Boys Basketball: Timothy Christian gets past Illiana Christian

Updated: February 3, 2012 11:46PM

Timothy Christian knew the emotions would be high when the Trojans traveled to Illiana Christian for a Metro Suburban Conference contest Friday night.

It was not only a rivalry game that goes back to the old Private School League, but it was also Illiana Christian’s homecoming.

“We knew they would come out with a lot of emotion,” said Timothy Christian senior guard Chris Ridolphi, who finished with a game-high 16 points in leading Timothy Christian (12-11, 4-4) to the 54-50 victory. “We were able to get through the first quarter and then we started playing team basketball. We’ve had a tough playing team basketball this season so we had a meeting a couple of days ago and we played better team basketball tonight.”

Illiana Christian (10-11, 2-7) hit on six of 15 shots in the first quarter, including 4 of 6 from three-point range to hold a 16-12 lead after one quarter. But the Vikings turned the ball over six times and made just four of 13 shots in the second to fall behind 25-24 at the half as Timothy’s Danny Leach hit a three-pointer with 1:09 left to put the Trojans ahead for good.

Ridolphi secured the victory by hitting all six free throw attempts and a field goal in the final 1:25.

“I’ve been struggling at the line,” Ridolphi said. “I was something like 2 for 14 in the last couple of games. I’ve been working on my free throws and tonight they felt good coming off my hand.”

Tyler VanderBrug added 13 points for Timothy Christian.

“This is a cool atmosphere to play in,” Timothy coach Jack LeGrand said. “This is what high school basketball is all about. I’m glad Illiana came over to the Metro Suburban with us. This rivalry goes back a long way.”

Jon Zandstra finished with 14 points and Brandon Martin with nine for Illiana. which made just 13 of 42 shots over the final three quarters and turned the ball over 11 times.

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