Boys basketball: Trojans knock off Lake Central
By Dave Melton Post-Tribune correspondent December 11, 2012 11:20PM
Chesterton's Corey Rusboldt (left) is guarded by Lake Central's Tye Wiburn (middle) and Tyler Wideman in the second quarter of play during their game held at Chesterton High School on Tuesday December 12, 2012. | Charles Mitchell~For Sun-Times Media
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Updated: January 13, 2013 11:15AM
CHESTERTON — Leading by two points after three quarters of play, Chesterton found another gear and pulled away from DAC opponent Lake Central for a 79-75 win.
“This is one of the biggest wins, in a while, for us,” said Chesterton (2-3, 1-2 DAC) head coach Tom Peller. “We’ve had a hard time beating Lake Central. Beating a quality team that’s highly-ranked like this … it’s a big confidence boost for us.”
Chesterton outscored Lake Central (3-2, 2-1 DAC) 22-13 over a 6-minute stretch of the fourth to put the game out of reach.
The Trojans got contributions from all over the place in the final eight minutes. Chris Palombizio had 11 points and Corey Rusboldt added six points, but Peller’s first praise was for sophomore forward Matt Holba, who had seven points, five rebounds and a block in the final period.
“Holba was just fantastic,” said Peller. “He got every clutch rebound when we needed it. But we’ve got a lot of weapons and we were able to use them all tonight.”
Holba finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds, while Palombizio finished with 19 points.
Lake Central was led by 22 points from Tye Wilburn and 20 from Tyler Wideman. But Lake Central head coach Dave Milausnic wasn’t talking about his offense after the game.
“All of my thoughts are focused on the 79 points we gave up,” he said. “We were a step slow defensively. You don’t want to be in a position where you have to randomly trap and leave people open because they’re going to hit the shot.”
Wilburn and Mike Miklusak sparked the Indians in the first half. Miklusak started in the first quarter, hitting a trio of shots from behind the arc in an 11-point first quarter. After one, Lake Central held an 18-14 advantage.
Miklusak crashed the boards in the second quarter, pulling down seven rebounds, while Wilburn navigated his way through the Chesterton defense for nine points and three assists in the second. At the half, Lake Central was on top 38-33.
Lake Central led by as many as nine points in the second quarter, but as the third progressed, the Trojans began chipping away.
In the final seconds of the quarter, a Lake Central turnover ended up in the hands of Holba, who bounced a pass to Palombizio in transition, setting him up for an easy layup to give the Trojans a 50-48 lead to start the final period.
Said Milausnic: “We were willing to work hard to get a lead but not willing to work harder to keep it.”
