Merrillville was not able to break out of their rough patch on Friday as the team picked up their tenth straight defeat. They took a hard 77-62 fall against the Valparaiso Vikings. The Pirates were probably out for revenge after losing 80-62 to them when the teams met back in January of 2024, then they'll just have to keep looking.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Valparaiso to victory, but perhaps none more so than Caden Crowell, who went 8 of 14 en route to 21 points. What's more, Crowell also racked up three assists, the most he's had since back in January of 2024. Another player making a difference was LaVon Redmond, who posted 17 points and five assists.
Merrillville's loss dropped their record down to 3-14. As for Valparaiso, their victory was their first in the conference, bumping their conference record up to 1-3 and their overall record up to 6-12.
Merrillville will venture away from home to square off against Lake Central at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Lake Central knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with 55 points or more in their past three games -- so hopefully Merrillville likes a good challenge. As for Valparaiso, they didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next contest, a 57-53 win against Munster on the 1st.
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