STEVE HANLON: Purple is the color in this victory

MICHIGAN CITY | Valparaiso coach Joe Otis walked around the upper deck of the Wolves Den before Monday night's game against Merrillville holding a stack of papers. He went up to all the media assembled and handed them a sheet with his Valparaiso Vikings' statistics.

I asked him if he couldn't find any underlings to do such a menial task and he replied: "No, I like to shmooze."

Then, he tugged on his lime-green velvet jacket and said: "We're undefeated when I've worn this."

Yes, a slice of key lime pie can dance nicely with Hoosier Hysteria, as it did in the Class 4A Michigan City Sectional championship game.

Otis wore his jacket when Valpo beat Merrillville 61-58 on Jan. 5. He wore it again on Jan. 30 when his Vikings defeated Munster 45-31.

"I wear it for special occasions," Otis said.

Perhaps some "green jobs" can be created with the latest stimulus package from congress. Certainly a factory could be employed to dress Otis, just like in 1997, when his orange suit took LaPorte to the final one-class Final Four.

But in an instant classic, won by Merrillville 50-47 on Jeremiah Jones' late 3-pointer, it was Jim East -- in his time-tested purple jacket, with rips and tears on the inside -- who was able to raise his fists in celebration.

"I had to get the mothballs off of this," East said. "I needed something to combat Joe's lime-green coat."

Valpo trailed by four, then went up five and had a layup spin out before the Pirates' mad dash in the final two minutes. Despite the loss, this drama and emotion is what brought Otis out of coaching retirement.

And as always, Otis showed great class by putting his arms around Jones in congratulations.

"I told him he took over the game. He was unstoppable," Otis said of Jones. "We were a hair short. We lost on a last-second shot. It hurts. I feel bad for our kids. They did everything we asked of them, and, to lose like this, it's tough."

Jones, his Pirates winning Merrillville's first sectional since 2003, appreciated Otis' words.

"He said I had a great performance," Jones said. "And coming from a coach of his sature, to tell me something like that, it means a lot. It does."

East won his 632 game and his 500th at Merrillville, while Otis remained stuck at 315 wins.

The two legends have coached for a combined 65 years. That kind of backdrop is what made this game so special, regardless of the attire or hues.

"This wasn't about the jacket," East said. "It was about the way our kids played. Jones was just phenomenal in the final minutes. We were young when the season started, the kids kept improving, and we finally got to climb up that ladder again."

This column solely represents the writer's opinion. Reach him at steve.hanlon@nwi.com.