GARY — Parion Roberson drew a charge against Lake Central as a freshman two years ago.
He suffered a thigh contusion on the play, which eventually led to a blood clot and kept him off the court for two months.
But that doesn’t stop the West Side junior from stepping in front of a driving player in the lane.
“I really don’t worry about my body like that,” he said. “I’m the main charge-taker on the team.”
Roberson drew three charges in the Cougars’ 55-53 win over Michigan City on Friday. He also scored 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds.
One of those boards was key to the victory, stifling a Wolves play with 24.7 seconds on the clock.
West Side is without sophomore Jalen Washington, one of the state’s top players. He tore his ACL in practice just before the start of the season and will miss the entire year.
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“We’re not ourselves right now. We’re adjusting, some guys on the team have new roles,” coach Chris Buggs said. “I’m proud of these guys because they’re adjusting on the fly against good teams. It’s not like we’re playing cupcake teams.”
Buggs said he was happy with his team’s defensive effort all night.
“Our defense is what we hang our hat on. We work on that every single day,” Buggs said. “We had some lapses because we’re used to having (Washington) back there to erase our mistakes. We’re trying to play a little bit more disciplined and I think we’re getting better every day.”
Quimari Peterson fueled the Cougars (3-1) in the early going, scoring eight points in the first quarter. The junior guard was held in check in the next frame, making only two free throws. He finished with 17 points.
Junior guard Tahari Watson hit three 3-pointers in the first half for the Wolves (2-1)
Michigan City opened the fourth quarter with a 9-2 run to cut the lead to 45-43 with 5:25 remaining.
A Dominique Williams 3-pointer with 2.6 seconds was the last bucket for the Wolves.