Both the Trinity Lutheran and Crothersville boys basketball teams were at New Washington High School on Tuesday night to take in opening night of sectional action.

Unlike the other four teams in the New Washington Sectional, the Cougars and Tigers got to be spectators on Tuesday as both teams received first-round byes.

In the first game, Trinity watched closely as New Washington defeated Shawe Memorial 61-52.

The Cougars will take on the Mustangs in the first game at 6 p.m. today.

Trinity lost a close game to New Washington earlier this season on Jan. 14, 69-63. In that game, Kowan Gross led Trinity in scoring with 20 points, Kole Shewmaker scored 14, Levi Pottschmidt had 11, Eli Ballard 10, Luke Coomler six and Peyton Pollert two.

Also right after that game, Trinity won three of its next four and played some of its best basketball of the season.

Ballard leads the Cougars in scoring with 8.3 points per game. Pottschmidt averages 7.9, Shewmaker 6.7, Jack Stuckwisch 6.6 and Gross 6.5.

Trinity has defeated every team in its sectional except New Washington, so if the Cougars can get past the Mustangs, they will be in position to potentially win their first sectional title since the 2020-21 season.

As for Crothersville (8-14), the Tigers watched Rising Sun defeat Medora 69-42 on Tuesday night. Crothersville and Rising Sun will do battle tonight after Trinity’s game.

Much like Trinity with New Washington, Crothersville also had a close loss to Rising Sun earlier this season.

The Tigers fell to the Shiners on Jan. 28, 52-47. In that game, only three Tigers scored. Preston West scored 20, Curtis Thompson had 19 and Beau Napier scored eight.

Crothersville has been without Thompson, its second-leading scorer at 16.5 points per game, the past few games due to injury. Thompson’s status is still up in the air for tonight’s game.

That means the Tigers will rely heavily on West, who averages 21.4 per game, and Napier, who is third on the team with 10.2. Dirk Crater (5.2), Lucas Hilton (3.5) and Elijah Plasse (3.0) also will be called upon to contribute.

Rising Sun can attack teams in a multitude of ways, having three double-digit scorers on the roster in Peyton Merica (12.7), Dylan Martin (12.2) and Brady Works (11.6). Brody Morris isn’t far off at 9.5.

The Shiners rained in seven 3-pointers on Tuesday night to create separation from the Hornets.

All in all, both games look to be competitive tonight with a spot in the sectional finals on the line. The sectional championship will be on Saturday at 7 p.m.