Boys basketball: Sterling shoots lights out, scores 82 points in three quarters to win big against Rochelle

STERLING – The Sterling Golden Warriors couldn’t seem to miss for three quarters Tuesday night against the Rochelle Hubs.

After a 34-point first quarter, they continued to score at will for the next two periods, then finished off a 90-55 nonconference win at Musgrove Fieldhouse.

[ Photos of Sterling vs. Rochelle boys basketball ]

“We shot very well tonight,” Sterling junior guard Andre Klaver said. “I feel like that goes back to our defense, but also our ability to move the ball on offense.”

Ball movement was indeed a big factor for the Warriors, especially in the first half, when they assisted on 18 of 25 field goals and seven players scored a basket.

Sterling (19-6) – which scored 82 points in three quarters – exploded out of the gate with six 3-pointers in the first quarter, and 10 points apiece from Klaver and JP Schilling, including a pair of 3s from each.

Rochelle (8-16) had some answers early, and pulled within 12-8 just under the four-minute mark on an Eli Luxton layup. But Sterling seized all the momentum from there, surging with a 22-7 run to finish the first quarter.

Klaver buried a right-wing 3 just 27 seconds after Luxton’s layup, then bounced a pass to Schilling in the lane for a layup, before Schllling hit a right-wing 3 of his own for a 24-11 lead with 2:18 to go.

Kaedon Phillips got to the hoop twice in the last two minutes, and Schilling pulled up for 3 from the right wing with four seconds left, making it 34-15 Warriors at the end of the first quarter.

“Just controlling the pace and getting out in transition, really,” Schilling said about the keys to Sterling’s stellar start. “We got out in transition, we didn’t settle, and we got open looks from pushing in transition.”

Sterling opened the second quarter with a 6-0 run in the first 50 seconds. Schilling dropped in a layup in the first 15 seconds, then got a steal and assisted Kael Ryan on the fast break, before Klaver got a strip-steal near midcourt and scored on the break again for a 40-15 lead.

Carson Lewis nailed a right-corner 3 to draw Rochelle within 40-22 with 5:22 remaining, but Carter Chance hit a layup shortly after, and the Hubs trailed by 20 or more points for the remainder of the game.

A Kyle Billings and-1 pushed the lead to 52-27 just under the three-minute mark, and Klaver hit a buzzer-beater for a 58-31 lead to end the first half.

“Our defense [fueled the fast start],” Klaver said. “We pressured their ball-handlers, and we were able to get out in transition a lot, which led to a lot of quick buckets for us.”

Sterling began the third quarter on an 8-0 run. Klaver stripped the ball from a Rochelle player and assisted Phillips on the fast break in the first 17 seconds, then Lucas Austin buried a left-wing 3 off a Klaver ball swing 22 seconds later. Austin hit from deep at the left wing again with 6:48 to go, and the Warriors went ahead 66-31.

“Our unselfishness fed into that a lot,” Klaver said. “We were able to get the right looks and take the right shots, and not take selfish shots or quick 3s.”

Billings and Schilling hit back-to-back 3s from the right wing for a 78-39 lead with less than four minutes left in the third quarter.

The Warriors pulled their starters late in the third, and took an 82-44 lead into the fourth.

“We’re two teams in different places. Sterling is a really good team,” Rochelle coach Tim Thompson said. “They have a lot of guys back from the regional that we ended up beating them in last year. They’re athletic, they shoot the ball well, and it really started from the beginning. They made some deep shots, they went on a run. We just couldn’t answer them on the offensive end, and the first quarter was kind of where that game was won.”

Klaver paced Sterling with 21 points, seven assists, five steals, three rebounds and one block. Schilling had 17 points, nine assists, four steals and three rebounds, and Austin tallied 13 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and two steals. Billings scored nine points, and Phillips, Ryan and Chance added six points apiece for the Warriors.

Luxton led Rochelle with 20 points and seven boards, while Raul Aguirre added six points, three rebounds and two assists.