The La Porte Slicers were the 84-75 winner over the Merrillville Pirates when they last played one another back in February of 2023, but their luck changed this time around. La Porte ended up on the wrong side of a rough 63-43 walloping at the hands of Merrillville on Friday. La Porte was down 52-32 at the end of the third quarter, which was just too much to recover from.
When it comes to explaining why La Porte lost, one person who can't be blamed is Nic Spence. Despite the final result, he almost dropped a double-double on nine points and ten rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Dylan Salisbury, who scored five points.
Merrillville's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Preston Saia, who scored 16 points. Another player making a difference was Keyshawn Mitchell, who scored 13 points.
La Porte dropped their record down to 9-10 with that defeat, which was their fourth straight at home. As for Merrillville, they are on a roll lately: they've won nine of their last 12 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 12-7 record this season.
La Porte will head out on the road to square off against Portage at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. As for Merrillville, they didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next contest, a 36-35 victory vs. Culver Academies on the 10th.
