The Three Rivers Conference will be represented at the IHSAA boys basketball state championships Saturday. 

It will be by a team that eight games ago was 7-12 on the season.

The Southwood Knights built double-digit leads in each game of the Lafayette Jeff semistate and then held on down the stretch for wins over #2 Fountain Central in the semifinal and #10 Marquette Catholic in the championship game.

Southwood (15-12) has won five postseason games and eight in a row overall.

In the semifinal, Southwood forced 13 Fountain Central turnovers in the first half to build a 31-19 lead.

Fountain Central (23-5) rallied to a one-possession game but never took the lead as the Knights held on for a win, 63-57.

Nathan Lehner and Cole Winer each scored 21 for the Knights.

In the championship, the Knights opened up a 13-point lead in the third quarter before Marquette Catholic (21-8) connected on three consecutive three-point field goals to pull within one, 57-56. But Southwood made 15-of-22 free throws in the fourth and prevailed, 64-56.

Southwood will play #8 Indianapolis Lutheran (19-7) for the 1A state title Saturday morning at 10:30 am.

It’s Southwood’s first trip to the 1A championship since 2018 when the Knights Lost to Morristown 89-60.