The La Porte Slicers will finish 2023 at home by hosting the Lowell Red Devils at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (La Porte has three straight victories, Lowell has four straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Even though Elkhart scored an imposing 60 points on Thursday, La Porte still came out on top. La Porte had just enough and edged Elkhart out 63-60. Given La Porte's advantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 104th, while Elkhart is ranked 377th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Meanwhile, Lowell came up short against Hobart last Friday and fell 43-35. Lowell has not had much luck with Hobart recently, as the team's come up short the last two times they've met.
Despite their loss, Lowell saw several players rise to the challenge and make noteworthy plays. Jacob Viehman, who scored ten points, was perhaps the best of all. Viehman also posted two blocks for the first time this season. Braydon Cox was another key contributor, scoring 12 points.
La Porte is on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six contests, which provided a nice bump to their 5-3 record this season. As for Lowell, their defeat was their tenth straight at home dating back to last season, which bumped their record down to 1-5.
Everything came up roses for La Porte against Lowell in their previous meeting back in January as the squad secured a 66-36 victory. Will La Porte repeat their success, or does Lowell have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.