Highland’s Isaac Sytsma doesn’t shy away from pressure.
“I like having the ball in my hands and making plays,” he said. “I look for my teammates and if I have a shot, I take it.”
The 5-foot-9 junior guard made plenty of plays in key moments Friday night as the visiting Trojans posted a 63-53 win over Lake Station.
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Sytsma had 12 of his 18 points in the second half, with six each in the third and fourth quarters.
He impressed Eagles coach Bob Burke.
“Their point guard, he’s a heck of a player,” Burke said. “We knew Highland was good, we knew what they liked to do, we knew who their go-to guy was. We wanted to keep him out of the lane.
“We did a nice job in stretches, but at the end of the third quarter and the fourth quarter — I don’t know if we got tired — we stopped rotating and he scored some baskets.”
The Eagles (9-6) opened the second half with an 11-0 run to turn a 29-22 deficit into a 33-29 lead.
But bookended by a pair of drives by Sytsma, the Trojans (9-6) used a 9-0 spurt to lead 43-36 with 14 seconds left in the third quarter. In between, Allex Pulleyblank nailed a 3-pointer after Raul Maldonado hustled to save an offensive rebound from going out of bounds and Sytsma made a nifty wraparound pass to set up Nick Thompson for a layup.
“It’s just a reminder we can’t take possessions off, and our guys responded well,” Highland coach Jordan Heckard said.
“They’re a good team. They crank up the intensity. They sped us up the whole length of the floor. Being able to handle their pressure was big, and we’re glad to get out of here with a win.”
The Eagles closed to 43-42 and 45-44, and both times Sytsma again scored on drives.
“Isaac is so fast in transition,” Heckard said. “We get Isaac in the open court, he can make plays.”
The Trojans placed four players in double-figure scoring, showing balance and displaying sharp passing. In complement of Sytsma, Tyler Scheidt scored 14 points, Thompson had 13 and Pulleyblank added 12.
“Guys share the ball and look for each other,” Heckard said. “It makes it fun. Guys are getting each other involved, running down the floor and looking to make the next pass. A lot of times guys are unselfish to a fault — they want to make three extra passes when we had a good shot at two.”
The Trojans overcame 22 points from junior guard Dominique Smith and 15 from senior guard Donta Long.
“We did some good things, but when they needed big buckets, they knew to put the ball in the right person’s hands and he did a really nice job,” Burke said of Smith and Long. “I give more of the credit to them than blame to us.”
Twitter @MichaelOsipoff