02-21-04
CHRISTOPHER @ WALTONVILLE
BY JACK BULLOCK
WALTONVILLE - Christopher's James Trogolo crashed the Waltonville party on Saturday night.

With the senior night festivities on display, this 6-1 senior had ideas of a celebration of his own.

Scoring a career-high 27 points, he made the Spartans' senior night a 'not so' pleasant evening.

Joe Kretz pitched in 14 points and Blaine Kroeger added 10 points in the Bearcats' 60-37 non-conference win.

Christopher improved its regular season record to 17-10 while Waltonville dropped to 9-18.

Riding the wave of Trogolo scoring, the Bearcats turned a 8-5 first quarter deficit into a 14-8 lead early in the second quarter.

"James (Trogolo) had a big second quarter for us and that kind of woke us up offensively," said Christopher coach Jeff Johnston.
"We started a little slow but defensively we hung in there."

Waltonville got rolling first by jumping out to a 6-0 lead on two baskets by Jon Kash and a shot from Tim Skidmore.

But the Bearcats, behind Trogolo's nine second quarter points, outscored the Spartans 14-2 in a 4:49 stretch to take command of the contest.

After a Joe Kretz 3-pointer from the left corner, Trogolo scored six straight points.

A fast break lay in and a 3-pointer from near the same spot as Kretz's bomb put the 'Cats up 13-8.

Kash scored on a turn around shot in the lane (see photo) to cut the lead to 14-10.

But five consecutive Christopher points, a Trogolo lay in and 1-of-2 free throws followed by a Dean Carr basket in the paint on a pass from Trogolo forced a Waltonville time out at 19-10 with 1:48 before halftime.

Josh Ralls scored a pair of late second quarter baskets for Waltonville.

But Blaine Kroeger, Christopher's 6-4 senior center, matched the two Ralls baskets.

His score on a turnaround shot in the lane with :41 left gave his team a 23-14 lead at the break.

"We were concerned with (Adam) Kitowski early. Kash and (Brandon) Spotanski are both big guys but we did a good job containing them," added Johnston.

After Kash opened the third quarter with a quick basket at 7:48 cut the Bearcat lead to 23-16, Christopher put the game away by going on its best scoring run of the night.

Trogolo, Kretz and Kroeger combined to score 15-straight points to remove all doubt as to the outcome of this non-conference regular season affair.

Back-to-back Kroeger shots in the paint pushed the lead to 27-16.

Then Kretz and Trogolo scored on 3-point shots on consecutive offensive possessions.

Another long distance bomb by Trogolo made it 38-18 with 2:52 to go in the quarter.

Adam Kitowski, Waltonville's 5-10 sophomore guard, scored a pair of late third quarter baskets.

But then Kretz and Trogolo hooked up on an inbounds play with Trogolo hitting a turn around shot with :05 left to make it 40-22 heading into the final period.

"We have not done a good job in the third quarter for most of the season but we did it tonight," added Johnston. "We moved the ball really well lately. We passed the ball well against their zone. We played unselfishly, which is important."

Trogolo ripped off another scoring run, hitting for six straight Bearcat points to polish off Waltonville early in the final frame.

He put in four additional points before going to the bench in favor of Christopher reserves.

His baseline drive followed by another short shot in the pushed the advantage to 57-28 with 3:11 left.

The Bearcats shot 23-of-47 from the field on the night with 5-of-13 from behind the 3-point arc.

Waltonville was led by Kitowski and Kash who scored 12 points each.

The Spartans managed a slight 30-26 rebound advantage but committed 12 costly turnovers.

Both teams head back into action next week as the IHSA state tournament begins.

Christopher tackles Herrin at the Sesser-Valier Class A Regional Monday night while Waltonville will take on New Athens Tuesday night at the Nashville Regional.

Christopher (60) - Kretz 3 2 2-2 14, Martin 0 0 1-2 1, Trogolo 10 2 5-7 27, Rains 0 1 0-0 3, Carr 2 0 0-0 4, Miller 1 0 0-0 2, Kroeger 5 0 0-2 10, Niblett 1 0 1-2 3.
2FG-23, 3FG-5, FT-9-15, PF-8.
Waltonville (37) - Kluck 0 1 0-0 3, Kitowski 6 0 0-0 12, Kash 6 0 0-2 12, Skidmore 1 0 0-0 2, Norris 0 0 0-2 0, Ralls 2 0 0-0 4, Owens 0 0 2-2 2, Talbert 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-17, 3FG-1, FT-11-15, PF-15.
Fouled Out - None.
Technical Fouls - None.