The Hammond Central Wolves struggled with offensive rebounds on Tuesday (the East Chicago Central Cardinals had eight more) and sadly the final score reflected it. Hammond Central suffered a tough 78-52 loss at the hands of East Chicago Central. While losing is never fun, Hammond Central can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 163rd, while East Chicago Central is ranked 42nd).
Hammond Central's loss came despite a true team effort from the offense, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Gregory Dotson, who scored 16 points. Another player making a difference was Marcus Browder, who scored 16 points along with five rebounds.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead East Chicago Central to victory, but perhaps none more so than Dominique Murphy, who dropped a double-double on 19 points and 12 rebounds. Murphy hasn't dropped below eight rebounds for 13 straight games. The team also got some help courtesy of Yamauree Wallace, who scored 14 points along with three steals.
This is the second loss in a row for Hammond Central and nudges their season record down to 5-6. As for East Chicago Central, the win (which was their fourth in a row) raised their record to 10-4.
Coincidentally, the pair will both be playing Portage the next time they take the court. East Chicago Central will head out to face Portage at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, while Hammond Central will head out to face them at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday.
