Boys basketball random draw for Chesterton boys sectional does Trojans and Portage no favors as they draw each other for first-round game Tuesday, March 3

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Once a year, basketball coaches across the state react to the IHSAA pairings by saying the same thing: If you’re going to win it, you have to beat the best team anyway, so it doesn’t really matter when you play them.
Except when it does matter.
There are such things as good random draw results and bad ones for teams, and Chesterton and Portage received bad draws Sunday night. First, the two best teams in the sectional must play each other. Second, they are the only ones in the five-school sectional that need to win three games to be crowned champions.
Teams that finished second (Chesterton) and third (Portage) in the DAC meet in the first round on Tuesday, March 3. The winner advances to the second semifinal played Friday, March 6. Valparaiso and Hobart play in the first semi that day. The semifinal winners meet Saturday, March 7.
Chesterton won at Portage 65-55 on Feb. 13, when starting point guard, junior Tobias Ray, was sidelined by the flu.
Chesterton (18-4) is 4-0 against the other four teams in the Chesterton sectional. Portage (17-4) is 2-1 against the field, Merrillville (6-15) is 2-2, Hobart (12-9) 1-2 and Valparaiso (12-11) 0-4.
Another way of looking at those numbers shows that the two upper-bracket schools have combined for a 1-6 record against the sectional field and only need to win twice to win the sectional and the lower-bracket schools are 8-3 vs. the field and two of the three need to win three games to become champions.
The Trojans, coming off a 75-33 win over Valpo fueled by 16 3-pointers, including seven from freshman Logan Pokorney and four from sophomore Cooper Huwig, finish their regular season this coming Friday at Culver Academies (10-11), a 6:30 p.m. CT tipoff.
Chesterton has won six sectional titles, three under 10th-year coach Marc Urban, the most recent during the 2022-23 season.
Chesterton is ranked No. 16 in the IBCA state poll released Sunday night: 1. Fishers, 2. Silver Creek, 3. Crown Point, 4. Pike, 5. Plainfield, 6. Mount Vernon, 7. Lawrence North, 8. Northridge, 9. Terre Haute North Vigo, 10. Carmel, 11. South Bend St. Joseph, 12. Indianapolis Cathedral, 13. New Albany, 14. Ben Davis, 15. South Bend Riley, 16. Chesterton, 17. Princeton Community, 18. Penn, 19. Hamilton Southeastern, 20. Westfield.
Other schools receiving votes: Avon (10-12), Barr-Reeve (20-1), Bloomfield (14-7), Brebeuf Jesuit (14-6), Fort Wayne Carroll (12-9), Centerville (20-2), Columbia City (17-4), Evansville North (17-4), Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian (15-7), Guerin Catholic (18-5), Indianapolis Attucks (14-5), Kouts (21-0), New Haven (16-6), Noblesville (11-10), Northview (17-5), Oak Hill (19-1), Paoli (21-0), Pendleton Heights (17-4), Parke Heritage (18-4), Warren Central (6-13), Westview (20-1), Yorktown (13-7), Zionsville (12-10), 21st Century (13-6).