Basketball Recap: Merrillville Comes Up Short

Merrillville was the 64-57 winner over Penn when they last played one another back in February of 2024, but their luck changed this time around. The Merrillville Pirates were just a bucket shy of victory on Friday and fell 48-47 to the Penn Kingsmen. While losing is never fun, the Pirates can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 225th, while the Kingsmen are ranked 62nd).

Charles Hardiman

Rebounds (Career)

02/28/25 vs Penn	7
02/21/25 vs Michigan City	6
12/17/24 vs Hammond Bishop Noll	6
12/28/24 @ Kokomo	5
12/14/24 vs Andrean	5

Despite the loss, Merrillville saw an underclassman step up: freshman Charles Hardiman went 8-for-19 on his way to 18 points and seven rebounds. The dominant performance gave Hardiman a new career-high in boards. Another player making a difference was Rodrick Durant-Hicks, who posted seven points and three steals.

Penn found their leader in freshman Caleb Coolman, who earned 14 points and six rebounds. John Bedient was another key player, putting up five points.

Merrillville has been struggling recently as they've lost 14 of their last 16 games. That's put a noticeable dent in their 5-18 record this season. Penn is on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last eight matchups. That's provided a nice bump to their 16-8 record this season.

Merrillville has already played their next contest, a 45-42 victory against Valparaiso on the 4th. As for Penn, they also didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next game, a 52-37 defeat against La Porte on the 4th.