For Carter Fisher, winning a sectional championship would be a dream come true.
“This is something I’ve dreamed about,” Fisher, a senior, said. “I’ve been at [Muncie] Burris my whole life, since kindergarten, and I’ve been coming to these basketball games. I know this group [of seniors] has always wanted to get to this moment.”
The moment may come in a matter of hours as the Owls (10-14) are set to play the Wapahani Raiders (23-1) in the Class 2A Sectional 40 championship.
A win by Burris would mark the first sectional championship since 2003.
The Owls advanced to Saturday’s championship game after a 59-34 victory over Wes-Del (9-13) Friday, a game that ended up being the final in the 30-year career of Wes-Del head coach John McGlothin.
After only leading by five points at halftime Friday, Burris came out swinging in the second half, leading by more than 20 points after the third quarter.
One more quarter of basketball later and the Owls won just their second sectional game in the last 10 years.
“There hasn’t been a ton of support the last few years and honestly, as a sports fan, I expect that,” Fisher said. “It’s not fun [for fans] to keep coming to games and watching a team lose, but we’re doing well now and people are noticing that and want to come support their team.”
A sentiment echoed by head coach John Donahue.
“The Burris fans have been great,” Donahue said. “They have really gravitated towards this team, and we’ve had pretty good turnouts for most of our games.”
Despite the win, Donahue said the celebration was small and short Friday, as the team looks ahead towards Wapahani.
“For us, it’s always about execution,” Donahue said. “We’ve got to come out and match the intensity on both sides of the court. Wapahani is a team where you can’t just come out and play one end of the court.”
Donahue acknowledged the job that head coach Matt Luce has done with the Raiders and where he has gotten them, while also mentioning the amount of respect he has for Luce.
Burris and Wapahani tipoff at 7:30 p.m. at Monroe Central High School.
Contact Corbin Hubert with comments at cchubert@bsu.edu or on Twitter @corbin_hubert_
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