Sophomore “Turbo” Tommy Kostbade scores 13 of his team-high 15 points in second half to carry Chesterton to a 52-41 victory against a Lowell team that plays far better than its 5-15 record

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Chesterton JV coach Drew Boetel looked at sophomore “Turbo” Tommy Kostbade in the hallway outside the visiting locker room at Lowell and sported an expression reminiscent of parents dropping a child off at college, proud of how ready their son or daughter is for that next step, yet wistful about the change of address.
“I have to stop coaching him up so good,” Boetel cracked. “There goes Tommy. Bye, Tommy.”
Based on his recent performances coming off the bench for the varsity, Kostbade does have the look of a player who has graduated from JV competition and is ready for the big-time, a full-time role as a 7 p.m. player.
When Kostbade walked off the court late in Tuesday night’s 52-41 win over the patient, feisty Red Devils who followed the shorten-the-game underdog script well, many of the Chesterton fans in attendance got on their feet to give him an ovation.
He earned it by scoring 15 points off the bench on a night that was needed because the Trojans didn’t have their best night in many ways.
Kostbade kept it simple, gaining position inside and either catching post passes or soaring for rebounds, going up strong and kissing soft shots off the glass.
“Tommy saved us in a lot of ways,” 10th-year Chesterton coach Marc Urban said. “He made some really good plays, finished through contact, just got his chin on the rim and he did his job. He played hard and he got to the right spots. I thought he played with some passion and a really good motor and really gave us a big lift.”
Three nights earlier, Kostbade swished a 3-pointer and soared to catch a lob and throw it down at home in a rout of Hammond Central. As of Tuesday night, the floorboards the ball concussed were being monitored and everyone was hopeful of a full recovery for them in time for Friday’s rivalry game vs. visiting Valparaiso.
On paper, the trip to Lowell shaped up as one with the potential to end with a running clock. On hardwood, it played out in a way that was nothing close to that. Chesterton didn’t score its first points against the methodical Red Devils (5-15) until junior Tobias Ray buried a 3-pointer from the right corner with fewer than 15 seconds remaining in a first quarter that ended with Lowell on top, 8-3. The Red Devils led 19-17 at the half and never trailed by more than 11 points.
The Trojans (17-4) didn’t take their first lead until early in the second half when Bradly Basila hit a free throw to make it 20-19. They never trailed again, but at the same time couldn’t bury the Red Devils with any scoring outbursts. Early in the fourth quarter, Lowell drew within six points briefly.
“When you go through a season, you hope to not have games like this, but you’re probably going to and when you can have a guy who really hasn’t played a lot of varsity minutes step up and have 15, I think that’s a good sign for him, but then also for us that we have depth,” Urban said. “You can pick each other up when you have that depth and Tommy did that tonight.”
A springy, fast athlete who stands 6-foot-6, Kostbade has worked hard in the weight room and eaten wisely to achieve his goal of gaining weight. He said he has put on 15 pounds during the season and is up to 190 pounds.
“It’s definitely helped a lot and I can feel it when I play,” Kostbade said. “It helps me get more rebounds and be more physical.”
He hit the offensive glass hard against a Lowell team that used just one player taller than 6-2, nobody taller than 6-4.
Kostbade wisely spent most of his time near the hoop and pursued the basketball aggressively in traffic to make the simple yet tough plays going up strong with the ball.
“Tonight I just kind of figured it out with that,” he said. “They didn’t have anyone who was too tall, so I wasn’t too worried about getting blocked.”
Kostbade’s career high point total led three Trojans in double figures. Logan Pokorney had 14 points, Ray 10 points.
All but two of Kostbade’s points came in the second half, when he had three three-point plays of the old-fashioned variety.
Nobody hit a bigger shot than Ray though because it kept the visitors from getting skunked in the first quarter.
“I think we came in a little bit too overly confident, and there’s a difference in being confident, going out and doing your job and respecting your opponent and the delusional confidence that we probably came in with, but give Lowell credit,” Urban said. “They played really well. They played connected. And we missed a lot of wide-open 3s early, which hurt, and they were able to score down there. We got beat defensively a few times. We have to clean that up.”
The fewer the possessions in a game, the better the chance of a monumental upset.
“I remember looking at the clock in the first quarter and I’m like, ‘Man, there’s only 1:45 left.’ It went quickly,” Urban said. “Our possessions might have been eight seconds and they were burning a minute 10. You get in those games where you play teams that are good, they pass, they cut, they score when they need to. I thought they played really hard and did some good things in their zone too.”
Trying to speed up the game, the Trojans applied full-court pressure in the second quarter, when senior Jaylon Watts had three of his six steals. But every time it looked like a blowout was revving up, ready to blast out of the Batcave, Lowell kept its composure and stayed in it.
Aside from being encouraged by Kostbade’s big night, Urban summed up his takeaway from the game thusly: “We all have to collectively take responsibility for this one and then get ready for Valpo.”