Better late than never: Chesterton’s undefeated boys basketball team cracks top 20 for first time this season, checking in at No. 19

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Chesterton won two games over the weekend and landed in the IHSAA coaches’ poll for the first time at No. 19, but it was how the Trojans played, not how it impacted the poll that pleased 10th-year coach Marc Urban.
“I has no bearing on how we should approach the week,” Urban said.
Chesterton defeated Washington Township, a 1A school, on the road 75-30 on Friday night and defeated Fort Wayne Snider 62-38 Saturday afternoon at Grace College.
“I thought we did a good job of being us Friday, where you get in games like that you can get cute and we didn’t,” Urban said. “And then I thought we came in Saturday morning, had a mature approach, and played with an edge for 32 minutes.”
Urban praised the team’s unselfish approach and nobody demonstrated that better than the player who came into the Snider game as the Trojans’ leading scorer.
As a point guard, junior Tobias Ray’s job is to see that a team gets a good shot on every possession. As accurate a 3-point shooter as Ray is, that sometimes means him putting up a long one is the smartest play. In this game, his scoring opportunities were limited, so he kept the ball moving productively until the offense produced a better one than the shots he passed up.
Ray attempted just one shot, a 2-pointer, and made it.
“He took one shot and he had six or seven rebounds and six or seven assists,” Urban said.
The Trojans take a 3-0 record into Tuesday’s 7 p.m. game against East Chicago Central. The Trojans are 1-0 in games vs. teams ranked in the top 20.
Chesterton defeated then No. 4 South Bend St. Joseph, 73-55, in a season-opener for both schools. The outcome dropped SBSJ to 15th and Chesterton remained unranked. St. Joe moved up to No. 13 in this week’s poll.
The IHSAA 4A top 20 boys basketball poll: 1. Fishers, 2. Crown Point, 3. Pike, 4. Lawrence North, 5, Plainfield, 6. Indianapolis Cathedral, 7. (Fortville) Mt. Vernon, 8. Silver Creek, 9. Carmel, 10. New Albany, 11. Zionsville, 12. Brownsburg, 13. South Bend St. Joseph, 14. Homestead, 15. Northridge, 16. South Bend Riley, 17. Jeffersonville, 18. Northview, 19. Chesterton, 20. Ben Davis. Other schools receiver votes (listed alphabetically): Anderson, Avon, Barr-Reeve, Bloomington North, Columbia City, Dec Cen, Evansville North, FW Blackhawk Christian, FW South Side, Frankton, Hamilton Southeastern, WL Harrison, Indianapolis Attucks, Lawrence Central, Noblesville, North Central Indianapolis, Park Tudor, Pendleton Heights, Penn, Parke Heritage, Roncalli, Shelbyville, TH North Vigo, Warrne Central, Westfield, 21st Century Charter.