Defense lifts Cardinal Newman boys basketball past Hammond

Cardinal Newman was coming off a challenging week in which the Cardinals played four games in six days, with the final one of those being in Atlanta on Saturday.

Coach Phillip Deter was hoping that wasn’t too much for his young team, but after a dominating defensive performance in a 47-28 victory Tuesday night against Hammond, he had to be pleased.

“We came off a four-game week last week, so this was big for us to try and recuperate,” Deter said. “We got a good practice in yesterday and wanted to come here and get the win no matter what the score was.”

Usually, the Cardinals win with a dazzling offense that features the play-making ability of Chico Carter Jr. and a capable cast led by Brandon Pirie, Shane O’Connor, Joshua Beadle and Patrick Reedy. It took a while for the offense to take shape, but it had time because Cardinal Newman locked down on the defensive end.

The Cardinals held the Skyhawks scoreless in the first quarter and then delivered a knock-out blow by holding Hammond scoreless for the opening 5:05 of the second half. That defensive effort helped Cardinal Newman open the third quarter on a 15-0 run that broke open a tie game at the half.

“We preached defense, so (we wanted to) come out, get stops, get rebounds and when you get it, let’s go,” Deter said. “Let’s not hang around in the backcourt. That’s what it took to get on that run. We started hitting a couple of shots and we got a couple of easy baskets for Chico and the middle and things are rolling.”

O’Connor opened the run with a 3-pointer before Carter scored on a jumper just inside the free throw line. Four players scored in the spurt, and it was 29-14 with less than three minutes remaining in the third quarter before the Skyhawks finally broke the drought with a free throw.

“We focused on locking down on defense and getting stops,” Carter said. “If we get stops, we can get out in transition and score points.”

Carter scored all 17 of his points in the second half. He moved to the high post, and Pirie and O’Connor were getting the talented junior the ball in position to find the open teammate or score himself.

“Coach put me in the high post, so I could be more of a distributor and get my team open shots,” Carter said. “When I got in the middle, the floor just opened up and I got to knock down a couple of mid-range jump shots.”

Hammond never could find itself offensively. After going 0-for-4 from the field and 0-for-2 from the free throw line with six turnovers in the first quarter, it never got much better. A 14-point second quarter allowed the Skyhawks to tie it at the half but then they managed only 14 points in the second half.

Deter said he thought getting the game more to the Cardinals liking in the second half was the key.

“We’re not very good in the half-court trying to run sets. That’s just not our game. We’re working on that, but it was at their tempo, so we just told them in the locker room that they had to just go,” Deter said.