Trinity Lutheran continues its postseason journey on Saturday, with a tall task at hand, facing a 23-2 Evansville Christian team.The game is taking place at Loogootee High School at 4 p.m, on Saturday. It will take place at this time and not immediately follow the previous game that starts at 1.

Trinity head coach Mike Lang spoke on the upcoming matchup with the Eagles.

”They’re a solid team, they’ve beat a lot of good teams throughout the year. Led by Josiah Dunham, who’s an Indiana All-Star Candidate,” Lang said. “We’re looking to see how we match up with the states best. Like I’ve told other people, we’ve been playing well recently too and we’ll give it our best shot.”

The Cougars come in winning 11 of their last 13 games, led by their freshman guard combo of Hudson Lang and Reed Mellencamp. Lang averages 15.1 points per game to lead the team, Mellencamp is second at 11.4 ppg.

Mellencamp spoke about what he’s looking forward to this weekend.

“I’m looking to bring energy to the team,” he said. “We also just have to do anything we can to try and get a win.”

Kowan Gross leads the Cougars in rebounding at 5.5 per game. While Levi Pottschmidt leads in assists at 4 per game. As a team, Trinity shoots 50% on regular field goals, while shooting 36% on three-pointers.

Gross was a freshman the last time the Cougars won the sectional in 2020-21, as a senior he spoke on the feeling to do it again during his final year.

“It felt good, I was definitely not ready to hang up my high school basketball career,” Gross said. “I’m pretty happy with it, we played hard and played together, so overall I’m pretty excited for it.”

Mellencamp spoke about the feeling after his first season with Trinity.

“It was awesome and definitely something I’ve never felt before,” he said.

Coach Lang mentioned that he has been pleased with the effort from the team. Lang, Mellencamp and Gross all spoke on the week of preparation for the regional.

“It’s been a long week, five days of practice looking into Saturday,” Lang said. “I’ve been really pleased with their effort and attitude this week.

“It’s been a good week, everyone has been giving it their best all week,” Gross said. “We’ve been doing a lot of prep for them defensive wise.”

“Everybody’s just been focused for today,”Mellencamp said. “Honestly, I’m just ready to play really.”

The Eagles are led by one of the top players in the state in Dunham. Dunham is averaging 23.1 points per game this season, also leading in assists with 5 a game. He also creates disruption on the defensive side with 2.6 steals per game.

The only two losses this season for Evansville Christian are to Heritage Hills and Jeffersonville.

Evansville has defeated high-powered opponents like Brownstown Central, Southridge, and Forest Park, who are all in regionals in higher classes this weekend.

They also defeated the Christian Academy of Indiana by two points, who’s still playing in the postseason this weekend in Class 1A. Lang spoke about what the Cougars must do in order to win the game.

“Rebound. We have got to attack the glass,” he said. “It’s gotta be all five guys out there crashing the boarrds. That is something we’ve done a better job at here lately.”

Gross said that he’s ready to defend on Saturday.

“We’re looking to play defense. We’ve got to put some resistance to their two best players if we want to be successful,” he said. “I’m excited to play.”

Trinity is looking for their first regional win since 2010-11. That season the team went 20-5 and defeated Wood Memorial in the regional opener, before losing the regional final to North Daviess by 10.

The last two meetings to regionals for the Cougars have resulted in losses to Barr-Reeve in 2020-21 and 2013-14. The team will look to secure their first regional title in boys’ basketball history.

Barr-Reeve and Christian Academy both square off beforehand at 1 p.m.