Trojans Rally to Knock off Rebels at Homecoming

Down by 12 with less than four minutes to play in the third quarter, Timothy Christian head coach Jack LeGrand took out his starting five and replaced them with his bench.  The Trojan bench, comprised of junior Tyler VanderBrug and seniors Troy Ellens, Chad Vos and Nate Ziegler, would use an 11-0 run to spark a 63-56 fourth-quarter comeback win over Ridgewood.   

“I thought they won the ball game for us tonight,” LeGrand said about his bench.  “[They] showed tremendous mental toughness to come in and to be able to give us that energy and quality minutes at the end of the third to really get us back in the ball game.”

“Our bench just carried us the whole way,” senior Mike Pizzello said.  “They all picked us up because the starting five, we just kind of got caught up in all this homecoming stuff and didn’t really play to our full potential.”

VanderBrug got the ball rolling with just over three minutes left in the third by hitting a three-pointer.  Ellens would follow on the Trojans next possession with a three of his own.  VanderBrug would add another three a minute later to bring the score to 42-43.      

“It was fun to get the playing time,” VanderBrug said.  “I usually don’t get that much so it was a great feeling to do that and have the starters come back and play as well as they could.”

LeGrand noted that throughout the game he was forced to mix up the lineup because of foul trouble. 

“Our guys didn’t adjust to the way the game was being called,” he said.  “The game was consistently called that way; we just didn’t do a good job of adjusting early.”

“The fouls really hurt us,” Pizzello said.  “But we just tried playing within the rules and not getting into any more foul trouble.”

The Trojans’ 11-0 third-quarter run would occur while Ridgewood junior Pete Mroz, who dropped 20 points in the first half, was on the bench.   

“He is a very good shooter and he got hot,” LeGrand said about Ridgewood’s Pete Mroz's play in the first half.  “We have been working really hard on guarding the perimeter better.  We are still learning that you've got to get into good shooters.”

With the game within reach, LeGrand sent his starters back in.  Senior Mark Penczak, who finished with 13 points, would tie the game at 46-46. 

Over the next several minutes, the Rebels tried to pull away but the Trojans had an answer for every basket, tying the game at 48-48 and then again at 50-50. 

Pizzello would give the Trojans their first lead since the first quarter with 4:25 left to play. 

A collapse in the Rebels press defense which led to an easy layup by Vos followed by a fast-break basket, gave the Trojans all the momentum and a 56-51 lead. 

The Rebels managed to pull the game within three points, but the play of Pizzello and Penczak in the fourth was too much to overcome.  Pizzello finished the game with 15 points. 

“Our guys did a good job of closing it out in the fourth,” LeGrand said.  “It was a very solid team win.”

Pizzello noted that the win was not only important because it was homecoming, but also to show Ridgewood how good of a team they are. 

“It is huge,” he said.  “Especially [because we lost] to them by eight [points] last game—just coming back and sticking it to them.”   

The Trojans, now 14-8, will host Elmwood Park on Tuesday, Feb. 15 at 5:30 p.m.