High hopes for Bison in basketball

BY STAN MADDUX

There’s good reason to be optimistic about the New Buffalo boys’ basketball team repeating as District 4 champions this season.

All five starters on last year’s squad are back.

Head Coach Nate Tripp said bench players, though, hold the key to the potential of this year’s team.

Tripp said he’ll need solid play off the bench when his starters need a break, perhaps, from a run and gun offense and pressure defense he plans to use in each game from start to finish to take advantage of their speed and quickness.

Bench depth will also be a factor if any of the starters become injured or sick.

Last season, the Bison often played at a fast pace on offense and pressured the ball on defense in spots.

However, three key players off the bench last year were lost to graduation.

Tripp said he expects the team to struggle early from learning the changes imposed on both sides of the court.

However, the plan is for the team to be peaking before the District 4 tournament.

“I feel like we’re making a huge change in what we do. I feel we’ll probably give up some games that normally we probably wouldn’t early on but the goal is by the end of the season to be clicking on all cylinders,” Tripp said.

The starters are seniors Kayden Parmley, Anthony Lijewski, Ryan Vincent, Mark Shaw, and Jeremiah Mitchell.

Tripp said coming off the bench are players with potential but not a lot of varsity game experience.

He said the bench players must also be able to handle the faster style of play, which they’re making strides at doing right now.

“Lots of question marks. My expectations for this team really all depend on our bench play,” he said.

Players coming off the bench include 6-foot-10 senior Zach Forker, a high percentage shooter and shot blocker.

“He’s got to be a match up nightmare for any team,” Tripp said.

The Bison seemed to have some rough edges during a fast-paced Monday, Nov. 29, scrimmage at home against a talented LaLumiere team.

New Buffalo outscored the Lakers by five points in the first half.

LaLumiere racked up 17 more points than the Bison in the second half.

Two dunks by Owen Kmety were examples of the dominance by the Lakers during the final two quarters when poor shot selection and turnovers didn’t help matters for the Bison.

New Buffalo narrowed the lead in the second half on quick buckets down low from Forker and later a three point shot from Parmley.

The Lakers, though, answered each time with a flurry of points to restore or extend their lead.

The Bison easily won three previous scrimmage games against Gobles, Bloomingdale and Delton Kellogg.

The Bison lost to Howardsville in the first round of the regionals in a game Tripp felt his team should have won.

“This group is capable of more. Whether we can produce that or not remains to be seen,” he said.

SPORTS

From the Bleachers

COLUMN BY KURT MARGGRAF IN CHICAGO

My first order of business

tonight is family. My daughter, son, sister, and brother, brother and sister in law, nephew, seven grandkids, and I, all gathered around four or five phones and got together for a group chat on Monday. My daughter had the idea and my son and nephew ironed out a couple of kinks and we all talked, laughed, and told stories to celebrate Sue Marggraf, who would have turned 72 Monday, if ovarian cancer hadn’t cut her life short 25 years ago. As a family, we have chosen to celebrate her life rather than mourn her death and for us, particularly this year, it was a beautiful celebration.

Sunday night, I was blessed to watch Tony Bennett’s birthday celebration. Mr. Bennett, one of the greatest singers in the history of the world, turned 95. He and Lady Gaga developed a musical and personal chemistry when they recorded an album together a few years ago, and that chemistry was on full display Sunday. Tony was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016 but kept performing beautifully. This year, he let the public know of his condition. Mr. Bennett and Lady Gaga sang beautifully alone and together, and her admiration for the man was on full display. “One Last Time” was the name of the birthday celebration, and those of us who were fortunate enough to witness it got to see a great talent, one last time.

This past week was rivalry week in college football. Rivalries are part of all sports, and they add an extra layer of fun and excitement. In Chicago, the Bears biggest rival is the Packers, and beating them almost makes up for a few losses against other opponents. The same can be said for the Cubs versus the Cardinals and the White Sox versus the Twins. Some rivalries don’t make as much sense, like the Cubs and the White Sox. So many people in Chicago love one team and hate the other. I must admit that I was like that for many years but at some point I realized that no matter which team is successful, the city and fans are winners.

Back to college football, where the biggest rivalry in the Midwest, is Michigan versus Ohio State. The Buckeyes have been dominating the Wolverines recently, winning eight in a row, and it seemed like this year would be no different. State was on their way to the playoffs once again and Michigan, while playing better than they have for a few years, appeared to be no match for the mighty Buckeyes. Coach Jim Harbaugh said they were going to beat Ohio State or die trying and the Wolverines are not dead yet. The final score was 42-27, and Michigan’s football team, and their fans, are ecstatic.

In War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy said, “There is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness, and truth.”

Happy holidays. Refuse hate. Talk to you next week. Peace, love, and happiness.

As the game goes on, I get better and I can see the defense getting tired. That gets me hyped. — Derrick Henry

Iceless ice-skating rink now up in LaPorte

BY STAN MADDUX

An iceless ice skating rink is now up in LaPorte after the dollars to purchase it were raised well before the deadline. down,” said Tom Milo. “They’re very slick. Very slick. It should be nice,” said Peggy Devine. Meyer said the rink was purchased

A goal of $35,000 in 35 days was surpassed on the 22nd day of the fundraiser by Bethany Lutheran Church when a $2,600 donation came in from Industrial Lumber Products, said Carrie Garwood, a member of the church.

Garwood said she was only slightly surprised at how fast the goal was met because of how successful other church fundraisers have been in the past.

“It’s always amazing how many different people in the community come forward,” she said.

Money from the fundraising campaign, which was spearheaded Oct. 27, was used to secure a $35,000 grant awarded by the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority to pay for the rink.

Garwood said the funds had to be collected by Nov. 30 to secure the matching grant.

The rink started being assembled once a truck containing all of the materials arrived just before 8 a.m.

The 1,300 square foot rink, which will be open to the public starting Friday, Dec. 3, is at LaPark, which is across the street from the church at 102 G. Street.

The mostly church members who were assembling the rink were impressed by how closely the 90 hard synthetic surface panels, which fitting together like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle, felt like real ice.

“It’s extremely slick. You have to be very careful out there or you’ll fall because of how heavily an iceless rink at the park was used during LaPorte’s inaugural Christkindlmarket sponsored last year by the church. He said it made sense to purchase the rink because the one last year cost $12,000 just to rent during the three day outdoor market featuring craft and vendors, German bands, beer garden, freshly cut Christmas trees to purchase live reindeer. The new rink was open during the second annual market Nov. 26-29. It will be available for use daily by the public throughout the winter from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

People can bring their own skates or choose from the 60 pairs of skates that came with the rink also at no charge.

The surface made by Glice, Inc. out of Switzerland is used by figure skaters and hockey players during the off season.

Pastor Dennis Meyer said an iceless rink was chosen because Old Man Winter isn’t always consistent with providing freezing temperatures for water to turn into ice and a refrigerated rink was too costly.

Meyer said the rink will be taken out of the park after winter.

One idea that’s still being explored is putting the rink back together for use during the LaPorte County Fair.

“You can skate on this year round so if we get the assistance and ability to do that we’re going to try and pull that off for the summer,” he said.