2004-2005 Boys Basketball  Week-15 Renegade Poll A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith (2-23-2005)

(2-23-2005) Valparaiso evened the season series with Merrillville and those two stood out as the top teams with East Chicago and Gary West Side a small notch below. Crown Point is clearly making a move while Hebron and Kouts are on the rise. Boone and Munster fell victim to tough schedules and everybody found out about their playoff schedule. CP, Griffith and East Chicago have to be pleased with the draw.

Downstate defending state champ Lawrence North (16-2) roared to life blowing out No. 6 Bloomington South 71-51 and No. 3 Pike 59-40. Forget the rankings. North, which had injury problems in December and January, is still the team to beat in the state tournament.

In Elkhart, 4A Concord (18-1) held off 2A No.1 Jimtown 52-48 and then beat 4A No.7 Mishawaka 70-68 in overtime. Either Concord or Mishawaka will be at the 4A Michigan City Regional. Jimtown, which did well to stay close to a 4A power, almost certainly will be at the 2A North Judson Regional.

3A Plymouth closed out the season with six wins in a row. Jefferson (10-10) upset Lafayette Catholic (13-6), if a 4A team can upset a 1A school. Top-rated 4A Arlington (21-0) can complete an undefeated regular season if they win a home game Friday (2-25-5) against Terre Haute South (17-4). Of course, an undefeated season means about as much as a Barry Bonds news conference. A lot of misleading noise. Next week, the truth starts to be told.

1.) Merrillville (16-3)

MERRILLVILLE – Merrillville beat Hobart and Munster sandwiched around a 62-59 loss to Valparaiso. The Pirates let an 11-point fourth quarter lead get away on the road. You would have to say the Pirates are still the better team. Junior Greg Hill scored 24 and grabbed 11 rebounds in a Tuesday night (2-22-5) win over Munster, a game the Pirates played without 6-4 forward Jimmy Reitz, who was ill.

The Pirates were 20 of 25 from the line against Munster and 16 of 19 against Valparaiso. There's nothing wrong with that.

The Pirates have Portage on Friday and then drew Portage (8-11) in the Merrillville Sectional on March 1. That's not good for Merrillville but it's probably worse for Portage.

2.) Valparaiso (17-2)

VALPARAISO – Valpo won the big one, 62-59 over Merrillville rallying from far behind in the fourth period. The Vikings were badly outplayed for three quarters in both Merrillville games, something they must address because a third meeting in the Merrillville Sectional Class 4A semifinals (3-4-5) is almost a certainty.

The Vikings defense, led by 6-6 sophomores Rob Hummel and Scott Martin, closed down the Merrillville attack in the late going plus the Vikings were 16 of 18 from the line. Valparaiso drew Hobart (10-9) in the Merrillville Sectional quarterfinals.

It may be tough for a team this young to win three times in five days.

3.) East Chicago (11-6)

EAST CHICAGO – East Chicago ran their season-best winning streak to five games with a 60-57 win over rival Bishop Noll. The Cardinals got 21 from E'Twan Moore and 18 from Efrem Simmons. Moore has 98 points (19.8 ppg.) in his last five games but Simmons, like Moore, a 6-3 forward, has three double figure games in a row.

The Cardinals got a great draw including a first round bye and a semifinal against a Munster team that was playing better a month ago. But EC is giving up a few too many (58.6) points and they are small and always have to worry about rebounds.

Friday's game at Andrean (18-2) will be a good playoff prep.

4.) Andrean (18-2)

MERRILLVILLE – Andrean won for the ninth time in a row, an 82-65 win over Lew Wallace. They need a tough team like East Chicago (13-6) to prepare for the state tournament and that's what they got on Friday.

The IHSAA draw was kind to the 59ers with a quarterfinals bye and a semifinal game against teams they have already beaten. The 59ers have to be eying Gary Roosevelt in the Sectional 17 Class 3A championship game on March 5.

The 59ers have won 10 in a row and you still worry that they're giving up too many points. But nobody in NW Indiana got a better draw that Andrean did.

5.) Gary West Side (13-4)

GARY – Gary West Side claims to be 15-4 even though the IHSAA web site shows them at 13-4 going into Friday's season finale against Hammond high. The Cougars, with 6-7 forward Jamil Tucker and 6-5 David Bell are a full court force who can beat anyone on a good day.

The Cougars should do better than 44-43 over Munster and the second half schedule has not been that strong.

Late word is that the West Side-Lake Central quarterfinal game in the EC 4A Sectional will be played at East Chicago.

Amazingly, the Gary school district uses West Side's gym for the 3A Roosevelt sectional, simultaneously removing the home court advantage from two (West Side and Roosevelt) of its schools at the same time.

The Cougars are well-suited to play three games in five days. The best players are juniors so West Side could be a year ahead of themselves.

6.) Crown Point (11-8)

CROWN POINT – The Bulldogs rolled over Portage 72-48 and Lowell 75-33 to clinch a winning season. CP sank 12 three-point goals against Portage and 11 more against Lowell as they continued a big run of hot shooting.

Guard Mark Patrick recorded 11 assists against Portage and 6-5 Brian Maloney sank a career-high 17 points. CP led Lowell 24-0 after one quarter.

The Bulldogs got a good draw with a quarterfinal bye in the Merrillville Sectional but they drew Chesterton (9-10), the same team they face in the regular season finale this Friday (Feb. 25).

CP has won back-to-back games on Friday and Saturday three times this year. The Bulldogs will not be required to face both Valpo and Merrillville in the sectional so they got all the help they could ask for.

There is a problem with facing a talent-laden Chesterton team twice in eight days.

7.) Munster (14-7)

MUNSTER - The Mustangs lost a nine point second half lead to Merrillville 71-63 Tuesday night (2-22-5), Munster's third loss in four games.

Soph guard Michael Bizoukas scored 17 against the Pirates, which is significant. Munster also sank just 5-of-13 from the foul line, which is worrisome. The Mustangs may be tired after a long season. They got a break from the IHSAA with a quarterfinal bye in the East Chicago Sectional but it will be no break to play EC in the semifinals.

Still, with five days to prepare, the Ponies could pull a big upset.

8.) Lake Central (10-9)

ST. JOHN – LC lost 65-58 at Gary Roosevelt Tuesday (2-22-5) after a 48-44 win at Michigan City. 12 of LC's games have been decided by 10 points or less.

LC did NOT get a good draw. They will have to play Gary West Side (15-4) in the sectional quarterfinals. LC beat West Side 74-73 in November but the Cougars were playing their second game that day. There's not much doubt that West Side is the better team.

Still, LC's four senior starters could pull off the upset. Three wins in five days, however, seems almost out of reach.

9.) Boone Grove (14-6)

PORTER TOWNSHIP – Boone Grove lost 63-51 to Chesterton (9-10) Tuesday night (2-22-5) despite 24 points and 12 rebounds from Danny Borys (22.1), who became the sixth Boone player to score 1,000 points. Junior guard Will Mitchell missed that game with illness.

Jake Pivarnik scored 18 in a 68-59 win at Kankakee Valley last Friday. Boone drew Lake Station (2-17) in the sectional quarterfinals and will play Hanover Central (5-14) in the semifinals. On paper, that's a good draw but not if Boone is short-handed. They only use seven or eight players and the Wolves truly depend on just six.

Still, with Bishop Noll facing Wheeler in the 2A Wheeler Sectional semifinals, Boone has be happy with their playoff path.

10.) Highland (14-7)

HIGHLAND - The Trojans coasted by Clark 71-44 and they'll host Hobart (10-9) to end the regular season. Highland needed a bye in the East Chicago Sectional and they didn't get it, the Trojans getting sent to Lowell (2-17) on Tuesday, March 1 in the quarterfinals.

The Trojans are a big favorite in the opener but the games pile up and an EC sectional title game would be Highland's fourth game in nine days.

Highland needs to avoid injury against Hobart and at Lowell and to get those games over with as quickly as possible.

OUTSIDERS...

Outsider No. 1 - Bishop Noll (7-12)

HAMMOND - Noll lost to East Chicago (13-6) by a 60-57 score, Noll's seventh loss by 10 points or less. Once again, they are a 2A team which does not play 2A schools.

Noll got a bye in the 2A Wheeler Sectional but they drew host Wheeler (14-7), which will be formidable.

Guards Sam Watts (17.7 ppg., 26-69, 3s – 38%, 43-55 Fts – 78%) and Greg Jones (18.5 ppg., 27-72 3s – 38%, 66-84 Fts – 79%) will benefit from the bye and they will have to force turnovers from Wheeler's backcourt people. Noll has played 12 3A teams and four 4A teams. That should have prepared them for the 2A playoffs but the time has come to see if it did.

Outsider No. 2 - Kouts (15-4)

KOUTS - Kouts broke open a close game late to take out Hanover Central 67-57. The Mustangs usually have four players in double figures and they did again with John Lauer (16), Johnny Selman (15), Jake Schoon (13) and Nate Witkowski (12) contributing.

Lauer had four three-point goals against the Wildcats. Selman added three. Kouts is a jump shooting team so they can't get tired.

Here's another team that drew the same team, LaCrosse (9-10) that they face in the season finale. That always is bad news for the better team.

Outsider No. 3 - Rensselaer (13-5)

RENSSELAER - The Bombers upset Twin Lakes (15-5) last week with guard Johnny Igoe scoring 20 and Jake Kiger adding 12.The Bombers are 5-0 against Class 3A teams and they are 0-3 against 4As. That's all the same. Eight games against larger schools.

The Bombers lack size up front and they drew Rochester (12-7) in the Winamac (2A) sectional quarterfinals. I don't know if Rensselaer can win three times in five days, but they have already defeated sectional rivals North Newton, Winamac and North Judson. This team is on the rise.

On the horizon...

4A (Indianapolis) Arlington (21-0)

offense: 76.5 defense: 53.5

INDIANAPOLIS – This northside Indianapolis team has risen into the top-10 in the nation with 21 consecutive wins, 17 by 10 points or more and they have beaten 15 Class 4A teams.

The big one was a 70-60 victory over defending state champion Lawrence North (17-2) in December

Senior guard Deonta Vaughn is a Division I player averaging 20 points per game and he has 6-5 forward Cory Terrance and David Squires (15 ppg.) up front.

Vaughn, one of the nation's top-100 players, scored 31 points against Lawrence North against junior LN star Michael Conley and Arlington Conley and 7-foot first team All-American Greg Oden with a pressing, up-tempo game.

No one has successfully run with Arlington all year. They beat East Chicago 72-60 and embarrassed South Bend Washington 106-78.

The showdown has been set, though. In the Lawrence Central Sectional semifinals, North and Arlington are lined up to meet in the Indianapolis-area game of the year.

If Arlington wins again, they will be the favorite for the 4A state title.

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Revised: February 26, 2005 .