New Haven. The Hornets other loss this season was a 51-49 final to DeKalb. Angola is 54-38 under fourth-year coach Ed Bentley after going 9-12, 8-13 and 12-11 and past three seasons.

Angola count on its defense as the backbone of its success. The Hornet rank first in the state in points allowed per game at 37.9. Conversely, the Panthers who can fill the basket up are averaging 66 points-per-game on the offensive end.

Angola and NorthWood, which finished as runner-up to Warsaw in the Northern Lakes Conference, have many common opponents this season. The Hornets beat Wawasee (56-30) and Northridge (35-30) from the NLC and also have wins over Fairfield (35-32 and 37-34), Lakeland (50-33 and 41-29), West Noble (57-31) and Westview (39-32). NorthWood beat Wawasee (71-43) and Northridge (73-66) in league games and also defeated Fairfield (61-42 and 63-39), Lakeland (74-58 and 62-39), West Noble (79-38) and Westview (70-45).

The regional field at Marion boasts a combined total of 87 wins, the most of any of the 16 regionals on tap statewide on Saturday. The host Giants, who have produced stars such as Jay Edwards, Lyndon Jones and Zach Randolph, have won 37 regional championships and rank second in state history with seven state titles.

The second game Saturday features a veteran Columbia City team and the host Giants. Columbia City has 11 seniors  and are led by 6-7 senior Brachen Hazen (16.1 points, 9.3 rebounds). City also counts heavily on 6-7 junior Parker Hazen, who averages 15.8 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. The Eagles lost 39-33 to NorthWood in a regional semifinal a year ago.

The Giants are coached by James Blackmon, the former Marion star who played at Kentucky.  The elder Blackmon coached Fort Wayne Luers to back-to-back state championships in 2008 and 2009. His son, James Blackmon Jr., is a sophomore guard at Indiana University who is sidelined for the season after undergoing knee surgery in early January. The younger Blackmon was the second-leading scorer at 15.8 points-per-game for the Hoosiers at the time of his injury.

The Marion Regional winner will advance to the semistate on March 19 at either Huntington North or Lafayette Jefferson to play the winner of the Kankakee Valley Regional.

Dakiyron Fox of NorthWood, shown above fighting for position with Jaceb Burish and Kyle Mangas of Warsaw, is a force on the interior.