Take-charge effort lifts St. Viator past Carmel

Sometimes, for guys, tidying up requires only a trim.

Or, in St. Viator's case, "Trim."

Take Friday night at Carmel Catholic.

With his basketball team trailing by a point at halftime, Matt Trimberger, who affectionately goes by "Trim," took a pair of charges in the first two minutes of the third quarter. The defensive gems provided just the right spark St. Viator, which cleaned up, winning the East Suburban Catholic Conference opener 58-49.

"Those are the kind of plays that we needed to make more of," Carmel coach Zack Ryan said after his Corsairs (4-4) saw their four-game winning streak snapped.

The first charge that Trimberger soaked up happened just 45 seconds into the second half with St. Viator (4-1) trailing by its halftime deficit of 29-28. Jake Stepuszek's pullup jumper gave the visitors the lead, Danny Walsh followed with a 3-pointer, and then Trimberger took his second charge.

Lions roared with excitement.

"He was telling me before the game that the charges were going to be open all game," Trimberger said of coach Quin Hayes. "We didn't get any in the first half, but I saw (Carmel) charging hard through the lane a little out of control and I was just able to step over."

Hayes was impressed not only with Trimberger's defensive plays but also his stick-to-itiveness.

"He had a rough start to the game," Hayes of his 6-foot-5 senior. "But the good thing about him is, he keeps his head up, keeps pushing and keeps trying."

Trimberger's teammates fed off the defensive energy he provided.

"Those 2 charges were huge," Hayes said. "Not only is it just the stops, but it gets the bench guys going. It gets everybody going. Those charges changed the whole momentum of the game."

Trimberger finished with 8 points and 8 rebounds. Kyle Hammarlund and Stepuszek led St. Viator with 15 and 11 points, respectively. Marc Clark added 9 points coming off the bench.

"Everyone on the team (takes charges)," Trimberger said. "It's not just me. I'm more new to it, actually. A lot of guys have been doing it longer and are probably better than me at taking them."

When Trimberger scored on a putback to cap a 13-2 run with 2:29 left in the third quarter, the Lions' lead was their largest, at 41-31.

"It starts always with us on the defensive end," Hayes said. "We don't have that prolific scorer, but we got five, six, seven guys who really know how to play well together."

Carmel was within 43-37 after three, but St. Viator built the lead to double digits again. Trimberger's persistence under the boards paid off in another bucket, hiking the Lions' advantage to 50-39 midway through the fourth.

Western Illinois-bound C.J. Duff led all scorers with 19 points, but the visitors made Carmel's senior guard work. Duff shot 8 of 17 from the floor with a pair of 3-pointers.

"He's a heck of a player," Hayes said. "He hit some tough shots. Sometimes good offense beats good defense."

Brian Julien added 11 points for Carmel, but the Corsairs shot just 33 percent (17 of 51). Rondel Jamison scored all 7 of his points, including a 3, in the first half.

"We did some good things in the first half," said Ryan, whose team was up 29-26 after Duff drained a 3 with 1:10 left before halftime. "Second half, we just didn't hit any shots. And then because of that, our intensity dropped little bit on defense. That inevitably kept us from winning the game."

Ryan, whose team got outscored 30-20 in the second half, held a lengthy meeting with his players after the game.

"We got a ways to go," Ryan said. "We were just 'out-toughed' tonight."