Bradshaw, Cary-Grove devour Round Lake
Cary-Grove center Ben Bradshaw, a 6-foot-4, 230-pound senior, is what you might call a good eater.
How many plates of turkey and all the trimmings did the Trojans' inside presence clear at Thanksgiving dinner?
"I'd be lying if I said I had less than two," the grinning big man said Friday. He apparently had room for more.
Bradshaw played hungry and ate up Round Lake in a 37-21 victory at the Hoops for Healing Tournament at Woodstock High School. He finished tied with teammate Jake Bianchi with a team-best 11 points and grabbed 9 rebounds as Cary-Grove dominated the smaller Panthers on the glass, 36-21. The Trojans improved to 1-2. Round Lake slipped to 1-2.
"It feels good," Bradshaw said of the first victory of the season. "Now we've got one under our belt and we just build off it. We got the first one. Let's keep it going."
Round Lake scored only 4 points in the first quarter and was shut out in the final period on 0-of-7 shooting. The Panthers were out of sync before the game ever started. Four starters were held out initially due to tardiness, though each eventually played.
"We had discipline issues we had to take care of today," Round Lake coach Jim Roberts said. "We had some kids start who played a lot of minutes who haven't played at all in our first two games. I can't fault those kids' efforts who came in and played. I'm proud of our guys and the way those kids played. The kids who played hard."
The Panthers struggled offensively. They shot 8 of 35 from the field and committed 18 turnovers.
"Our offensive execution wasn't very good, but it was a product of having to deal with the issues we had to deal with," Roberts added.
It was also a product of dealing with tenacious Cary-Grove.
"Defensively, it was a solid effort," Trojans coach Ralph Schuetzle said. "We knew we couldn't let (Juddon) Carter get too many open looks. He had a little run at the start of the third where he had a 3-pointer and a back cut, but we did a pretty solid job of knowing where he was and communicating where he was. I thought we defended their ball screen pretty well."
Cary-Grove led 17-10 at halftime, but the Panthers pulled within 26-21 on Carter's 3-point basket with 2:01 left in the third quarter. Carter came off the bench to lead all scorers with 12 points.
The Trojans responded with their best sequence of the young season, ignited by the team's second unit. Junior Dean Lee started the game-ending 11-0 run by blowing past his defender on the right wing for a layup and the foul.
Junior Steve Plazak opened the fourth quarter with a basket on which he was fouled. He missed the ensuing free throw, but junior Alex Crowley snagged the offensive rebound. Plazak eventually fed the ball back inside to Crowley for a 6-foot jumper from the paint. His bucket pushed Cary-Grove's lead to 32-21 with 6:33 left.
"It feels good to contribute, to be part of the team, getting in there and doing the best I can to support my team," Crowley said.
Senior Eric Graham had 2 points and 8 rebounds for the Trojans, who conclude tournament play against Hononegah (3-0) at Woodstock North High School today at 1:30 p.m.
Round Lake concludes the tournament against Marian Central (0-3) today at noon, also at Woodstock North.