Timothy's defense stymies St. Edward
Timothy Christian coach Scott Plaisier calls his defense an aggressive 1-3-1 zone.
Whatever you call it, it was effective.
The Trojans' stifling defense held host St. Edward to 31 points, 25% shooting and forced 19 turnovers.
The result was a 49-31 Chicago Christian Conference win for the visitors from Elmhurst in Elgin Friday night.
"We played very good defense tonight," said Plaisier. "We didn't give them many inside shots. We forced them to take a lot of perimeter and 3-point shots. We bracketed 21 (Kaden Dawson) and made him work for everything."
Timothy Christian (4-5, 1-1) held Dawson to 7 points on 3-of-10 shooting.
The Trojans basically put the game on ice during the first 8 minutes of the game.
Shooting a sizzling 75% from the field (9-of-12) and connecting on both its 3-pointers, the Trojans held a 14-point advantage 20-6 after the initial quarter.
Stephen Hribal scored 6 points while Marc Gamble and Alex Keizer scored 5 with a 3-pointer each. Thon Bill scored 4 with 2 blocked shots and 4 rebounds.
"We were really ready to play," said Plaisier. "We got off to a better start than we have recently. We generated offense with pace.''
Gamble completed a putback to give the Trojans a 28-12 lead with a minute left before intermission. Josh Fowle's tip at the buzzer made the score 28-14 after 16 minutes.
Timothy Christian ensured there wouldn't be a Green Wave comeback by scoring the first 10 points of the third quarter.
Ryan McKenzie scored 5 points with a 3-pointer and Gamble canned a trey as the Trojans led 38-14 with 5:08 left in the quarter.
Anthony Freeman buried a long 3 for the Green Wave's (4-5, 1-1) first points of the second half with 4:23 left to make the score 38-17.
Gamble, a sophomore, led the Trojans with 13 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocked shots and 2 resounding dunks.
"It was good to get out to a good start and get a win," said Gamble. "I was able to score inside and outside. I played a little as a freshman but played all summer with the varsity and have fit in. We have great friendship on this team."
Keizer and Bill added 9 apiece while Hribal scored 8 for the winners.
The Trojans made 19-of-30 from the field for a red hot 63% and were 7-of-12 from beyond the arc, and only committed 8 turnovers.
Dawson led the Wave with 7 points while Matt Morrice and Owen Searcy tallied 5 apiece.
"We play well in spurts and we got some energy from our three freshmen in the game in the third quarter," said St. Edward coach Andy Zielinski. "We are a Class 1A team and Timothy is 2A. They are a very physical team and their guards are very physical. This conference from top to bottom is strong and there are great coaches in this conference. Every game is going to be a war. It is early in the season. Hopefully by tournament time we will be ready."