By Xavier Sanchez
Correspondent
Chicago Christian has three seniors on its roster this season and, among them, only one starter. This has opened the door for the Knights’ younger players to fill holes and step up.
Junior guard Malachi Kreider did that by scoring a season-high 21 points to carry the Knights to a 58-34 win over Chicago Bulls College Prep on December 15 in Palos Heights.
Chicago Christian’s Malachi Krieder was feeling great after the big win.
“It feels pretty good to get a role on a team and do what I do for the team,” Krieder said. “It’s nice; it’s nice to be on the team.”
Against Bulls Prep, Kreider had 10 points after one quarter, helping the Knights to a 15-14 advantage.
Knights coach Kevin Pittman told his team prior to the game to get the offense going early by attacking the basket and moving the ball.
“We talked quite a bit in practice that we need to play an up-tempo style,” Pittman said. “We made a concerted effort to push the ball, get inside and go a little inside-outside, and work off of that.”
Chicago Christian built its lead to double digits in the second quarter and went into halftime leading 32-24.
The second half belonged to the Knights. They outscored the Bulls 26-10 in the final two quarters and led by as many as 25 points.
The win snapped a five-game losing streak and the 34 points allowed were the fewest by an opponent this season.
AJ Van Dellen had 12 points, Eddie Van Dellen scored 10 and Kerry Teague finished with nine.
Pittman said the Knights’ offensive execution was among their best this season.
“Ed Van Dellen had some great backdoor cut looks tonight and has all year,” he added. “And tonight, we connected on them.”
Kreider agrees the team must do more of what coaches are working on with them during practice.
“Playing with effort and doing what the coaches say and find our roles on the court,” he said. “Just keep working together, playing together, and I think we can do big things as a team.”
Pittman recognizes the bumps that come with coaching a relatively inexperienced team, but he but liked what he saw from Kreider.
“Tonight was the first time I saw him settle down and run the offensive sets and not rush things,” Pittman said. “It’s been a work in progress in practice but they executed them pretty well tonight.”
