Christian Liberty falls short of regional championship
Size and depth are very important things in the sport of basketball.
Christian Liberty’s team lacks in both, but makes up for it with hustle.
On Friday night, in a Class 1A regional championship game being played on their home court, the Chargers spirited play just wasn’t enough to overcome the depth and size of North Shore Country Day in a 67-48 win for the Raiders.
The victory gave North Shore Country Day its first regional championship in boys basketball.
“If you go in our school, we don’t have any banners,” North Shore sophomore guard Austin Curren said. “So it really means something to get something up there.”
Curren scored 15 points and drew the task of guarding Christian Liberty’s top scorer, junior Luke Comerouski.
While Comerouski finished with a game-high 16 points, he had to work very hard for every opportunity.
“Austin’s really been guarding the best player on the other team,” North Shore coach Rashid Smith said. “He’s sacrificed his scoring and his energy to guard the other guy’s best player. We really put the clamps down on defense when we can hamper one or two guys on the other team.”
In addition to Curren, the Raiders got 9 points apiece from junior Jake Bruce and sophomore Riley Hall.
The Raiders also were able to control the glass, and keep the Chargers from getting second chances until the fourth quarter. Upwards of 10 Christian Liberty shot attempts were also blocked.
“We’re a big team, and we’ve been fortunate enough to have some size not only in the post size, but in our guards,” Smith said. “I think we used our size well.”
The Raiders started the second half on a 11-1 run to expand their lead to 26 points.
“I thought I gave them a pretty good pep talk,” Christian Liberty coach Ken Kramer said of the start of the second half. “We knew what the problems were, we just couldn’t fix them. We couldn’t get the offense going. We couldn’t get the defense going. They got whatever they wanted, and when you give them whatever they want it is hard to play.”
The Chargers made some strides in their second year of IHSA competition and Kramer is hoping he can keep his roster, which only graduates one senior, together for next season.
Being a private school, Christian Liberty is subject to more roster changes than the public schools. A few players from last year’s team decided to transfer to public schools in the area.
“I think we got some good experience for some younger guys coming up,” Kramer said. “As long as they stick around I know who my starters are for next year already. We’re already looking forward to next year.”
Junior Michael Hennek scored 13 points for Christian Liberty while junior Ben Thomas scored 4 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.