Munster and East Chicago survive upset bids

Updated: March 23, 2011 3:46PM

Hoosier Hysteria was at its finest Friday night at the Class 4A West Side Sectional.

Both semifinal favorites Munster and East Chicago Central needed overtime in both their contests to survive and reach tonight's championship game at 7:30 p.m.

Ironically, both teams avoided major disasters to win their semifinal contests.

Lake Central standout Glenn Robinson III knocked down a buzzer-beating three-point field goal with no timwith 1:38 left inOT. "We didn't play very well. We didn't play like we've played all season.

"East Chicago is a good team; they are quick and like to play up tempo. We're going to need to come out ready for them."

The Mustangs (22-0) controlled the tempo most of the time against Lake Central (13-9). But Robinson kept his team close with clutch free throws and field goals and never let his team get behind more than four points in the second half.

The junior guard finished with a game-high 31 points and nine rebounds.

But the key down the stretch was probably the missed free throws by Munster's Nate Bubash with 2.4 seconds left. His second miss headed towards out of bounds when Christian Young grabbed the ball and called timeout for the Mustangs. It essentially ended the game as Lake Central had no time to set up another offensive play.

"That was the smartest thing we did all night," Carbajal said of Young's rebound and timeout. "If we're not playing aggressive, we've got to at least play smart out there."

In the first game, Morton's Cinderella story came to a crashing halt when the Cardinals outscored the Governors 25-8 over the game's final eight minutes (including overtime).

E.C. coach Abe Brown said Morton (8-14) was highly underrated coming into the sectional round.

"We just beat Butler of last year's NCAA tournament," he said. "A lot of people overlook Morton but they played a lot of teams tight this year.

"The difference was my seniors were mentally strong at the end."

Senior Anthony Williams, who finished 12-for-15 from the free throw and scored 18 points, missed two free throws after Morton was called for a technical foul with 0.1 seconds left on the clock for calling a timeout when it didn't have any remaining.

Ware wasn't going to let his teammate down though as he came up clutch down the stretch to lead the Cardinals to victory and get them in the championship game.

"My team was in a drought and coach told me I needed to step up," Ware said. "I put it in my mind that I was going to do anything to score and help us win the game."

The 5-foot-11 senior guard is excited to get one more shot at Munster. They've won the sectional crown on his home court last season.

"We have a chip on our shoulder since they've won the last two sectionals," he said. "This is our last year so we'll be ready."

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