Senior forward Tim Dezelski helped himself to some pre-Thanksgiving stuffing last Tuesday night. Dezelski poured in 28 points to go along with nine rebounds, five assists, four blocked shots, and three steals to fill the stat sheet and lead the Chargers past the Cedarville Yellow Jackets, 76-59.
“I’ve got a lot of talented teammates, so it’s very helpful that teams can’t just focus on me,” Dezelski said concerning his performance. “If they do, then anybody on our team can step up their game and I believe that’s one of our biggest strengths, balance offensively, because any night anybody on our team can hurt you.”
It took a big second half for the Chargers to get the win, taking a two-point halftime lead and turning it into a 17 point rout by the end of the game.
“We came out with a much higher energy level,” sophomore Kyle Cooper said about the turnaround.
Cooper set a career-high by scoring 16 points to complement Dezelski’s 28. Senior Brandon Pritzl contributed nine rebounds and stingy defense.
“We made a switch [at halftime] of Brandon Pritzl onto 22- their (Cedarville’s) really good player- and that slowed him down,” head coach John Tharp said.
The defensive adjustment certainly contributed to the Chargers holding Cedarville to just 26 points in the second half.
The win gives the Chargers a 2-0 mark in the young season, having won both games by an average of 20.5 points.
The schedule will certainly toughen up in the coming weeks. The Chargers play a challenging contest tonight at Northwood, a game on Saturday at Lake Superior State, and eight games over Christmas break.
“Northwood is a really talented team and has a variety of different guys that can score,” Tharp said.
Northwood is already 4-2 on the season, and being on the road sure doesn’t make the game any easier.
“It’s the first time we’ve played away since our exhibition season, so it’ll be a good test for us,” Cooper said.
The Northwood game opens up the GLIAC schedule for the Chargers.
“The GLIAC is tough every year, and every game is a battle,” Dezelski said. “This is the tough part of our season and we’re looking forward to getting into it.”
“Every team brings different challenges that we’re going to see,” Tharp added. “Everybody is talented enough to beat you.”
The Chargers are looking forward to facing these challenge over Christmas break.
“Playing over break is always kind of fun,” Cooper said. “You’re not worried about anything but basketball, so you need to put 100 percent focus into that, and you hope that translates into better performances.”
The test that is the GLIAC starts tonight against Northwood and continues until March. The Chargers hope they can get off to a strong start in conference play and lay a solid foundation for the rest of the season.
