They were far from a finished product, but the Chesterton boys basketball team picked up a season-opening 58-33 victory over Hammond Morton on Wednesday night.

“I thought we played really hard,” Chesterton coach Tom Peller said. “We didn’t always play smart, but I thought we played really hard. We have a lot of weapons that can do a lot of different things.’

The Trojans fell behind 3-1 as they struggled early on offense, but a conventional three-point play by Corey Rusboldt started a 7-0 run. A 10-0 run to end the first quarter included triples from Rusboldt and Chris Palombizio as the lead grew to 18-6.

“Early with our pressure, we got out in transition and kind of took them out of it,” Peller said. “That was our plan. I saw they had trouble with pressure against Bishop Noll earlier, so we wanted to force the tempo and get some turnovers.”

The Trojans forced six first quarter turnovers and 19 by the Governors on the night.

The 10-0 run continued to start the second quarter as Cole Teal scored five straight points and Matt Holba added a basket as the lead ballooned to 25-6.

The lead could have gotten even bigger as Chesterton struggled from 3-point range for a 4-for-16 performance in the first half and 4-of-20 for the night.

“We took a lot of rushed shots and I think it was first game jitters,” Peller said. “They were just so excited to play, they rushed it a little. I’m not that worried about it because I know we can make those shots.”

Holba led the Trojan offense with 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds. Palombizio scored 13 points and Rusboldt added 11.

Teal finished with eight points, while Donnie Johnson added four. Jacob Andert, Andrew Ralph and Jacob Wasielewski rounded out the scoring with two points each.

Chesterton returns to the court on Saturday when they open Duneland Athletic Conference play at Merrillville. The junior varsity game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. tip.

Hammond Morton (6-8-10-9)

Mark Snorton 0-3 0-0 0, Devon Mingo 2-12 2-3 6, Carl Murry 3-4 0-0 6, Rayan Elabed 2-7 8-11 12, Travon Atkins 0-5 0-0 0, Darius Coty 1-5 0-0 2, Xavier Johnson 1-1 0-0 3, Debrion Maclin 0-0 0-0 0, Gleazor Henderson 0-5 2-4 2, Josh Bailey 0-0 0-0 0, Dontae Adams 0-0 0-0 0, Bishop Moore 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 10-43 12-18 33.

Chesterton (18-17-9-14)

Matt Holba 6-8 4-5 16, Cole Teal 3-8 1-4 8, Corey Rusboldt 4-5 1-1 11, Jacob Andert 1-5 0-0 2, Tevin Dilosa 0-2 0-0 0, Avery Beeks 0-6 0-0 0, Chris Palombizio 5-13 2-2 13, Mike Thanos 0-0 0-0 0, Andrew Ralph 1-3 0-0 2, Donnie Johnson 2-5 0-0 4, Jacob Wasielewski 1-4 0-1 2, Brandon Roeske 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 23-61 8-13 58.

3-point field goals: Hammond Morton 1-10 (Snorton 0-1, Mingo 0-3, Elabed 0-2, Coty 0-1, Johnson 1-1, Henderson 0-2); Chesterton 4-20 (Teal 1-4, Rusboldt 2-3, Andert 0-1, Beeks 0-2, Palombizio 1-7, Johnson 0-3). Rebounds: Hammond Morton 31 (Henderson 6); Chesterton 48 (Holba 10). Steals: Hammond Morton 2 (Coty 1, Elabed 1); Chesterton 6 (Rusboldt 2). Assists: Hammond Morton 1 (Mingo 1); Chesterton 6 (Holba 2).

The Chesterton junior varsity basketball team won its season-opener 43-18 on Wednesday night.

Niles Dilosa led the Trojans with 14 points, followed by Rhyss Lewis with 11 points. Colin McEuen chipped in four points with Jordan Dilosa tallied three points and Austin Norton recorded two points.

Niles Dilosa led the rebounding charge with six boards and McEuen added four. Lewis and Dilosa both had five steals, while Norton dished out three assists.

Posted 11/20/2012