Boys Basketball | Adam Stuursma scores 30, helps rally Chicago Christian to win over Shepard

By Steve Millar
Correspondent

Chicago Christian went into last week’s game against crosstown rival Shepard having lost eight games in a row.

It didn’t seem likely the Knights were going to end that streak when they went to halftime down by 16 points.

Knights coach Kevin Pittman implored his team to focus on slowly chipping away at the deficit.

“We told them at halftime that you can’t come back and get it all back on one or two possessions,” Pittman said. “There has to be a bucket and then a stop, and then you have to keep doing that. Once we started doing it, I saw that confidence where the kids were like, ‘Hey, we can really do this.’

“I haven’t seen that confidence in quite a while, so that was probably the coolest part of the night for me.”

Chicago Christian found the belief and completed the improbable rally behind a huge performance from senior guard/forward Adam Stuursma, who scored a career-high 30 points as the host Knights beat the Astros 63-55 in Palos Heights.

Matt Stevens scored 10 points, Joel Crowell had nine points and Liam Crotty chipped in seven points for Chicago Christian (6-18), which won for the first time in 2023.

Robinson Hale finished with 10 points and nine rebounds, while Tyrion McGhee and Manny Oroczo scored eight points each for Shepard (11-13).

“We didn’t give up,” Stuursma said. “We started coming back, and by the time we got into the fourth quarter we felt like we could win.”

Stuursma scored 20 points in the second half, including eight in the third quarter as the Knights started to cut into the deficit.

They were still down 11 with under two minutes left in the third, but closed the quarter with a 9-4 surge. Stuursma hit a 3-pointer and Crowell came up with a steal and scored with seven seconds left to pull Chicago Christian to within 49-43.

Stuursma scored 12 more points in the fourth quarter, hitting a pull-up jumper to tie the game at 50-50 with 5:35 to go.

Stuursma also plays football and baseball for the Knights, and feels he benefits from year-round competition.

“Basketball helps the most with other sports because there’s nothing that gets me conditioned like basketball,” he said. “Basketball pushes you to a third gear.”

After Payton Crims scored to give Shepard a 52-50 lead, Chicago Christian outscored the Astros 13-1 over a five-minute stretch to take over.

Stevens converted a crucial layup and hit a free throw during the run.

“Especially with an insane comeback like that, it feels really good,” Stevens said. “We had a not-so-good game (a 65-29 loss to St. Francis on Jan. 24), but we made up for it, so I’m happy.

“It’s nice to get a win and end the losing streak, but it’s time to get an actual winning streak going now.”

Shepard will look to bounce back after being held to six points in the fourth quarter to let the lead slip away.

“We couldn’t make a basket,” Shepard coach Tony Chiuccariello said. “I think we were 2-for-9 in the fourth quarter from the free-throw line. We got gun-shy and we turned the ball over.

“Stuursma played great. Chicago Christian made shots and we didn’t.”

Hale, McGhee and Jeremiah Storey — the latter who scored six points — all had solid contributions off the bench for Shepard.

“The bench in the first half, I thought did a great job,” Chiuccariello said. “McGhee had a couple steals and layups. Konstantinos (Primbas) hit a nice 3 at the buzzer at the end of the first quarter. But we’ve got to learn how to close out a game. That’s the only way to win.”

The Knights could not turn the victory into a winning streak as they ran into a strong Riverside-Brookfield team, which improved to 19-4 on the season by beating the Knights 78-56 on Friday night.

Shepard, meanwhile, capped a busy week with two more games following the loss to the Knights.

The Astros beat St. Anne 80-68 on Jan. 26 night behind 27 points from Jermell Lymon, 17 from Storey and 11 from Crims.

They fell 69-45 to Lemont on Jan. 27.