Denver Christian stayed in its zone and the Holy Family Tigers never came close to finding theirs.
With starter Blake Zimmerman out with the flu, the second-ranked Crusaders went to their 1-3-1 zone Saturday night against their Class 3A Metropolitan League rival and appeared impenetrable.
“That’s one of the few things I know, is defense,” veteran Crusaders coach Dick Katte said. “They really played good defense.”
And their offense wasn’t bad, either.
The defending state champs never trailed in winning their ninth straight after a 60-33 victory at the Dick Katte Athletic Center on a night when the stars seemed aligned against them.
Denver Christian (15-1, 8-1) lost 6-foot-8 senior Brent Schuster for much of the first half and guard Cameron Matthies for most of the game with foul trouble. High scorer Tristan Matthies was defended well on the perimeter and made just 1-of-5 3-point attempts.
Cue the role players. John Lenderink scored 13 points and guard Kirk Smith had 12, including a 3-pointer that helped fuel a 16-0 run in the first half in which the Tigers (10-5, 7-2) didn’t score for more than eight minutes.
“This team has so many great players (that if) a player goes down, you could have anybody step up,” Lenderink said.
Schuster stayed out of foul trouble for the remainder of the game and led the Crusaders with 16 points and blocked two shots.
The Tigers didn’t shoot well enough to open up the Crusaders’ zone and couldn’t penetrate to cause problems.
“We just got to score. That’s been our problem in some games this year,” Tigers coach Jim Mason said. “We just let them do what they wanted, and that’s what is aggravating.”
Holy Family 6 8 10 9 – 33
Denver Christian 10 16 15 19 – 60
Holy Family – Middleton 5 0-0 14, Stockhausen 0 0-0 0, Bennett 4 1-6 9, Garcia 2 0-0 4, Hernandez 1 0-1 2, Kubistek 1 1-2 3, Munnings 0 0-0 0, Gilmer 0 1-2 1, Comeaux 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 3-11 33.
Denver Christian – Adamson 2 0-0 4, Smith 5 0-0 12, Van Kooten 0 0-1 0, Poland 1 0-0 2, C. Matthies 2 0-0 4, T. Matthies 2 1-1 6, Lenderink 6 1-1 13, Schuster 6 2-2 16, Kurtz 0 0-0 0, Hamstra 1 0-0 3. Totals 25 4-5 60.
3-pt. goals – Middleton 4; Schuster 2, Smith 2, Jensen, T. Matthies. Total fouls – Holy Family 14, Denver Christian 13. Fouled out – C. Matthies. Technicals – None.
