Lancers march past emotionally-drained Eagles
BY TIMOTHY PONTZER
STUDENT CORRESPONDANT
AUBURN HILLS — A common cliché used in sports is ‘battling through adversity’.
Whether it be things on or off the court, field, or ice, coaches and players alike use the phrase to describe a team’s journey through a season. Many times, a small situation or event can get blown out of proportion by the media or fans leading to an unnecessary distraction for a team. However, sometimes the adversity is real.
Sterling Heights Parkway Christian finds itself in the midst of real adversity this week due to a tragedy off the court. Last week, Jordan Rhecker, a sophomore on the Parkway Christian junior varsity boys basketball team, committed suicide. This unfortunate occurrence has dealt a considerable blow to the Eagles and their players.
Eagles head coach Gary Capaldi explains how the loss of Jordan has affected his team.
“We’re a close-knit group, definitely like a family,” Capaldi said. “This has shaken everybody up, because everybody knew Jordan.”
Despite the heavy burden on their hearts and minds, the Eagles have agreed as a team to push on, and try and honor Jordan on the court.
The road remained on a tough path Friday, when Parkway Christian had to face a tough MIAC Blue Division opponent, going to visit the co-league-leader Auburn Hills Oakland Christian.
In the end, Oakland Christian proved too much to overcome, as the Lancers rolled to a 67-38 triumph over the emotionally-drained Eagles.
While the Lancers were focusing on finishing a regular season campaign that is their best since 1996-97,the Eagles were focused simply on playing basketball again. Many Eagles players sported armbands with Jordan’s number 32 on them as they tried to focus on the game while still remembering their friend.
While the Lancers (17-1, 14-1) and Eagles (6-10, 5-5) have been longtime rivals, both teams realized that this was more than just a basketball game.
Both teams traded baskets in the first quarter on the way to a 15-10 lead for Oakland Christian. The Lancers started to pull away in the second with an impressive 21 points in that quarter. The Lancers combined their strong offense with tough defense, scoring as many points in the second as the Eagles did in the entire first half, with Oakland Christian leading 36 – 21 at halftime. Oakland Christian was led by junior Drew Perrin, who had 10 in the first half and freshman John Van Noord who had nine points, all coming from three three-pointers in the second quarter.
Parkway’s scoring was led by senior Chris Boyd who had five points in the first half.
Oakland Christian head coach Dennis Hopkins attributed his squad’s strong first half performance toa coaching decision made in the first quarter.
“The game changed when we changed defenses in the middle of the first,” Hopkins said. “At first they spread us out, but once we switched to a 2-3 zone, we were able to contain and shut them down. Along with that, we hit five threes in the second quarter to help us out.”
The Lancers kept their momentum through halftime and into the second half going on an 11-2 run to open the third quarter. Oakland Christian showcased their new defense by holding the Eagles to only four points in the entire third quarter, and only 17 overall in the entire second half.
Hopkins was pleased with his squad on both ends of the court.
“We played that defense tonight that we have never run before, and we played it well,” said Hopkins. “All the practice has paid off (with the 2-3 zone) and it gives us another option to use down the stretch.”
Hopkins was especially pleased with his team’s performance in the third quarter, in which the Lancers outscored Parkway Christian 14-4.
“We stopped fouling them in the second half,” he said. “In the third we were able to extend our lead and shut them down.”
Despite the loss, Capaldi was quick to put things in perspective for his grieving team.
“We are regrouping right now, simply going back to the beginning, the basics, noted Capaldi.
Parkway’s coach added that his team taking it one step at a time with the Eagles, marking each small hurdle the team clears as a milestone.
“I wrote on the board (in the Parkway locker room) that the beginning is getting on the floor, then comes playing. That’s all I’m worried about right now,” Capaldi said. “We’re in a fog right now. We have to clear it up one step at a time.”
As for his take on the actual play of his team, Capaldi’s critique was simple. “We didn’t execute on our half-court offense, and they (Oakland Christian) played really well.”
Senior Vinny Delicata led Parkway Christian with seven points and Tom Webber had six points to pace the Eagles’ attack.
For the Lancers, Van Noord and Perrin both had 12 and junior Josh Peterson had eight points. Sophomore Chris Polite also added eight points from the bench, garnering all his points from the free throw line in the second half, going 8-for-8 from the charity stripe.
Hopkins pointed to the balance of his team as a major reason for his team’s success in the game and overall in the season.
“It was nice to have a breakout game offensively, but that balance is what makes us tough to play, because you can’t shut down one guy.”
Both teams will face have a quick turnaround and will face each other again on Thursday night in Sterling Heights. When asked if he would make any tweaks to his game plan, Capaldi answered: “Wouldn’t change anything, we just have to get back in a basketball mentality. We have a talented team, and we can still win our district, we just need to be clear-minded.”
Coach Capaldi was still pleased with his team’s performance especially despite the trying circumstances. He pointed out one player in particular, Vinny Delicata, his leading scorer for the night, as a leader for his team as they battle through such adversity.
“Vinny wasn’t himself tonight, usually he scores more, but he played really strong tonight. After the game, he said to me ‘Coach, I love you,’ and when I hear that, we won the game,” concluded Capaldi.
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