Defense triggers Timothy Christian triumph at Lisle
The Timothy Christian boys basketball team wrapped up play Saturday night at the Lisle Thanksgiving Tournament with a 63-47 win over the hosts.
After trailing 24-19 at halftime, the Trojans' defense turned on the afterburners and outscored the Lions 44-23 over the final two quarters.
Timothy Christian finished 3-1 in the tournament, which started its season. Westmont also finished 3-1 but earned the championship plaque for beating the Trojans on Day 2 of the competition.
"We prepare the same for every team, no matter who we are playing. We emphasize defense all the time and offense comes from defense," said junior Matt Owens, who hit for 12 points.
Trojans coach Scott Plaisier said he puts defense on the top of every list of fundamentals but said the Trojans' defense was adjusted to counter what Lisle had to offer offensively.
"Lisle has good basketball players. We wanted to take away their strengths and our guys did a good job understanding their personnel. And we did a heck of a job rebounding in the second half," Plaisier said.
Timothy Christian sophomore Josh Harris led all scorers with 23 points and his play was crucial to the Trojans taking the lead permanently from the Lions (2-2) in the third quarter.
With 5:30 remaining in the quarter, Harris converted a steal into a layup to put Timothy Christian up for the first time in the game 25-24. Thirty seconds later he followed with two free throws and soon afer a basket and then another layup off a steal to push his team up 31-24. Lisle coach Mark LaScala called a timeout with 3:46 remaining.
"(The Trojans) were the first team to blitz our ball screens and we didn't handle it well," LaScala said.
Harris was named to the all-tournament team.
"The first game it was nerves, but as (the tournament) went on I got better thanks to the coaches who push me," Harris said. "This (tournament) is a great start to get us into conference."
The Trojans, thanks to their 17-4 scoring run in the third quarter, led 36-28 after it. The Lions got the Timothy Christian lead down to 8 and 9 points a couple of times in the final quarter but couldn't get closer.
LaScala said Saturday's game and the tournament helped his team realize what it needs to focus on as it starts conference play.
"We have to be able to stop negative stretches. There were times in both of our losses. We did not play well and got deflated. Last night (a win over Westmont), we got a positive streak going and we fed off that emotion," the Lisle coach said.
Elisha Basnight led Lisle with 12 points. Demetrius King followed with 10 points. Jay McGrath was named to the all-tournament team.
Caden Anderson received all-tournament honors for team champion Westmont.