Lake Central gets Munster in boys sectional opener

The ping-pong balls fell. People looked for the teams they love the most. Then, as the Indiana state tournament draw was announced, Hoosiers looked for the other stories that draw all of us together in March.

Lake Central coach Dave Milausnic saw something in early December that many others did not.

"People are realizing now there is no easy draw in our sectional," said Milausnic as his team was picked to open the Class 4A West Side Sectional against Munster.

L.C. beat the Mustangs 53-49 on Dec. 20. Munster has won three straight sectional crowns and the Indians have won nine straight games.

Both coaching staffs have scouted the other every chance they've gotten. Make no mistake, on paper the championship game will be played on Tuesday night in Gary.

"Everyone hopes for the bye and after that, in our sectional anyway, it doesn't really matter," Milausnic said. "We'll be well-prepared. They'll be well-prepared. It should be a heck of a game."

At the Class 4A Michigan City Sectional, the ping-pong balls didn't really matter. This is a wide-open field with parity. The only three teams with winning records -- Valparaiso (12-7), Merrillville (12-7) and Crown Point (11-8) -- are all on the top half of the bracket.

"It's sectionals and Valpo's playing Merrillville, what else can you expect" first-year Pirates coach T.J. Lux said. "Any team in this sectional is good enough to win this. It will come down to who can put together the best week, one game at a time."

The Bucs and the Vikings have played in the sectional the last three years and the last two championship games. Valpo won last year.

Merrillville beat Valparaiso twice this year, the last one by a point on Friday. They then hung on for a tough 8-point win over Hobart on Saturday.

Hobart (9-10) plays Portage (1-20) in the Brickies' opener. Portage's only win of the year came on Dec. 6 against Hobart.

Crown Point, meanwhile, won its seventh straight game on Saturday. The young Bulldogs will play Chesterton to end the regular season and will take on the Trojans to open sectional play.

"Our sectional is really wide open," C.P. coach Clint Swan. "Anybody and everybody is good enough to make a run. Our guys are playing well right now. For many of them its their first sectional.

"We want to keep things as normal as we can and allow our guys to go out and just play basketball. It's an exciting team of the year."

Andrean coach Carson Cunningham felt the same thing on Sunday.

His 59ers are coming off a tough 10-point loss at Munster on Friday, but Andrean is a heavy favorite at the Class 3A Rensselaer Sectional.

"The weather's getting better, it's the time of the year where you have to be ready to rock and roll," Cunningham said. "We got much better after our loss to Lebanon and we'll hopefully get better after this loss at Munster.

"If we do, I believe we'll be able to enjoy this tournament."

There are 401 schools in this year's tournament. Sectional play locally will begin on Feb. 28 with championship games on March 3.

There are 5,788 players statewide who will compete in 397 games in 27 days.

Gary 21st Century, the newest team in the field, will play Washington Township in the opener of the Class A Morgan Township Sectional.