La Salle-Peru tops Hall in home opener

The La Salle-Peru boys basketball team played Hall in its home opener, and the Cavaliers led wire to wire en’ route to a 61-49 win.

Seniors Michael Jereb and John Riva led the Cavaliers, as each scored a team-high 13 points, while classmate Sean Whitfield added eight.

“Tonight we were led by our seniors Michael (Jereb), Sean (Whitfield) and John (Riva),” Cherveny said. “They really came out and set the tone. It was nice playing in front of a big crowd. We shot the ball well and played good defense, and our effort was there all night. Even with a 20-point lead we continued to play hard and as a coach that is what you are looking for.

“You also have to hand it to our sophomores Josh (Senica) and Seth (Adams), to come out in their first home game in front of a big crowd and perform as well as they did is a great sign.”

The game began with both teams a little tight.

After a scoreless first two minutes, Senica took the lid off the bucket for the Cavs by sinking a free throw before Jereb scored the game’s next four points to grab an early 5-0 lead.

Hall got going with a layup from Eder Castelan to cut the lead to 5-2.

L-P went on a 10-3 run fueled by Jereb scoring six more points, and the lead swelled to 15-5.

Riva and London Cabrera each connected from distance, and Tyler Wrobleski added a layup to build the Cavalier advantage to 23-5 before Mac Resetich drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give LP a 23-8 lead after one period.

The teams exchanged hoops to begin the second before Riva slashed through the lane for three layups in L-P’s next four trips with Adams making a 3 on the fourth to give the Cavs a commanding 34-13 lead.

Hall’s Drake Garland stopped the run with a layup, which were the first points of his game-high 16.

The teams traded buckets the rest of the half with Adams connecting on a pair of 3s and Senica converting a rebound into two points, while Hall answered with 3s from Ethan Plym and Payton Dye to make the tally 44-23 in favor of the hosts at intermission.

The second half began much like the first with Senica opening the scoring on a layup before Garland found the mark from behind the arc with a pair of 3s.

But L-P answered on a Whitfield steal and lay-in to make the score 52-31 with two minutes left in the third period.

Hall got a Resetich putback and a Plym 3 verses a Riva pull-up jumper to close the quarter and trim the lead to 54-36.

The final period began with a Dalton Znaniecki layup for the Cavs before Hall went on a 6-1 run with Plym scoring a 3 to cut the lead to 57-41.

Hall closed out the game by outscoring L-P, 8-4, to cut the lead to 12 but could get no closer.

“We came out and battled all night,” Hall coach Mike Filippini said. “L-P is a 3A team and is like a regional championship level opponent for us, so though you always want to win the game, we do take a lot of positives out of tonight. Playing a team like that makes us better and will help us all year. I mean, it is only Nov. 30 and we are sitting at 2-3 and heading home, so I told the kids to keep their heads up. I was proud of their effort all night long. Even down 20 we never quit.”