Two of the top teams in the Region met up on Thursday night at Westside High School as the Cardinals of East Chicafo Central took on the Gary West Cougars. Both teams coming in hot as the Cards are 13-4 while Westside is 11-2. The Cougars started the game out hot jumping out to a big leaf that left EC looking shook and all out of whack. Soph. pg Trey Hinton especially looked unstoppable early on the for the Cougars. Despite being completely outplayed at half, EC found themselves only down by 8. The Cards kept chipping away slowly but surely and hanging around. The score was 56- 46 when EC exploded with a 9-0 run that brought them right back into the game. From that point forward with was GW who was shook and all out of sorts. The Big 3 of Dominique Murphy, Yamauree Wallace, and Jemeil Rich proved to be too much in the end as EC escaped Westside eith a 65-61 victory.

● What can be said about 6'5 Cardinal junior Dominique Murphy has already been said or written? When he gets it cooking on offense and his confidence starts to rise, it's bad news for opposing teams. One could argue that Murphy forces shots sometimes but they go in so much its hard to argue with his shot not being their best option. Murphy impacted the game on the defensive end with multiple fast break blocks. With his abilities and athleticism he could become a lock down defender if a coach at the next level really worked with him on that end. To become a High Major D1 kid he is going to have to shit down and guard. His midrange, handles, outside shot size, strength are there; it just all needs to be fined tuned. Dominique is certainly on his way to play D1 ball at some capacity while becoming a junior all star this summer. Murphy finished the game with 25 pts and 10+ boards.

● The X factor on this East Chicago team is 6'6 junior Yamauree Wallace. The potential is there and you get flashes of it at times throughout the game. He needs to tighten up his handles as he had a couple turnovers but he's got the length and athleticism to impact the game in numerous ways for EC. Wallace could find himself on many college coaches radar sooner rather than later. He has a high motor on both offense and defense. With another summer of AAU ball, Wallace could be one of the breakout players next season in all of Indiana. Wallace finished with 15

● 6'1 senior guard Jemeil Rich got it going later for the Cardinals tonight. His quickness and defense picked it up at just the right time of the game. Rich is a quick guard that can breakdown a defense in a hurry and get to the basket. He didn't get his outside shot going tonight but I've seen he has it in his bag. Rich got some key steals and deflections on his way to a 9 pt game.

● 6'1 Gary West sophomore Trey Hinton certainly caught everyone's attention in this game early on. Hinton came out on fire his mid range jumpers and looking like a young Marcus Burton out there. He showed he could hit the outside shot and get to the basket as well. Trey was the only Indiana kid on Indiana Elite's top '26 team last summer and I can see why. He's certainly looking like a D1 prospect for his age and working his way up to a high major. He recently was offered by Northern Illionois. Hinton finished with 15 pts.

● 6'3 junior Westside guard Derek Collins may have improved his stock as anyone in this game. Collins has good size for the guard position with a nice shot and athletic ability to go along with his length. He finished at the rim multiple times tonight getting past the EC defense. By this time next year expect Collins to have an offer to play ball somewhere at the next level. There are multiple schools in that area that would be smart to start looking at Collins more seriously. Collins finished with a Cougar high, 21 pts.

East Chicago next faces  top 10 Lake Central at home on February 6th while Westide travels to Indy on Saturday to take on Tindley.

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