Memorial’s exactly halfway to an undefeated regular season. Coach Mark Barnhizer says any thought of going the rest of the way remains half-baked.

“I still think we’re going to drop a couple,” the Crimson Charger boys basketball coach reiterated after Saturday’s 51-39 victory at Penn. “There’s just too many good teams around here. It’s hard on the road. You saw tonight it was pretty hard even without Penn having its two best players (Jeff Laidig and Leo Svete, each out with injuries), and we’ve got a lot of good teams left to play, road and home.”

Nevertheless, these Chargers (10-0) continue to charter new ground on some fronts and approach rare ground on others.

Already owning the best start in program history, they can match the best program winning streak overall when they host Mishawaka on Wednesday at North Side Gym. The 2001-02 and 2005-06 clubs each won 11 straight as part of 20-3 and 19-4 marks, respectively.

Further, while 10-0 is a long way from 20-0, 10-0 has been virtually as infrequent over the last couple decades within cut-throat Elkhart County.

Memorial is just the second county boys team to reach 10-0 in the last 21 years, joining the 2008-09 Northridge club that went on to complete an unbeaten regular season.

Voters in the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association statewide poll have resoundingly taken notice of the Chargers’ prowess. Unranked less than a month ago, Memorial debuted at No. 17 three weeks ago and has surged to No. 6 in this week’s latest poll.

Ironically, the latest bump comes on the heels of the Chargers’ most pedestrian week to date. Last Friday’s 57-52 win over Plymouth was easily the team’s closest call of the season and the 51 points the next night at Penn were a season low.

“Hey, I’ve got no complaints about these kids other than maybe the way we’ve shot the ball our last four games,” Barnhizer said. “They’re playing hard and trying. It’s all you can really ask. It’s the most fun group I’ve had here because of the way they’re trying.”

Bearss down

Elkhart Christian starting point guard Kenny Bearss could be out four to six weeks, coach Ryan Culp said Monday, after suffering a knee injury late in the fourth quarter of last week’s 61-41 loss to Triton.

The promising sophomore lefty is averaging 9.6 points a game, pacing the Eagles in assists and has shown a knack for getting to the line.

ECA (6-2) travels this evening to South Bend St. Joseph’s (0-8) in maybe the first-ever matchup this deep into a season in which the team with the better winning percentage by .750 might — might — be the underdog.

Consider, Bearss is out.

Consider, too, just for the record and the fun in the contrasts, that the Eagles have faced just one opponent above .500 and the Indians just one opponent below .500 to date, and that ECA hasn’t faced a school above 2A nor St. Joe a school below 3A. In fact, according to the computerized Sagarin ratings, the Eagles have faced the state’s 407th-toughest schedule so far and the Indians the 20th.

Elsewhere mid-week

The Northeast Corner Conference Tournament tips tonight, and the two-time defending champion Westview Warriors (8-1) happen to own the bracket spot that will put them at home throughout the tourney if they keep winning. The girls event will also be going on all week, but based on the alternating-year format, boys results determine sites for subsequent rounds.

Fairfield (5-4) got a first-round bye and will play a quarterfinal Wednesday at Lakeland. That survivor travels Friday to tonight’s Westview-Prairie Heights winner for a semifinal. The championship is Saturday.

Among other games this evening, Concord (7-1) hosts South Bend Clay (6-5). The Colonials stunned the Minutemen 78-49 a year ago — Concord’s most lopsided loss in the last five years — and have won three of the last four meetings.

Also tonight, Central (3-8) heads to Warsaw (8-1) and NorthWood (4-5) visits New Prairie (6-4).

On Wednesday, Mishawaka (5-3) faces an unbeaten for the second straight game in the contest against Memorial. The Cavemen, who have four players averaging in double digits, led Niles (7-0) by four points with four minutes left Saturday before fading late in a 70-59 loss.

Anthony Anderson is The Elkhart Truth’s assistant sports editor. Contact him at aanderson@etruth.com.


Anthony’s Twine 12

Team W-L
1. Memorial (1) 10-0
2. Warsaw (2) 8-1
3. Concord (3) 7-1
4. SB Washington (4) 7-2
5. Marian (6) 8-2
6. SB Adams (9) 6-2
7. Mishawaka (7) 5-3
8. Plymouth (5) 6-3
9. Triton (10) 7-3
10. SB Clay (11) 6-5
11. Wawasee (8) 8-4
12. Westview (12) 8-1

Teams chosen from among the 38 making up the Northern Lakes, Northern Indiana, Northern State and Northeast Corner conferences and independents Bethany and Elkhart Christian. Last week’s rankings in parentheses.

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