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SPRING VALLEY – After a tight first half Tuesday, the La Salle-Peru boys basketball team played its “best third quarter of the season.”
The Cavaliers outscored Hall by 10 points in the third quarter to extend their lead to 16 points en route to a 56-38 nonconference victory.
“That’s kind of been our downfall,” L-P coach Jim Cherveny said. “In four games in Ottawa, we were up 9-10 points, and we lost two of them. These guys, they’re hard workers. They like to learn. They like to improve every day. I think we’ve learned from our experiences. Experiences are the greatest teacher. We executed well in the third quarter. That was by far our best.”
After standout forward Josh Senica scored six points on four shots in the first half, the Cavs got him more touches in the third quarter.
He got a shot on L-P’s second possession and scored on the Cavs’ third. He scored six points in the third quarter.
“We saw some different spots that we could enter the ball,” Cherveny said. “Josh has the ability to be a game changer. I think he has the ability to be the best player on the floor every night. We just thought if we could get him going, that will get everybody going. Josh has the ability to get himself going, but that also energizes his teammates and I thought that was key for everybody.”
Brendan Boudreau and Nolan Van Duzer came off the bench to score five points each in the third, while Seth Adams added a bucket as the Cavs outscored the Red Devils 18-8 in the period.
Adams hit a buzzer beater 3-pointer to end the first half to give L-P a 27-21 lead.
“It was a big momentum change,” Senica said. “He hit the buzzer beater and everyone was feeling good. We came out more aggressive, and I think we executed better in the second half.
“We passed well and started screening well. We were moving really well, moving the ball fast and having some good cutters.”
Hall coach Mike Filippini said Senica, who finished with a game high 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, is a tough matchup for the Red Devils.
“L-P is a good team and a bad matchup for us because we don’t really have a big kid,” Filippini said. “We tried to do all kinds of zones. I thought our zone at the start of the game was really effective. Jim made a nice adjustment by pulling Senica out and that kind of messed up what we wanted to do to Senica, which was deny him the ball.
“When we play a team that has a really good big guy, we have to play games. We tried to go 1-3-1. We tried to go 3-2. We tried to front, basically almost a box-and-one on Senica. It works for a while, but for 32 minutes in a varsity game, it’s hard to get away with stuff like that.”
Sencia played a big role defensively as well as he kept Hall star Mac Resetich off the board in the second half, allowing him to attempt only two shots.
“They weren’t really giving him the ball outside, so he couldn’t really drive on me,” Senica said. “So he was just posting up, so I just walled up. He’s really good. He’s hard to guard. If he gets the ball, he can rip and go and he’s a really good finisher. He’s got a nice jump shot. He had some nice jumpers in the first half.”
Resetich led the Red Devils (2-3) with 10 points. Hall returns to action Saturday against Stillman Valley in its own Colmone Classic.
The Cavs (3-2) open Interstate 8 Conference play Friday at home against Plano.
“We’re playing a really good Plano team,” Cherveny said. “They’re going to come in a lot different than they have been the last couple years. They have some different kids in there. They’re very well coached. They’re going to execute their 1-2-2 trapping defense.”