Valparaiso is having a great year with only a close loss to Carmel on their record. Chesterton has been up and down especially because Mitch McGary has been fighting injuries all season. In the first match-up, Valparaiso jumped on Chesterton opening up a huge lead in the first quarter and they never looked back. That was without McGary in the line-up for Chesterton.

This game was very different. Chesterton played with a lot of energy especially early behind the play of senior guard Remy Lewis. Lewis hit a couple of three’s and had a couple of assists in the first quarter. McGary looked like he was going to get off to a fast start. He converted a basket inside and on the next defensive possession McGary got into the passing lane for a breakaway, but he was never able to control the ball and they missed an opportunity. Valparaiso led 17-13 with Jerrick Suiter doing a lot for the Vikings. Suiter is a competitor to sum it up. He had the duty of guarding the much bigger McGary in the post (with a lot of help obviously). Suiter really attacks rebounds with great intensity.

The second quarter was controlled by Chesterton. Senior point guard Freddy Price was able to break down the Viking defense one on one to get to the rim. Valpo struggled to convert many shots although that was partly because Chesterton was playing pretty good defense. Valparaiso still held a 24-23 lead at halftime though.

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