The surprise on Friday night at Michigan City High School wasn’t the return of Chesterton’s 6-foot-10 star.

The Trojans got Mitch McGary back, but it was the Wolves’ James Sander who stole the show in Michigan City’s 60-55 Duneland Athletic Conference victory.

“We didn’t expect him to make all of them,” Chesterton coach Tom Peller said of Sander’s 4-for-4 performance from 3-point range in the opening quarter. “I don’t think he’d made a 3 all year. That certainly wasn’t part of our scouting report. He made them. That’s part of high school basketball.”

McGary scored the game’s first basket, but scored just four first quarter points as the Wolves built a 19-8 lead.

“We were a little out of sync with Mitch back in the mix,” Peller said. “We did a lot of standing around and turned it over a little bit. He was forcing a little bit too, but that’s going to happen in your first game back.”

The lead reached 32-17 at halftime before the Trojans could get to the locker room and refocus.

“I thought Michigan City really shot the three well,” Peller said. “That’s not typical of what they’ve done all year. They got the big lead and we couldn’t quite come all the way back. Some of it was our fault and a lot of it was them just hitting shots.”

McGary scored nine of his team-high 18 points in the third quarter as the Trojans pulled to within 44-33 after three periods.

“In the second half, we did a better job of getting into a rhythm,” Peller said. “We just couldn’t make quite enough plays.”

Chesterton got to within 47-41 with an 8-1 run to start the fourth quarter as KeMonte and Freddy Price each scored four points. Both scored 13 points in the loss.

“Freddy was very passive the first three quarters and he’s somebody we need,” Peller said. “He got it going there in the fourth quarter and helped us make a game of it.”

The Trojans would get as close as 54-49 with 1:10 to play and 56-52 after Freddy Price’s triple, but never got closer as the Wolves went 4-of-5 from the free throw line in the final 33 seconds.

Chesterton (8-9-16-22)

Fred Price 3-7 6-8 13, Scott Homner 0-6 0-0 0, Jon Watson 0-3 0-0 0, Alec Houpt 3-5 2-2 8, Mitch McGary 8-11 2-3 18, KeMonte Price 5-6 3-6 13, Blake Sleicher 0-0 0-0 0, Remy Lewis 1-2 0-0 3. Totals 20-40 13-19 55.

Michigan City (19-13-12-16)

Adam Harmon 1-8 5-5 7, Shereff Knight 1-4 2-2 4, Reggie Clay 2-4 1-3 5, Alajowon Edwards 4-10 2-2 10, James Sander 7-9 1-1 19, Jabar Washington 2-4 0-0 4, Taylor Lavery 1-1 0-0 3, Carlos McCormick 3-7 0-0 8, Phil Taylor 0-0 0-0 0, Grady Byrnes 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-47 11-13 60.

3-point field goals: Chesterton 2-13 (F. Price 1-3, Homner 0-6, Watson 0-2); Michigan City 7-15 (Harmon 0-4, Edwards 0-1, Sander 4-4, Lavery 1-1, McCormick 2-5). Rebounds: Chesterton 23 (McGary 8); Michigan City 27 (Knight 7). Assists: Chesterton 9 (Houpt 4); Michigan City 9 (Knight 4). Steals: Chesterton 6 (F. Price 3, McGary 3); Michigan City 6 (Edwards 2).

The Chesterton junior varsity got outscored 14-2 in the fourth quarter and dropped a 27-24 decision at Michigan City on Friday night.

KJ Zelenika led the Trojans in scoring with 11 points, while Kyle Schmidt added five points. Josh Spanier had four points and Andrew Bobrowski and Nathan Apathy each added two points in the loss.

Posted 1/18/2010