The Gary West Side Boys Basketball Sectional continued on Wednesday night with the hometown Cougars putting a 66-46 end to the Merrillville Pirate’s six-game winning streak and playoff hopes. The Lake Central Indians, meanwhile, rolled past the East Chicago Central Cardinals with a final score of 69-36.
The Cougar’s dual with the Pirates was close for most of the game, with Merrillville trailing by five at the end of the third quarter. But things collapsed for the Pirates in the fourth as West Side continued to dominate them on the boards – finishing with 41 rebounds to Merrillville’s 16.
“[Rebounds] have been a problem for us all year, it’s something we’ve tried to work on in practice,” said Merrillville High School Head Coach Bo Patton. “All credit to Jalen [Washington], Mason [Nicholson], and Coach Buggs; they’re good, and I’m going to pray for them to make a deep run in return.”
Washington and Nicholson both played key roles in the victory, along with Chrishawn Christmas and Quimari Peterson. The four accounted for 46 of the Cougars’ 66 points, and a hefty number of rebounds.
“We’re focused on us and trying to get better every day,” said Chris Buggs, Head Coach for Gary West Side. “I’m grateful for the win; Merrillville came out prepared and ready to go and hung with us for a long time. I thought it was good for us to have that tough game to get us going.”
Buggs will lead his team against the Lake Central Indians, who earned a comfortable win behind Kyle Ross’ 18 points. The Indians will be looking to pay back their 62-27 loss to West Side back on December 8.
“We’ve got a lot of respect for Coach Buggs, he’s done a phenomenal job with his group,” said Lake Central Head Coach Dave Milausnic. “Sometimes you tend to overthink things, so it’s just going to be a matter of trying to be us and being really good at it. We’re just going to enjoy this win for about an hour, and then go back and talk about West Side.”
The action at West Side continues on Friday at 5:30 p.m., with Munster facing off against Hammond Morton. The Cougars and the Indians will have their rematch starting at 7:45 p.m.