The men’s basketball team will head to Pike High School for a Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference (MIC) game on Jan. 20 at 7:30 p.m. CHS will play Pike in a “Moment of Intentional Community” game. Every MIC game played on Jan. 20 will be part of the Embrace Campaign. This program, sponsored by CHS seniors Jack Segal and Kathryn Scott, hopes to promote positivity during friendly competition.

Segal said, “After a year filled with controversy in our country, I think it’s a good time to remind our community about togetherness and unity.” He continued, “At four schools across the area, all eight MIC schools will be playing against one another. We contacted each school principal, and they agreed to pay, with funds, for 250 of our “unity” shirts for all students who go to the games.”

At each game, the first 250 students will receive an orange unity t-shirt. Segal and Scott selected orange because no school has orange in its school colors. They wanted to make sure that the idea of community is not biased towards one school.

While Segal, Scott, and student leaders prepare for the event, the men’s basketball team is readying for perhaps its hardest test of the year.

“We are preparing a little bit differently this week,”Alex Falender said, varsity team member and junior, in regard to playing at Pike. “They are a lot quicker than most teams we see, and they now play more as a team. In the past, they used more of a one-on-one type game flow, so we need to work that out,” Falender said.

The Hounds will face a very tough opponent in this MIC matchup. Pike is coming off a nine game winning streak, and according to Head Coach Scott Heady, the conference is looking stronger than it has in recent years.

Heady said, “It’s as good as it’s been from top to bottom. In past years, there have been maybe three teams at the top competing for it, but right now there are probably six teams that have a good shot at winning it.”

According to Heady, Pike is near the top of that list of contenders.

“They just won the Marion County tournament, and they have won nine in a row. They are quick and very athletic, and they have length inside as well as good offensive skilled players. It’s going to be a test playing them on the road. We are going to have to handle their pressure, and we have to rebound,” he said.

CHS has out rebounded every opponent this year, and Falender believes that this and the team’s added depth can put an end to Pike’s streak.

“There have been a lot of new changes and a lot of new faces this year,” Falender said. “We used to sub a lot more in the past, but we are a really deep team this year. Everyone is playing so well, and we are playing roughly eight to nine players a game. Pike is a tough team, and it should be a great game.”