Trojans back on home basketball court tonight taking 8-2 record into game vs. Andrean after going 2-1 at Fishers Holiday Classic

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Tonight wraps up the first of three segments of a high school basketball season for the Trojans: the pre-conference stage. The second phase consists of eight more nonconference games and the seven DAC contests, the first coming Saturday at Merrillville. The third stage, of course, is the postseason.
Not surprisingly, senior Logan Pokorney has been the team’s most consistent player 10 games into the season. He leads the team in scoring (15.3), steals (2.3) and 3-pointers made (2.2) and is shooting 3s at a .407 clip.
Fellow senior Jaylon Watts ranks second on the team in scoring (11.6) and rebounding (4.4) and is shooting well from everywhere on the court: .400 on 3-pointers, .635 on 2-pointers and .833 from the line.
Sophomore Bradly Basila averages 11 points per game and leads the team with 6.4 rebounds.
Junior Tobias Ray has a team-best 5.1 assists per game, averages 9.6 points and is shooting .513 from 3 and .561 overall.
Senior Caden Schneider ranks second on the team in two statistical categories not typically associated with centers: assists (3.3) and steals (1.3).
Junior guard Malachi Ransom leads a productive bench with an 8.0 scoring average.
At the Fishers Holiday Classic last Friday and Saturday Chesterton lost a close one to Evansville North and won by comfortable margins against Fort Wayne Wayne and Lawrence Central.
“Lawrence Central was the most talented team that we played. Evansville North executed the best, and that’s a very good lesson,” Chesterton coach Marc Urban said. “They played very connected and they felt they had to play that way to have a chance to beat us. And that can happen, right? You play someone that probably on paper you’re more talented than, but you’re also playing teams that are going to be connected.They’re going to drag their possessions out a little more than a team like Lawrence Central or Fort Wayne Wayne.”
A look at the Fishers Holiday Classic games:

Jan. 2

Evansville North 49, Chesterton 47: After Trojans Ray nailed a 3-pointer to the game, 47-47, North scored the winning basket on a layup with 2.2 seconds remaining in a game that at the start seemed headed for Chesterton getting blown out.
Led by senior Bryson Champman’s 25 points, North made 4 of 5 3-pointers to start the game to build a 19-2 lead that settled to 19-6 at the end of the first quarter. The lead shrunk to 28-21 at the half and Chesterton eventually took the lead before North pulled it out in the end.
The Huskies led 36-34 heading into the fourth quarter.
Pokorney led three Trojans in double figures with 15 points. Basila scored 12 and Ray 10. Caden Schneider, who hit a big 3-pointer late, contributed seven assists.
“It was a frustrating loss,” Urban said. “It was disappointing, but I still feel the strength of schedule that we’ve played, what we’ve gone through, I feel that the players understand a little bit more what it takes. Playing some possession-by-possession games like we have, I do think our kids understand that when you don’t execute it can go south in a hurry. When we fight together, we’re a lot better and we showed that by coming back and taking the lead.”

Chesterton 77, Fort Wayne Wayne 45: Pokorney and Watts shared Trojans scoring honors with 17 points apiece, Ransom added 12 points and Ray and Basila scored nine apiece.
The Trojans made 11 3-pointers, including three apiece from Pokorney and Ray.

Jan. 3

Chesterton 72, Lawrence Central 52: Basila scored 19 points, Watts 18, Pokorney 17 and Ray 12 in a game the Trojans led by two points after a quarter, seven points at the half and 10 points after three quarters. Basila and Watts combined for 15 fourth-quarter points to carry the Trojans to victory.
“I thought we played really well,” Urban said of the Trojans in their most recent game. “I think we had 20 assists in the game and everybody was pretty efficient. It was probably the most active we’ve been defensively.”