Size is a wonderful thing, if you have it.

The Chesterton boys basketball team implemented a 1-3-1 half-court defense to jump out to an early lead and picked up a 48-38 Duneland Athletic Conference decision at Portage on Friday night.

“We got off to a great start,” Chesterton coach Tom Peller said. “I wanted to use our size and length against their short guards and it seemed to work.”

The Trojans got eight points to start the night and saw the lead grow to 13-3 with 3:44 to go in the first quarter.

Triples from Mike Thanos and Chris Palombizio ballooned the lead to 20-8 in the second quarter before the Indians finally started to rally.

“I think I subbed a little too much,” Peller said. “We were in such a great flow and disrupting them with the 1-3-1 and I probably made a mistake there. We have a lot of depth and I wanted to give those guys some time.”

The Indians finished the half on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 25-17 at the break and then pulled to within 27-24 with a 7-2 run to start the third quarter.

“We had some guys not play well, but we had other guys step up tonight,” Peller said. “We got eight rebounds from Cole (Teal) and scoring from Chris (Palombizio). More good minutes from (Jacob) Andert and that’s what has to happen to win in this league.”

A 3-pointer from Portage’s Jordan Collazo with 6:18 left to play pulled the Indians within 35-32, but Palombizio scored inside and hit a 3-pointer to push the lead back to 40-35.

Chesterton finished the game by hitting 8-of-10 free throws in the final 2:42 to preserve the win.

“We had some patient possessions late in the game and made some free throws to keep our lead,” Peller said.

Palombizio led the Trojan offense with 17 points, while Matt Holba, Teal and Corey Rusboldt all scored seven points.

Defensively, Chesterton held Portage to 15-of-49 shooting (30 percent) from the field and just 4-of-29 (14 percent) from 3-point range.

“Defensively, I thought we were pretty good,” Peller said. “When you hold a team to 38 points and 30 percent shooting, you have to give your defense some credit.”

Chesterton (14-11-8-15)

Matt Holba 2-9 3-4 7, Chris Palombizio 6-9 3-3 17, Cole Teal 2-4 3-4 7, Corey Rusboldt 2-5 2-2 7, Donnie Johnson 0-2 0-2 0, Avery Beeks 1-1 0-0 2, Mike Thanos 1-2 0-0 3, Jacob Andert 1-3 0-0 2, Tevin Dilosa 0-1 0-0 0, Brandon Roeske 1-1 1-2 3. Totals 16-38 12-17 48.

Portage (6-11-11-10)

Jordan Collazo 4-13 0-0 9, Luke Kizer 4-14 1-1 10, Jordan Simpson 2-8 0-0 6, Jacob Bearss 0-3 0-0 0, David Clegg 3-3 0-2 6, Peter Psomadelis 1-5 1-2 4, Gage Pearman 0-1 0-0 0, Michael Lattanzi 1-4 1-1 3.

Totals 15-49 3-6 38.

3-point field goals: Chesterton 4-10 (Palombizio 2-4, Rusboldt 1-2, Johnson 0-1, Thanos 1-2, Andert 0-1); Portage 4-29 (Collazo 1-6, Kizer 1-7, Simpson 2-8, Bearss 0-1, Psomadelis 1-5, Pearman 0-1, Lattanzi 0-1). Rebounds: Chesterton 33 (Teal 9); Portage 28 (Kizer 8). Assists: Chesterton 7 (Andert 2); Portage 1 (Collazo 1). Steals: Chesterton 2 (Holba 1, Rusboldt 1); Portage 0.

The Chesterton boys junior varsity basketball team fell to 2-4 on the year with a 31-20 loss at Portage on Saturday.

Niles Dilosa and Jordan Dilosa led the Trojans with seven points each. Niles added 10 rebounds, while Jordan recorded two steals in the loss.

Posted 12/17/2012