Munster and Lowell High School triumphed in a pair of thrillers at Boys Basketball Sectional Semifinals. The Mustangs topped the Crown Point Bulldogs 50-45 while the Red Devils edged out the East Chicago Central Cardinals 55-50. Both teams will face each other in Saturday’s Sectional Championship.
Neither team’s victory came easy, Lowell’s especially so. The Red Devils have a history with the Cardinals, suffering a 19 point loss to the East Chicago squad just a few weeks prior. The Red Devils, through impressive passing and outstanding play from their duo of Dustin Hudak (20 points) and Christopher Mantis (18 points), managed to build a sizable lead going into the final quarter, but the tenacious Cardinals wore away at the Lowell’s defense and narrowed the lead to one shot. The Devils held on however, earning redemption and a chance for the Sectional Championship.
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“I’m extremely proud of our guys. This group’s never quit all year long,” said Joseph Delgado, Lowell Head Coach. “EC is a tough team. Coach Jefferson does a great job. They’re scrappy and play hard, but we talked all week about keeping our composure. We’ve just got to stand that and fight back, and I think our guys did that.”
The Red Devil fans that packed the gym were ecstatic to see the win, rushing into the team’s arms after the game.
“I love it, it’s a great feeling. The crowd was great. I can’t take any of the credit though, I was struggling from the floor tonight,” said Hudak. “My teammates picked me up, my coaches picked me up and drew the right plays. They kept me shooting, they kept me in it, they kept my head there. We came through when it counted, it’s a great feeling and I can’t wait to play for the championship.”
For senior Cardinal guard Louis Williams, the loss was a tough way to end a season after fighting their way to the semifinals. The East Chicago boys had a hill to climb early in the season, losing five of their first six games. But they persisted, earned a playoff spot, and walked away with their heads held high.
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“I’m proud of all my guys and how hard we work, how hard we push each other,” Williams said. “I’ve never been on a team like this before, everybody’s trying to come together and be positive and take care of each other. We really became family over the course of the season.”
Crown Point and Munster battled next, with the 23-4 Mustangs looking to take revenge for a close early season loss to the Bulldogs.The Mustangs’ strong defense allowed them to hold a comfortable and steady lead until Crown Point broke through in the final quarter and started making their shots. Yet a steady stream of fouls by the Bulldogs let Munster guard Tyler Zabrecky maintain a lead with free throw after free throw, securing them the win.
“It’s great, we’re all really excited to be able to make it this far but we know that we’ve got work to do,” Zabrecky said. “I told my teammates I wanted the ball, and I give them credit because they got it to me. I feel fully confident when I go up there to that line, especially in those situations where our team needed it. I just want to do it for our team because we’ve all worked so hard to get here. I just had to go out there and do my job”
With less than a day to prepare for their championship match-up, Munster Head Coach Mike Hackett is keeping things simple.
“We’re not going to change a whole lot, we are who we are,” he said. “We’ll make sure our kids know the personnel and all that stuff, but there’s not going to be any big, fancy game plan. We’re not going to change much, we’re just going to do what we do and do it as well as we can.”