Chesterton visits Portage tonight in a battle of boys basketball teams with 4-1 DAC records and contrasting styles of play

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Taking care of the basketball is an even greater priority than usual tonight for Chesterton as it goes on the road for a DAC matchup featuring a pair of teams ranked in the 4A top 20 poll.
The No. 18 Trojans (14-4) are at No. 19 Portage (16-2), which opened the season with a 16-game winning streak before losing back-to-back road games to Crown Point and South Bend Adams.
Chesterton also is coming off a loss, at home to Penn last Saturday.
The teams enter tied for second in the DAC with 4-1 records, a game behind Crown Point.
A big crowd at the intimate gymnasium is expected to watch a pair of DAC teams dialed up to get back on the winning track as Portage’s peppy band adds to the atmosphere.
The hosts will be without leading scorer, junior Karter Kobe (21.2 points per game), sidelined by a foot injury. His brother, sophomore Bryce, a 6-3 point guard, averages 14.8 points.
Pokorney leads the Trojans with 13.6 points per game, followed by Basila (12.6) and Watts (10.6).
Urban said Portage will show fullcourt pressure, 1-3-1 halfcourt and 1-3-1 three-quarter court trapping defenses.
“They’re not real big but they’re very different from most teams,” Urban said. “They have 225 steals on the year and we have (116). … If they feel like you’re getting in a rhythm offensively after three passes they’ll just randomly come double you, so they’re just doing whatever they can to create chaos, but they’re really good at it. They’re really good at rotating to the next obvious pass. They’re quick and they do a good job with it.”
Aside from taking care of the basketball, a key to this game that features Chesterton’s size vs. Portage’s ability to force turnovers will come in the Trojans using their defense to trigger transition points of their own, according to Urban.
Chesterton has averaged 66 points allowed in its four losses and is 0-3 when giving up 63 points or more, and 14-1 when holding the opponent to 62 or fewer points.
The outlier came in a 49-47 loss to Evansville North in a game that starting junior point guard Tobias Ray missed with the flu.
“We have to be better defensively to be able to get stops to be able to get some more easy no-brainer baskets,” Urban said. “I think we’ve got to start there.”
Basila, a 6-foot-7 sophomore, and 6-8 senior Caden Schneider give the visitors a size advantage over a team that has a five-guard lineup with nobody taller than 6-3 starting.
The teams are alike in one respect. They both are stocked with several skilled 3-point shooters.
Chesterton averages 7.6 made 3s per game, Portage 6.8.
“When we use each other’s strengths, we’re really hard to guard,” Urban said. “Logan’s one of the best catch-and-shoot shooters in the state. Gunner (Ello) and Bradly have the ability to score down low. When everybody’s doing their part, everyone’s going to look better because of it. If you try to do it individually, I’m not saying we are, but when you try to do it on your own, you usually don’t look good.” Four Chesterton starters are shooting better than .400 on 3-pointers: Ray .462, Basila .441, Pokorney .435, Jaylon Watts .405.
Portage’s two most high volume 3-point shooters also shoot the highest long-range percentages on the team: Josiah Brown (.432) and Dennis Moran III (.389).
“Offensively, they run a lot of five out, trying to get you moving, trying to drive you,” Urban said. “And they’ve got some guys who can shoot it. There are matchup problems on their end defensively with our size, but there are matchup problems on our end with them playing five guards and we’ve got 6-7, 6-8 out there who are capable of doing it, but it’s definitely a challenge.”
Sixth man Malachi Ransom gives the Trojans the option of using their smaller lineup even more often than usual.
Portage will attempt to create chaos, which means Chesterton has to get smart to prevail.