Pokorney hits six 3-pointers in win vs. Hanover Central

Tom Keegan
onwardtrojans@gmail.com

​Play up on him and he’ll blow by you and score at the hoop. Give him too much room and he’ll bury a 3-point shot. Therein lies the challenge of guarding Chesterton junior wing Logan Pokorney.
Asserting himself from the start, Pokorney finished with six 3-point baskets and 20 points to lead Chesterton to a 61-47 non-conference victory over visiting Hanover Central on Saturday night.
In the first quarter, Pokorney made three shots from long distance and centers Caden Schneider and Bradly Basila added one 3 apiece to give Chesterton a 21-4 lead heading into the second quarter.
A third-year varsity player and second-year starter, the 6-foot-4 Pokorney never cooled down, making a 3-pointer in every quarter and finishing with 20 points.
“He’s such a good kid, he’s so focused and he cares a lot, and I feel that sometimes with that focus he puts a lot of pressure on himself,” Chesterton coach Marc Urban said. “He kind of let himself go and he looked like he was having more fun tonight.”
Even when Pokorney isn’t shooting the way he did Saturday night, he has a versatile enough skill set that he can key the team’s victories in other ways.
“I think he’s a really good teammate,” Urban said. “When he focuses on how to impact winning, how do I do everything, that’s where I think he’s at his best.”
Urban believes Pokorney has what it takes to develop into a defensive stopper.
“Logan’s a good defender,” Urban said. “I think he could continue to get better because he’s strong, he’s fast, he has the ability to be physical. I think that there is a whole other level of defense that he can get to and we’ve talked about it and he’s continued to work on it because that’s what he does.”
The Trojans’ 3-point barrage in the first quarter gave the game the feel of an impending blowout, but 6-6 Hanover senior center Brad Rohde didn’t let that happen.
Rohde (team-high 17 points) used his bulk and strength to foul out Schneider and almost Basila (four fouls). Basila (nine points), Schneider (seven) and Rob Czarniecki (five) gave the Trojans more points than they typically get from the front line.
Basila’s second game almost featured his first dunk, but he took off a little too soon and it shot off the rim.
Still, Basila seemed to blend better with new teammates than in his debut in a 60-50 loss to Lake Central the previous night.
“I think it’ll mesh really well,” Porkoney said. “It might take a little more time, but we’re just trying to get better every day. Having Bradly now it will open up our guards to play more freely, shoot the ball more, and we’ll have a better post presence.”
The addition of Basila gives the Trojans the frontcourt depth that they lacked, and they always have had a deep backcourt. The bench combined for 20 points, including seven from sophomore sixth man Malachi Ransom and four from re-emerging senior Anthony Gonzalez.
The win improved the Trojans’ record to 9-8. They are 1-3 in the DAC, and resume the schedule Thursday night at Michigan City (9-8, 2-2), which lost a double-overtime game by three points to Portage on Friday in its most recent DAC contest.
“Thank God January’s over with,” Urban said. “Bradly’s going to keep getting better. He’s going to keep figuring it out, and we have to figure out how to play with him. We have to figure out our rotations. We’ve got to coach them hard and we have to work hard, and if we can do that, then we have a month that we can use to get really good. But we have to make sure we get dialed in right now because that time is going to go fast.”

Chesterton 61, Hanover Central 47

Hanover Central 4 16 14 13–47
Chesterton 21 14 16 10–61

Chesterton scoring: Tobias Ray 6, Jaylon Watts 2, Logan Pokorney 20, Rob Czarnixecki 5, Caden Schneider 7, Malachi Ransom 7, Bradly Basila 9, Anthony Gonzalez 4, Gunner Ello 1, Peyton Tarnowski 0.