Rubber match: chesteron and portage meet for third time in valpo boys basketball sectional march 7

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

The downside of tournaments that rely on random draws to determine brackets is that they sometimes pit the two best teams in the field against each other right off the bat, instead of in the championship game.
Chesterton and Portage learned Sunday night that that’s how it worked out for them in the 4A Sectional 2 bracket. The schools will play a third time in the upper-bracket semifinal Friday, March 7 at 6 p.m. (time).
Valpo plays vs. Merrrillville in a Tuesday, March 4, quarterfinal and the winner faces Hobart in the lower-bracket semifinal Friday, March 7. The championship game is Saturday, March 8 at 6 p.m.
The records against the field of the five schools: Chesterton (4-1), Portage (4-1), Valparaiso (2-2), Merrillville (1-4), Hobart (0-3).
Portage and the Trojans first met at a holiday tournament in Fishers, a close game most of the way until Portage pulled away at the end and won 55-44 on Jan 3. The Trojans again scored 44 points in the rematch, but this time won, 44-42, at Chesterton on Feb. 14.