Sturgis’ zone defense cooled off host Kalamazoo Christian Friday to preserve a 54-42 road win in holiday tournament action.
The Trojans, suiting up their fourth different starting lineup in five games, weren’t shell-shocked when the Comets dropped a trio of 3-pointers for a 9-0 lead to start the game. Instead, they outscored K-Christian 26-10 in the middle frames to set up a Saturday championship game at home against Portage Northern.
Andrew Airgood
Draining 8 of 17 attempts from behind the 3-point line wasn’t enough for the Comets, which dropped to 1-2 this season, not against a Sturgis (3-2) squad that had the kind of offensive balance head coach Keith Kurowski says will be pivotal once Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference play begins.
“I was proud of our guys; we withstood their early barrage,” Kurowski said. “I think they hit five 3s in the first half. They’re one of the better shooting teams we’re going to play. They’re known for their shooting and they shoot extremely well at home. We were fortunate to close the gap and were up three (27-24) at halftime.”
Defensive adjustments by Sturgis over the last 16 minutes, including switching to a 2-3 matchup zone look that suffocated K-Christian on the perimeter, quieted the Comets’ gym.
The Trojans’ workhorses Chance Stewart (game-high 20 points) and Jack Scheske (13) still carried the load, but with considerably less strain after first-time starter Andrew Airgood finished 5-for-6 from the field en route to 11 points.
Ryan Schuller and Nick Rehm each added four, and Jacob Cline scored two for Sturgis, which was 23-for-39 (59 percent) from the field with an astonishing 22 team assists.
“Other guys stepped up,” Kurowski said. “When we have balance we play well. I was extremely happy with the play of Andrew [Airgood] on both ends of the floor. We did a good job handling their press and had a season-low 10 turnovers.”
Sturgis dominated the rebounding war, 27-7, with Chance Stewart (six assists) snagging 10 and Schuller pulling down seven. Tristen Stewart added four assists, while Scheske, Airgood and Lonnie Wright all passed out three.
Injuries and ineligibility have forced Kurowski’s hand to some degree, but more so he’s simply tinkering with personnel lineups to see what works best leading up to the league schedule. The uncertainty has full engaged everyone on the roster and made for competitive practices.
“We’re still looking for our identity as a team,” Kurowski said. “As a coach, you really don’t know the identity of your team, whether you’re experience or inexperience, until about the ninth or 10th game of the year. I continue to shake up the lineup searching for that third guy that’s going to provide that scoring punch with Jack and Chance, and still searching for that defensive stopper.
“There’s a lot of parody on the team and not a lot of separation between the fifth guy and the 10th guy. If we’re going to continue building our identity and chemistry, we’re going to need contributions from eight-nine guys on a nightly basis.”