ST. JOHN | Here's a tip for the future for local basketball fans, especially student sections. Be careful whom you ride from the cheap seats.
No matter how funny or creative your shots may sound, the words can backfire.
Such as Friday night at Lake Central. In a standing room-only gymnasium, the Crown Point student section started barking at Glenn Robinson III in the second quarter of the Duneland Athletic Conference game. They chanted "overrated" and followed that up with "Daddy's better."
Robinson missed his first free throw during the shout-down. He made the next with one eye on the sea of red. The Michigan-bound son of the former Mr. Basketball with the same name scored 12 straight points in the second quarter without missing a shot.
Times No. 3 Lake Central ran away with a 74-54 win. Robinson had 18 of his game-high 22 points by halftime.
"That gave me more motivation," Robinson said of the chants coming his way. "I found the fire inside me."
Crown Point coach Clint Swan said it came down to one team shooting layups and the other — his — shooting jump shots. The Bulldogs (4-7, 3-5) tied the game at 20-20 two minutes into the second frame.
But the Indians (11-3, 7-1) followed with a 14-2 run and finished the quarter on a 23-9 run.
"The middle two quarters they were really good, and we were really bad," Swan said. "Foul trouble hurt us then. They picked up their defense, and we couldn't get the ball inside."
Crown Point played without freshman Nick Jeffirs, who is out two to three weeks with an infection. But senior Pete Parks played his first game after recovering from a football injury. Parks scored five points, grabbed four rebounds and was a physical force inside.
"We got them at the right time," Lake Central coach Dave Milausnic said. "They are a team that is going to do some damage when they get to games 17, 18 or 19."
The Indians had four players in double-digit scoring. Tyler Wideman scored 11 and had seven boards. Tye Wilburn scored 11, and Mike Miklusak also added ten.
"I think this was our best team game this year," Robinson said.
"Both teams were swinging for 32 minutes," Milausnic said. "I think rebounding was the difference."
Lake Central outrebounded the 'Dogs 28-15.
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