The champions from the South Central Conference will battle the champions from the Southeast Conference tonight in Knoxville for the right to get to the substate final in class 3A. Knoxville will host Fort Madison in a semifinal tonight with the winner advancing to Monday’s final. The Panthers come in after defeating Mount Pleasant 61-39 on Monday while the Bloodhounds defeated Washington on Monday 72-50. Fort Madison has four players that score in double figures led by the 15 points per game by Nolan Guzman. But it may be senior Julian Dear that could be the key cog in the Fort Madison wheel. Panthers Coach Joel Keady tells KNIA/KRLS Sports the six/three player is the Bloodhounds point guard and makes the team go. Keady is confident that his team’s defense, which gives up just 43 points per game, will shine tonight.

Keady: “If we get stops when we have an off night we can have a pretty comfortable victory, and you’re not going to get any comfortable victories at this point of the season, but to know your defense is up to the challenge you’re pretty confident that you can be in any basketball game.”

Fort Madison scores just over 63 points per game, while Knoxville has only given up 60 points just once this season. Listen to the call KNIA with the pregame show at 6:30, tipoff is set for 7:00.

Photo from Ryan Northcote