Basketball Recap: Merrillville Takes a Loss

Merrillville was the 67-55 winner over Kokomo when they last played one another back in December of 2014, but their luck changed this time around. The Merrillville Pirates took an 80-63 bruising from the Kokomo Wildkats on Saturday. 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 273rd, while the Wildkats are ranked 53rd).

Kokomo got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Baris Moore out in front who went 6 of 11 en route to 19 points and three steals. Moore is trending in the right direction considering he's improved his point production for three straight games. The team also got some help courtesy of Korbyn Hammel, who dropped a double-double on 18 points and ten rebounds.

Merrillville now has a losing record at 4-5. As for Kokomo, the win made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 7-2.

Merrillville will take on South Bend Washington at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. South Bend Washington knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with 55 points or more in their past eight games -- so hopefully Merrillville likes a good challenge. As for Kokomo, they will have some time to savor their victory since their next game is a little ways off: they'll take on Logansport at 7:30 p.m. on January 10, 2025. Kokomo is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 80.7 points per game this season.