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AURORA – Lawrenceburg boys basketball and Jalen Obertate both put themselves in position to repeat as River Town Classic trophy winners with Thursday's 61-52 first-round win over Rising Sun.

Defending champion Tigers, now 5-4 with their fourth consecutive win, had the hot hand, leading Jason McDaniels' Shiners (1-7) from wire to wire, thanks, in no small part, to strong 58 percent shooting (22-38).

Obertate, the 2012 tournament MVP award winner, staked his claim to repeat that title with a tournament-high 31 points, both off penetration and with a rediscovered outside shooting stroke.

Lawrenceburg, winner of three Classic titles in the previous 12-year history of the tournament (2001, 2008, 2012), will go for a fourth in Saturday night's 8 p.m. championship against South Dearborn (3-6), a 60-58 winner over Switzerland County later Thursday.

“It would be pretty hard not to get excited about playing South Dearborn in the final,” said LHS coach John Blackwell. “They played without one of their best players (point guard Austin Miller) early this season, so their record is deceiving. They're solid, and they're as good a halfcourt defensive team as we've seen yet. Coach Shumate does a good job of getting them to play to their strengths. We expect it to be a real battle.”