Orange, Jacobs take care of Cary-Grove
It’s scary how good Jacobs sophomore guard Chrishawn Orange could become by the time he’s a senior.
Connecting on 11-of-13 shots from the field, Orange poured in a career high 25 points to lead Jacobs to a 77-63 win over Cary-Grove in Fox Valley Conference Valley Division boys basketball action in Algonquin Saturday night.
“My shot really felt good tonight,” said Orange. “We have a lot of seniors on this team and they are always encouraging me to shoot. When I played with the varsity this summer the game was pretty fast. It is starting to slow down.”
Jacobs coach Jim Hinkle really likes Orange’s progress as a player.
“Chris is not playing like a sophomore any more,” said Hinkle. “He is really growing up and played a great game.”
Orange got plenty of help from his teammates. Blake Micel added 17 points for the winners including 9-of-9 from the free throw line while Lake Ojo had 14 points with 13 rebounds.
Trailing Cary-Grove 15-13 after one quarter of play, the Golden Eagles took control of the game in the second quarter. Making its first 7 shots, Jacobs scored the first 15 points of the quarter to turn a 2-point deficit into a 28-15 lead with 4:55 left before intermission. Orange connected on 4 shots for 8 points, Ojo had a pair of putbacks and Will Schwerdtmann nailed a long 3-pointer from the left corner as Jacobs enjoyed a double-digit lead.
Cary-Grove didn’t score in the quarter until the 3:44 mark on 2 free throws by Matt Motzel to make the score 28-17.
“We just blew up in the second quarter,” said Cary-Grove coach Ralph Schueltze. “There were six possessions that were the ballgame. We couldn’t stop Orange’s penetration and Ojo had a monster game on the glass.”
Leading 40-29 at halftime, Jacobs (13-11, 6-3) kept building up the lead and led by as many as 18, 67-49, after a 3-pointer by Patrick Nerja with 3:55 remaining.
Led by 9 fourth quarter points from Jason Gregoire, the Trojans (10-12, 2-7) sliced the Jacobs lead 69-61 after a trey by Gregoire with 1:45 left. The Trojans couldn’t get any closer.
Gregoire led the Trojans with 26 points. Dean Lee scored 15 while Motzel tallied 11. Cary-Grove played without point guard Tyler Szydlo, who was out with a groin injury