Caruso 7th Grade Boys Play for Central Suburban Championship

The Caruso 7th grade boys came up just short of winning the Central Suburban Conference championship on Monday, February 5th at Attea Middle School in Glenview. The last Caruso team to do so was the 2006 team led by former Deerfield High School and University of Wisconsin star, Duje Dukan. The conference is made up of ten teams including Springman, Attea, Field, Maple, Wood Oaks, Northbrook, Shepard, Wilmette and Gemini.

Caruso finished the regular season with an 11-3 record and were the number three seed heading into the conference playoffs. In the semifinals, Caruso was matched against the number two seed Wilmette Wolves who finished the regular season 12-1 and had beaten the Blue Jays the two previous meetings. Wilmette featured two 6'1" players that had given Caruso problems during the regular season matches as Caruso's tallest player is 5'10" center, Tyler Kustusch. Caruso got out to an early 9-2 lead with 5'7" Noah Jacobson scoring nine first half points and cleaning the glass against the taller Wolves. Wilmette gained some momentum towards the end of the first half and tied the game at 19 at half time.

In the second half, 5'5" shooting guard Charlie Robin caught fire and hit three from beyond the arc finishing with a game high 22 points. Jacobson continued to out rebound the taller Wolves and finished with 14 points as Caruso ended the season for Wilmette by a score of 43-39. Speedy Sam Kanter handled the point guard position and played a flawless game with no turnovers and 6 assists. Defensive specialist, Ethan Helfand, a 5'5" guard/forward was a menace on defense and refused to let Wilmette's wings penetrate the paint. Tyler Kustusch had two blocks and with Jacobson and Max Drumke (5'9") helped keep Wilmette's bigs away from the basket. Backup point guard Max Belden came off the bench and brought non stop energy to the court as play after play he and Helfand gave up their bodies for loose balls.

After the game, second year Caruso coach Danny Kostas (record 19-5) said, "After losing twice to them in the regular season, we knew the semi finals was our time to shine. We went in with the mindset that we are not going to lose this game. Noah Jacobson showed one of the most dominant big man performances I have seen at this level, and the trio of Jacobson, Robin, and Kanter, when they are on, is very tough to beat. Kustusch and Helfand were huge contributors as well. If there were a 6th man award, it would have Max Belden's name on it. He is the scrappiest little player with a great attitude and never gives up."

After a close semifinal game, the Blue Jays had to play immediately afterwards against the 14-0 Northbrook Jr. High Trojans. The Trojans, who have not lost a game in two years, were led by guard Josh Fridman. After closing the gap to 46-42 in the fourth quarter, the gas ran out for the Blue Jays and they were ultimately defeated 58-47. Jacobson and Robin pitched in 20 and 16 points respectively in the loss. Kostas said, "We knew NBJH would be our most difficult battle of the season, but we never backed down. Hats off to those boys. They executed their plays and hustled to the end. We hung with them during the regular season and tonight, but you could see in the second half that the double header had our players gassed. We gave it our all."

Caruso's dedicated manager, 7th grader Ronnie Mandell, who by himself coached the team to victory against Attea earlier in the year had the following to say: "It was an amazing season and I will never take it for granted. I had a fun time being with the team during everything. Wins and losses, no matter what. I have had their back and they have had mine. It was an unforgettable season with not just success, but also growth."

Robin (17 ppg) and Jacobson (11 ppg) led the Bluejays in scoring during the season while Robin and Kanter were the assist leaders with four per contest. Jacobson led the team with eight rebounds per game and Tyler Kustusch filled the lane with 1.2 blocks per game. Kanter led the team with 11 three pointers.

The team also featured Cole Mrowka, Tyler Epstein, Chase Pontikes, Charlie Polisner and Evan Gold, all of whom contributed to this special year for Caruso. Jonah Gagerman was the assistant coach.