Valparaiso is 9-1 against Merrillville since January of 2018, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Friday. The Valparaiso Vikings will head out on the road to challenge the Merrillville Pirates at 7:00 p.m. Valparaiso will be strutting in after a victory while Merrillville will be coming in after a defeat.
Even though South Bend Washington scored an imposing 57 points on Saturday, Valparaiso still came out on top. Valparaiso walked away with a 66-57 victory over South Bend Washington. Given Valparaiso's advantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 32nd, while South Bend Washington is ranked 151st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Valparaiso relied on the efforts of Alec Platipodis, who scored 18 points along with eight rebounds, and Jack Smiley, who scored 16 points along with nine assists. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Platipodis has scored all season. Another player making a difference was Julian Stokes, who scored eight points along with ten rebounds.
Meanwhile, Merrillville unfortunately witnessed the end of their six-game winning streak on Saturday. They took a 58-54 hit to the loss column at the hands of Harrison. Merrillville has not had much luck with Harrison recently, as the team's come up short the last three times they've met.
Valparaiso pushed their record up to 12-4 with that victory, which was their seventh straight at home. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 65.6 points per game. As for Merrillville, their loss dropped their record down to 9-5.
Valparaiso didn't have too much breathing room in their matchup against Merrillville in their previous meeting back in January of 2023, but they still walked away with a 81-77 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for Valparaiso since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
