Cavs Claim Bragging Rights
LaSalle-Peru pulls away in fourth quarter to top St. Bede ...
| Northern Illinois Sports Beat http://www.northernillinoissportsbeat.com |
By Cody Cutter
Northern Illinois Sports Beat Publisher
LaSALLE – For a special day, LaSalle-Peru wanted to put on a special play.
On one of the admitted games that the LaSalle-Peru Cavaliers look forward to, Tuesday's
home contest against rival St. Bede, coach Jim Cherveny choreographed a moment that
hoped to set the tone for his Cavaliers for the entire game.
The John Hiester-to-Jens Soderholm smashing in the first quarter didn't work.
But at first one doesn't succeed, try it again. The Cavs waited until 7:48 left in the game to
pull it off again.
This time, Soderholm came rushing along the baseline from the left corner and jammed
down a long-range offering from Hiester off of the left wing. The alley-oop dunk put the
Cavaliers up 39-38 and sent the atmosphere at L-P's West Gym into a frenzy.
Feeding off of that, the Cavaliers pushed the momentum into leads not seen before in the
game that was ultimately won by the home team 56-47.
No lead had been greater than four points during the first three quarters of play. But
Soderholm's thunderous statement was all that was needed to turn the tide in a packed
house that the Cavaliers were humbled by.
“We knew it was going to be a great game and we knew there was going to be a crowd
there,” Hiester said. “The atmosphere was crazy and it was awesome. We knew we had to
come ready to play, and for the entire game we knew we had to play fundamental
basketball and couldn't let them push us around and have us play their basketball game.
We knew we had to play Cavalier basketball and that's what we did.”
The Cavaliers (9-12) have only won four of 14 games outside of NI Big 12 Conference
play so far this season. However, beating the smaller private school rival was indeed one
of the big ones that the team hopes to use as momentum to come out on top of a tight
West Division race.
“The dunk kind of got us going with the alley-oop to Jens,” Cherveny said. “He was having
a tough night just scoring in general. I thought if we could get him to the hole, whether
posting up or an alley-oop, it was kind of get us going as a team. It did. It payed off.
Everybody did what they were supposed to do on the play.”
“We just drew up that play this week,” Soderholm said. “We haven't really practiced it too
much. We tried it in the beginning of the game and the pass was a little high, but it worked
in the beginning of the fourth.”
St. Bede (20-6) led 13-11 after one quarter, but the Cavaliers came back to tie it up at 26
at the intermission. The Bruins started to pull away thanks to a pair of three-point shots
from Brad Groleau and a three-point play by Luie Arriaga. Groleau's second triple of the
third quarter with 4:38 left increased the Bruin lead to five points, the biggest lead at the
time.
Then the Cavaliers, collectively, started to hit big shots.
Tyler Jakse's bucket, Soderholm's free throws and a triple from Hiester gave the Cavaliers
back the lead with 1:28 left in the third. But they were unable to have the distinction of the
third-quarter lead as Bobby Morrow came up with a backcourt steal to put the Bruins back
up 38-37.
Morrow's steal and drive brought about the newly-minted Cavalier play for the second
time in the game during the quarter break, and it succeeded after 12 seconds of play.
“We came out strong. Coach drew up a play and I got a nice dunk in the fourth quarter,”
Soderholm laughed. “Then we turned up the defense. We got a few steals for layups and
made stops after those layups, too.”
What started out as a one-man momentum changer turned into an overall Cavalier team
effort throughout the fourth quarter. Jakse put the Cavaliers ahead 42-41 with a three-
point shot off of a Hiester assist, and came up with a steal and a dish of his own to
Soderholm for a 44-41 advantage with 4:39 remaining.
Three-pointers by Hiester and Noah Lamboley set the tone further in the quarter, with
additional buckets from Soderholm and John Von Behren holding off any Bruin comeback
change.
In addition to triggering the momentum-changing play to start the fourth quarter, Hiester
tallied 18 points in the win – tying a season-high put forth against Lincoln-Way West at
the Joliet Central MLK Shootout.
“The fourth quarter effort was great by everyone,” Hiester said. “It was everyone on the
team, the crowd, everyone on the bench. Everyone was into the game. I can't say enough
about our team. We really came to play today. We've talked about this all week. We knew
from the beginning of the year that this was a must-win game. We came out here, gave St.
Bede our best effort, and showed them that we can beat them.”
Soderholm and Jakse both finished with 10 points, with Soderholm leading on the boards
with seven. The Cavaliers will face Dixon in a NI Big 12 West game back in its friendly
confines.
Groleau led the Bruins with 17 points, and they'll look to rebound next week at Hall.
“It means a lot to the kids and the Cavalier nation,” Cherveny said. “We had a great crowd
out there. Before the game we talked about, not only do we play for the school and the
team, but for a lot of people in the community. The kids did that tonight. They really
played their hearts out. They did whatever it took to get a win tonight.”
Cody Cutter is the Publisher of Northern Illinois Sports Beat. He can be reached at
Northernillinoissportsbeat@yahoo.com. --- Talk about what's written on our Message
Boards!
Northern Illinois Sports Beat Publisher
LaSALLE – For a special day, LaSalle-Peru wanted to put on a special play.
On one of the admitted games that the LaSalle-Peru Cavaliers look forward to, Tuesday's
home contest against rival St. Bede, coach Jim Cherveny choreographed a moment that
hoped to set the tone for his Cavaliers for the entire game.
The John Hiester-to-Jens Soderholm smashing in the first quarter didn't work.
But at first one doesn't succeed, try it again. The Cavs waited until 7:48 left in the game to
pull it off again.
This time, Soderholm came rushing along the baseline from the left corner and jammed
down a long-range offering from Hiester off of the left wing. The alley-oop dunk put the
Cavaliers up 39-38 and sent the atmosphere at L-P's West Gym into a frenzy.
Feeding off of that, the Cavaliers pushed the momentum into leads not seen before in the
game that was ultimately won by the home team 56-47.
No lead had been greater than four points during the first three quarters of play. But
Soderholm's thunderous statement was all that was needed to turn the tide in a packed
house that the Cavaliers were humbled by.
“We knew it was going to be a great game and we knew there was going to be a crowd
there,” Hiester said. “The atmosphere was crazy and it was awesome. We knew we had to
come ready to play, and for the entire game we knew we had to play fundamental
basketball and couldn't let them push us around and have us play their basketball game.
We knew we had to play Cavalier basketball and that's what we did.”
The Cavaliers (9-12) have only won four of 14 games outside of NI Big 12 Conference
play so far this season. However, beating the smaller private school rival was indeed one
of the big ones that the team hopes to use as momentum to come out on top of a tight
West Division race.
“The dunk kind of got us going with the alley-oop to Jens,” Cherveny said. “He was having
a tough night just scoring in general. I thought if we could get him to the hole, whether
posting up or an alley-oop, it was kind of get us going as a team. It did. It payed off.
Everybody did what they were supposed to do on the play.”
“We just drew up that play this week,” Soderholm said. “We haven't really practiced it too
much. We tried it in the beginning of the game and the pass was a little high, but it worked
in the beginning of the fourth.”
St. Bede (20-6) led 13-11 after one quarter, but the Cavaliers came back to tie it up at 26
at the intermission. The Bruins started to pull away thanks to a pair of three-point shots
from Brad Groleau and a three-point play by Luie Arriaga. Groleau's second triple of the
third quarter with 4:38 left increased the Bruin lead to five points, the biggest lead at the
time.
Then the Cavaliers, collectively, started to hit big shots.
Tyler Jakse's bucket, Soderholm's free throws and a triple from Hiester gave the Cavaliers
back the lead with 1:28 left in the third. But they were unable to have the distinction of the
third-quarter lead as Bobby Morrow came up with a backcourt steal to put the Bruins back
up 38-37.
Morrow's steal and drive brought about the newly-minted Cavalier play for the second
time in the game during the quarter break, and it succeeded after 12 seconds of play.
“We came out strong. Coach drew up a play and I got a nice dunk in the fourth quarter,”
Soderholm laughed. “Then we turned up the defense. We got a few steals for layups and
made stops after those layups, too.”
What started out as a one-man momentum changer turned into an overall Cavalier team
effort throughout the fourth quarter. Jakse put the Cavaliers ahead 42-41 with a three-
point shot off of a Hiester assist, and came up with a steal and a dish of his own to
Soderholm for a 44-41 advantage with 4:39 remaining.
Three-pointers by Hiester and Noah Lamboley set the tone further in the quarter, with
additional buckets from Soderholm and John Von Behren holding off any Bruin comeback
change.
In addition to triggering the momentum-changing play to start the fourth quarter, Hiester
tallied 18 points in the win – tying a season-high put forth against Lincoln-Way West at
the Joliet Central MLK Shootout.
“The fourth quarter effort was great by everyone,” Hiester said. “It was everyone on the
team, the crowd, everyone on the bench. Everyone was into the game. I can't say enough
about our team. We really came to play today. We've talked about this all week. We knew
from the beginning of the year that this was a must-win game. We came out here, gave St.
Bede our best effort, and showed them that we can beat them.”
Soderholm and Jakse both finished with 10 points, with Soderholm leading on the boards
with seven. The Cavaliers will face Dixon in a NI Big 12 West game back in its friendly
confines.
Groleau led the Bruins with 17 points, and they'll look to rebound next week at Hall.
“It means a lot to the kids and the Cavalier nation,” Cherveny said. “We had a great crowd
out there. Before the game we talked about, not only do we play for the school and the
team, but for a lot of people in the community. The kids did that tonight. They really
played their hearts out. They did whatever it took to get a win tonight.”
Cody Cutter is the Publisher of Northern Illinois Sports Beat. He can be reached at
Northernillinoissportsbeat@yahoo.com. --- Talk about what's written on our Message
Boards!
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Photo by Cody Cutter
LaSalle-Peru's Jacob Aubry defends against St. Bede's Brad Groleau during Tuesday's rivalry
game at LPHS. The Cavaliers used a fourth-quarter rally to beat the Bruins.
LaSalle-Peru's Jacob Aubry defends against St. Bede's Brad Groleau during Tuesday's rivalry
game at LPHS. The Cavaliers used a fourth-quarter rally to beat the Bruins.
at LaSalle-Peru
LaSalle-Peru 56, St. Bede
47
St. Bede (47) – Damin
Smith 0-3 1-2 2-2 5,
Michael Langham 2-4 0-3
1-2 5, Brad Groleau 3-7 3-
8 2-2 17, Luie Arriaga 3-4
0-0 3-3 9, Joe Pyszka 2-8
0-0 1-2 5, Holden Harlow
0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Grant
Bosnitch 0-0 0-0 0-0 0,
Bobby Morrow 1-1 0-1 0-0
2, Sam Lucas 2-3 0-1 0-0
4, Jeremy Brolley 0-0 0-0 0-
0 0. Totals: 13-30 4-15 9-
11 47.
L-P (56) – Jacob Aubry 0-1
1-4 0-0 3, John Hiester 0-0
5-10 3-4 18, Tyler Jakse 3-
5 0-0 4-4 10, Noah
Lamboley 1-1 1-4 0-0 5,
Jens Soderholm 3-10 0-5
4-4 10, Bret Storm 1-1 0-0
0-0 2, Jon Von Behren 3-5
0-0 0-0 6, Michael Lynch 1-
2 0-0 0-0 2. Totals: 12-25
7-23 11-12 56.
St. B. (20-6) 13 13 12 9 – 47
L-P (9-12) 11 15 11 19 – 56
Offensive Rebounds – St.
Bede 10 (Arriaga 5); L-P
10 (Soderholm 2, Von
Behren 2, Lynch 2).
Defensive Rebounds – St.
Bede 17 (Pyszka 5); L-P 14
(Soderholm 5). Assists –
St. Bede 8 (Langham 4); L-
P 9 (Soderholm 4). Steals
– St. Bede 7 (Langham 3);
L-P 10 (Hiester 3,
Soderholm 3). Blocks – St.
Bede 0; L-P 1 (Aubry 1).
Turnovers – St. Bede 16;
L-P 11. Total Fouls (none
fouled out) – St. Bede 13;
L-P 11.
F/S Result: L-P 49, St.
Bede 48.
LaSalle-Peru 56, St. Bede
47
St. Bede (47) – Damin
Smith 0-3 1-2 2-2 5,
Michael Langham 2-4 0-3
1-2 5, Brad Groleau 3-7 3-
8 2-2 17, Luie Arriaga 3-4
0-0 3-3 9, Joe Pyszka 2-8
0-0 1-2 5, Holden Harlow
0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Grant
Bosnitch 0-0 0-0 0-0 0,
Bobby Morrow 1-1 0-1 0-0
2, Sam Lucas 2-3 0-1 0-0
4, Jeremy Brolley 0-0 0-0 0-
0 0. Totals: 13-30 4-15 9-
11 47.
L-P (56) – Jacob Aubry 0-1
1-4 0-0 3, John Hiester 0-0
5-10 3-4 18, Tyler Jakse 3-
5 0-0 4-4 10, Noah
Lamboley 1-1 1-4 0-0 5,
Jens Soderholm 3-10 0-5
4-4 10, Bret Storm 1-1 0-0
0-0 2, Jon Von Behren 3-5
0-0 0-0 6, Michael Lynch 1-
2 0-0 0-0 2. Totals: 12-25
7-23 11-12 56.
St. B. (20-6) 13 13 12 9 – 47
L-P (9-12) 11 15 11 19 – 56
Offensive Rebounds – St.
Bede 10 (Arriaga 5); L-P
10 (Soderholm 2, Von
Behren 2, Lynch 2).
Defensive Rebounds – St.
Bede 17 (Pyszka 5); L-P 14
(Soderholm 5). Assists –
St. Bede 8 (Langham 4); L-
P 9 (Soderholm 4). Steals
– St. Bede 7 (Langham 3);
L-P 10 (Hiester 3,
Soderholm 3). Blocks – St.
Bede 0; L-P 1 (Aubry 1).
Turnovers – St. Bede 16;
L-P 11. Total Fouls (none
fouled out) – St. Bede 13;
L-P 11.
F/S Result: L-P 49, St.
Bede 48.