Timothy Christian falls in regional final
Timothy Christian’s usual bugaboo came back to haunt it again Friday night.
“All year we’ve kind of been struggling with the zone,” Trojans senior Mike Pizzello said. “That’s kind of one little flaw that we’ve had.”
It was a problem again for Timothy Christian at the Class 2A Immaculate Conception regional final, where Providence-St. Mel used zone defenses to confuse and frustrate the Trojans. The Knights (18-9) won 49-40 to advance to next week’s Aurora Christian sectional semifinals against the host Eagles.
“St. Mel did a great job, played great defense, and we didn’t have shots fall,” Trojans coach Jack LeGrand said. “They made shots at cruical times and just did a nice job.”
The Trojans were in danger of being blown out early, falling behind 10-2, but they found their game legs just in time, scoring the final 7 points of the quarter, then taking a 21-20 lead at halftime.
“Nerves all around really got to us a little,” Pizzello said.
“We took a hit early with a little bit of the tenseness of the game, I think, and all of a sudden our guys settled down and got into a little bit of a rhythm,” LeGrand added.
It helped that the Knights struggled with their shot, making just 8 of 31 in the first half.
“We shot well on Wednesday night, so I figured we wouldn’t shoot as well tonight,” Knights coach Tim Ervin said. “Championship jitters. They had a pretty good defense. They’re great in terms of being in the right position and making it tough for our guys to score.”
But when the Knights switched from a 3-2 zone to a trapping 1-3-1 in the third quarter, the Trojans’ offense sputtered. Timothy Christian (17-10) turned the ball over 9 times and made just 1 of 8 shots for the period.
Providence-St. Mel sputtered at the start of the third quarter also, but the Knights finally got rolling, jumping out to a 29-23 lead when Eric Crawford came off the bench to knock down a 3-pointer, they finished the period up 7.
“Boy, that was just a dead quarter,” LeGrand said. “The first four minutes, both teams, no one wanted to put it in the basket. We just didn’t get anything going offensively at all. Part of that’s their defense, part of that’s our kids just didn’t move the ball quite well.”
“They were quick on the defensive side,” Pizzello said, “but we just made a couple of defensive mistakes that killed us, let them go on a little run.”
The Trojans trimmed the lead to 4 on sophomore Danny Leach’s 3 with 2:23 to go, but Providence-St. Mel pulled away on a couple of Kameron Kimbrough baskets.
“Each time we came down and made a good basket or made a good shot, they came down with a fastbreak or killed us with a 3,” Pizzello said.
Pizzello scored a game-high 18 points and grabbed 7 rebounds.
“He played so hard. He’s done so much for us on the offensive end and on the defensive end,” LeGrand said. “Anybody we ask him to guard, big guys, little guys, he does it and he does it well.”
Sophomore Teadric Anderson scored 14 for the Knights, and Kimbrough added 13.
“A tough ballgame. I’m proud of the kids for getting there,” LeGrand said. “It’s just a great bunch of guys. They’ve been tight for a long time. I coached them in eighth grade. It’s been a fun ride to watch them get here.”