Boys basketball: Faith rides hot shooting, Levi Schuler takeover to victory over Rockford Fire

GRAND DETOUR – The Faith Christian Falcons had an answer for everything Thursday night against Rockford Fire.

Double-teams on Levi Schuler in the first half led to open 3-pointers by Isaiah Schuler and Tyler Kibble. Man-to-man defense in the second half led to Levi Schuler going off from inside and outside.

In the end, the Falcons were just too much for Rockford Fire in a 71-55 Northern Illinois Christian Conference victory.

[ Photos from Faith Christian vs. Rockford Fire boys basketball ]

“I thought he might do that,” said sophomore Isaiah Schuler about his older brother taking over. “We opened the floor for him. We all pushed to the one side and just let him have the whole court to do what he does best.”

It’s something Isaiah has seen from Levi plenty of times growing up, and it put Faith (4-0) in complete control of the game.

Levi Schuler went on a personal 12-6 run midway through the third quarter, knocking down a pair of 3s between drives to the basket for layups. He also assisted on Kibble 3s right before and right after his own run, and a seven-point halftime lead turned into a 57-41 margin through three quarters.

“We slowed down, got our offense going a little bit, and we used our fast break better,” Levi Schuler said about the surge. “The first half, I was playing down low, and we’d get it in there and it would get so clogged up. So we spread it out in the second half and got everything flowing, and it was definitely big for us that our guys were hitting from outside. The defense had to close out and get out on the shooters, and that opened everything up.”

With Levi Schuler facing double- and triple-teams in the low post in the first half, it was Kibble and Isaiah Schuler hitting from outside that helped the Falcons build the lead. Isaiah Schuler hit three 3s in the first half and led all scorers at halftime with 13 points.

Leading 28-23 with 3:05 to play in the half, Levi Schuler scored on a pretty spin move, then hit a jumper off a pass from Caleb Rydzynski before Isaiah Schuler found Kibble open for a 3, then tapped in his own miss to close a quick 9-3 spurt for a 37-26 lead less than two minutes later.

“We’d try to get it in to Levi, and they’d double-team him, so we just followed him around to the side and got open outside,” Isaiah Schuler said of the first-half attack.

David Rose hit his second 3 of the second quarter and added a free throw in the final 35 seconds to cut Rockford Fire’s deficit to 37-30 at halftime, then Grant Dray and Seth Johnson scored early in the third quarter to make it a 42-34 game.

But that’s when Levi Schuler took over, and Isaiah Schuler’s pull-up jumper on the baseline early in the fourth quarter pushed the Faith lead to 59-41 with 6:44 remaining.

After Rockford Fire got within 59-47, Levi Schuler cut along the baseline and stuffed his second dunk of the game on a pretty pass from Isaiah Schuler, then Micah Wehler scored off a pass from Rydzynski to stretch it back to 63-47.

The Schuler brothers each scored a layup on drives to the basket later in the quarter, and a 67-53 lead with 1:27 to play led to both teams emptying their benches.

“We just had to spread the floor a little bit. We were trying to post Levi up, and every time we threw it to him down there, he’d get double- or triple-teamed. At that point, you’ve just got to spread the floor and let him take his guy,” Faith coach Mike Kibble said. “He did a good job facilitating too, and we had guys knocking down open 3s, so that was big. It loosened the defense up.”

Levi Schuler finished with game highs of 26 points, nine rebounds and four blocks, and he also dished three assists. Isaiah Schuler had 17 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals, and Tyler Kibble finished with 13 points and six rebounds. Wehler and Rydzynski both scored four points, with Wehler grabbing six rebounds and Rydzynski dishing four assists.

“Those brothers are tough when they’re playing together like that. And when we’re playing man-to-man against them like that and they can make 3-pointers against us that much, it’s tough to beat that,” Rockford Fire coach Jake Hill said. “Seth Johnson was doing great defensively on [Levi Schuler] for us early, but eventually he just got going – which we expected him to do, at some point. It’s hard to shut someone like him down.”

Rose had 18 points, three assists and two steals for Rockford Fire, and Dray finished with 16 points, six rebounds and two steals. Johnson added eight points, six steals and five rebounds, and Elijah Vogrinc chipped in six points and three rebounds. Parker Jones dished three assists and grabbed three rebounds.