Hot and Cold.

A hot-streak by Valparaiso and cold-streak for Chesterton was the difference Friday night as the Vikings picked up a 55-48 Duneland Athletic Conference victory.

“Not happy,” Chesterton coach Tom Peller said. “They hit 3’s several possessions in a row and we turned the ball over, took a couple of quick shots and never recovered.”

Valpo’s John Mosser sandwiched a pair of triples around a Cole Teal basket to put the Vikings on top 30-28.

Corey Rusboldt’s 3-pointer put the Trojans on top 31-30 with 3:40 to play in the third quarter, but they’d never lead again. The first of two Brody Wilson treys to close out the quarter put Valpo on top 38-36 after three periods.

Valparaiso put together a 7-0 run as the ice cold Trojans didn’t score for the first 6:03 of the final stanza. A Matt Holba basket and Teal’s 3-pointer cut the lead to 45-41.

The Vikings hit on 13-of-20 free throws down the stretch to set the final score.

On the night, the Trojans hit on 18-of-37 shots (49 percent) from the field, but turned the ball over 19 times. Valparaiso was 17-of-36 (47 percent) from the floor and turned it over just nine times.

“I thought when they got the lead we panicked a little bit,” Peller said. “We started rushing. Several bad shots, several turnovers and that’s a bad combination. They took care of the ball and shortened the clock with long possessions.

“We’ll have to mature some if we want to compete against teams like this.”

AT CHESTERTON

Valparaiso (13-9-16-17)

Tyler Doane 0-5 1-2 1, Brody Wilson 5-9 2-2 15, Zach Meyer 2-3 3-4 7, Quentin Palmer 4-6 5-10 13, John Mosser 6-9 3-4 17, Justin Osburn 0-4 2-2 2, Brandon Nicholas 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-36 16-24 55.

Chesterton (15-9-12-12)

Matt Holba 6-9 1-2 12, Chris Palombizio 2-7 2-2 7, Cole Teal 7-11 1-2 19, Corey Rusboldt 3-5 0-0 7, Donnie Johnson 0-3 0-0 0, Avery Beeks 0-0 0-0 0, Mike Thanos 0-0 0-0 0, Andrew Ralph 0-0 0-0 0, Jacob Andert 0-1 2-2 2, Jacob Wasielewski 0-1 0-0 0, Brandon Roeske 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-37 6-8 48.

3-point field goals: Valparaiso 5-18 (Doane 0-3, Wilson 3-7, Meyer 0-1, Palmer 0-1, Mosser 2-2, Osburn 0-4); Chesterton 6-17 (Palombizio 1-5, Teal 4-6, Rusboldt 1-3, Johnson 0-2, Andert 0-1). Rebounds: Valparaiso 20 (Mosser 8); Chesterton 24 (Rusboldt 5, Palombizio 5). Steals: Valparaiso 1 (Mosser 1); Chesterton 1 (Ralph 1). Assists: Valparaiso 9 (Wilson 3); Chesterton 8 (Holba 3).

The Chesterton boys junior varsity basketball team fell to 2-5 on the year with a 37-25 loss at Valparaiso on Thursday.

Niles Dilosa (4 steals) and Steffan Dines (2 rebounds) led the Trojan offense with six points each, while Jordan Dilosa added four rebounds and a team-high six rebounds.

Posted 12/24/2012