Sectional host Chesterton faces a better Merrillville team in Friday’s 7:30 p.m. semifinal than the one they faced on Jan. 10

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Better known as a terrific leader of the Merrillville football team from his quarterback position, Michael Hill Jr. has had a positive influence on the school’s basketball team since playing his first game of the season Jan. 23.
A quick 6-foot-2 junior guard, Hill wasn’t playing yet when visiting Chesterton defeated Merrillville 59-40 on Jan. 10.
A 4-5 overall record and 2-3 DAC mark with Hill paints a more accurate picture of the team sectional host Chesterton faces Friday night at 7:30 in a semifinal than the overall 6-16 overall and 2-5 DAC records for Merrillville this season.
Chesterton coach Marc Urban said he doesn’t know Hill, but knows his high school coach, Chesterton resident Brad Seiss, because his sons are in his youth basketball program.
“Seiss talks about how great of a kid he is,” Urban said. “Just seeing him on tape you can tell he enjoys being out there. I think he’s brought a little looseness to the team. So, I think he’s helped them to get better, but he’s not the only reason they’re better.”
Charles Hardiman’s scoring average hovered just under 20 points per game throughout the season.
“I think he’s one of the better sophomore guards in the state and he has the ability to go off, so we have to make sure that we do our best to contain him,” Urban said.
Josiah Jones, a 6-5 senior, plays above the rim.
“He’s been playing really well,” Urban said. “He dunks everything. So they’re playing better, but I still go back to it’s about making sure that we don’t beat ourselves and that we take care of how we approach the game and how we play the game. It’s going to be a competitive game and we’re looking forward to it.”
In Hill’s debut, Merrillville lost to Portage 58-56 and that was before Portage lost its leading scorer, Karter Kobe, for the season.
In DAC games against schools other than conference champion Crown Point and runner-up Chesterton, the Pirates’ averaged 57.4 points scored and 59.2 points allowed. They also led well into their most recent game vs. Penn before losing 61-50 on Feb. 27.
Merrillville received a first-round bye in the sectional and Chesterton advanced with a 56-46 win over Portage.
“It was good to get to play that game and we had a great crowd,” Urban said. “I thought we played well. I didn’t think we played great, but we made enough plays to get it done. Our kids have been really focused and dialed in these past two days, just trying to get better, which is a good thing.”
Merrillville and Chesterton both went 2-0 against the teams playing in the first semifinal, Hobart (13-9) and Valparaiso (13-11). That game tips off at 6 p.m.