The Merrillville Pirates will be playing in front of their home fans against the Munster Mustangs at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday. Merrillville has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 668 points over their last ten matchups.
Merrillville scored the most points they've had all season to find success on Saturday. They came out on top against Chesterton by a score of 80-71. Having run the score up that high, both teams probably have some extra defensive drills coming up.
Merrillville's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Jaeden Williams, who scored 18 points. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Williams has scored all season. Another player making a difference was Preston Saia, who scored 18 points.
Meanwhile, Munster entered their tilt with Highland with two consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with three. Munster put the hurt on Highland with a sharp 69-43 victory on Thursday. Given Munster's advantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 62nd, while Highland is ranked 295th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Merrillville pushed their record up to 6-4 with that victory, which was their third straight at home. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 70.7 points per game. As for Munster, they have been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six matchups, which provided a massive bump to their 8-5 record this season.
Merrillville came up short against Munster when the teams last played back in March of 2023, falling 61-55. Thankfully for Merrillville, Brandon Trilli (who scored 26 points along with six rebounds) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
