‘Electric’ Parrish
Junior guard scores 17 of his 31 points in 3rd quarter as Chesterton rallies past Valparaiso in 4A sectional championship game
Chesterton’s Tyler Parrish knew he had done something special.
Just don’t ask the 6-foot-3 junior guard to recall any of it.
“After a game, I never remember what I say or what things were in my head,” he said.
Parrish went off during the third quarter of the Class 4A Crown Point Sectional championship game on Monday. He scored 17 of his game-high 31 points as the Trojans won 66-50 against Duneland Athletic Conference rival Valparaiso.
“That was a really good quarter for me — probably one of my best quarters,” he said.
It was a different story for Parrish in the first half, however.
“He was bad in the first half,” Chesterton coach Mark Urban said with a laugh. “But he was electric and elite in the second half. That’s why I love the kid. If he plays bad, you can tell him that. And he’s grown up a lot, so now when you challenge him, he just steps up and makes the plays.”
The Trojans (20-5), who repeated as sectional champions after reaching the state final last season and will play Penn in the Michigan City Regional on Saturday, needed Parrish to step up in the second half. Valparaiso (13-14), which got 15 points from senior wing Mason Jones, led 28-22 at halftime and extended its advantage to 40-29 early in the third quarter.
But Chesterton junior forward Justin Sims maintained there was no panic among his teammates.
“No one said it, but we all thought we could get it done,” he said. “We knew we could still win the game.”
That’s about the time Parrish caught fire. During the third quarter, he made six consecutive shots — including a pair of three-pointers — as the Trojans made quick work of the double-digit lead that Valparaiso had built.
Parrish wouldn’t take sole credit for Chesterton’s success in that quarter, saying it was a few early baskets by senior forward Nick Furmanek that put Chesterton’s offense back on track.
“We were down a lot and knew we had to get something going if we wanted to win the game,” Parrish said. “Furmanek got us going. He got some buckets down low that were big,
and it all started clicking.”
Furmanek offered a different perspective, however, after more than a decade of basketball experience with Parrish.
“We just had to keep his head up because we know that when he’s on, our team is the best that it can be,” Furmanek said.
As Parrish heated up, other teammates had the same idea as Furmanek: Get the ball to Parrish.
“I trust him with everything,” Furmanek said. “If he wants the ball, I’m letting it go because I know he’ll make some moves.”
The Trojans closed within 47-45 at the end of the third quarter on Sims’ emphatic breakaway dunk, which sent the stadium into a frenzy and had Parrish believing they were on the verge of victory.
“I had chills when that happened,” Parrish said. “You could hear the crowd.”
Chesterton then outscored Valparaiso 21-3 in the fourth quarter.
“Our guys just kept sticking with it,” Urban said. “They didn’t quit. They found a way to make plays, and once that momentum got in our favor, we stepped on the gas and didn’t look back.”