Friday night the La Porte boys' basketball team fell behind Crown Point 15-0 in the first quarter leading to a disappointing 68-51 defeat. Saturday night the Slicers flipped the script on Concord, scoring the game’s first 10 points on their way to a 20-8 first-quarter lead and a 58-34 win.

 

Kyle Kirkham scored 16 of his game-high 22 points in the opening period to lead the Slicers. He had a three-point basket and three old-fashioned three-point plays in the quarter. La Porte’s 1-3-1 three-quarter court trap led to several Concord turnovers and easy scores. 

 

The Minutemen, who had won seven of their last eight games, began the second quarter with an 8 to 2 run cutting LP’s lead to 22-16. That is as close as Concord would get. La Porte led 30-20 at the half then extended their lead to 46-29 after three.

 

Nine different Slicers scored in the game. In addition to Kirkham’s 22 points, Rylan Kieszkowski scored 11 and Ja’Meriyon Cross 8. Malik Corley and Nic Spence each had 4 points, RJ Anglin had 3.  Tommy Samuelson, Dylan Salisbury, and Brennan Balka all had 2 points.

 

Corley was 2 for 2 from three lines starting a new steak. The Slicer point guard missed two free throws in the season opener against South Bend Riley then hit 39 in a row until missing his final charity toss at Crown Point Friday.

 

Kieszkowski had impressive dunks in each of the first two quarters. The Slicers played aggressive trapping defense throughout the game. Cross was in the middle of all of it forcing several turnovers and deflections.

 

Kirkham was named the Salisbury and Stence, Edward Jones Player of the Game.

 

The Slicers improved their record to 11-6 on the year. Concord fell to 9-7.

 

La Porte will host Valparaiso Thursday night at Slicer gym, Varsity tipoff is 7:00, and JV at 5:30. Saturday afternoon Kankakee Valley will visit the Slicers. JV will start at noon and varsity at 1:30.

 

SLICER JV TEAM DROPS 52-50 HEARTBREAKER

 

Matt Miller’s Slicer JV team led 11-10, 26-22 and 42-36 at the quarter stops before live ball turnovers and poor free throw shooting caught up with them in a 52-50 loss to Concord. 

 

The game was tied at 50 when Javelle Broome missed the front end of a 1 and 1 with 13 seconds left. Concord took advantage,  Char’rese Breveard hit a shot with 4.1 seconds remaining. The Slicer could not complete a full-court pass and the Minutemen escaped with the two-point win.

 

Sawyer Tonagel led the Slicers with 16 points, Van Warner had 13, Eli Taylor chipped on 7.