Boys basketball: Cooper Eggert’s energy boosts Providence past Eisenhower

NEW LENOX – One thing is certain when Providence Catholic sophomore Cooper Eggert enters a game.

He’s going to play with a lot of energy.

He did just that Wednesday night, and his aggressive work on both defense and offense helped the Celtics pick up a 67-48 nonconference win over Eisenhower.

The Celtics (11-15) held an early lead when Eggert entered midway through the first quarter, but he helped them increase it by manning the point of a 1-3-1 defense with an aggressiveness that filtered through to the rest of the team.

The Celtics forced 12 Eisenhower turnovers in the first half, many from Eggert either outright stealing the ball or forcing a long pass that one of his teammates tracked down. For good measure, Eggert drove the ball hard to the basket when the Celtics had possession and scored 10 of his 13 points in the first half, shooting 5 of 6 from the floor in the first two quarters.

“I just go 100% as soon as I hit the floor,” Eggert said. “On defense, I go out and try to deflect passes or make the other team throw long passes so my teammates can get the steal.

“On offense, we always want to drive the ball into the paint and kick it out for an open 3. But if they don’t stop us, we just keep going to the basket.”

That’s exactly what Eggert did in the first half, as the Eisenhower defense had no answer for his hard drives or his tight defense.

Eggert wasn’t alone, however, as fellow sophomore Seth Cheney led the team with 16 points, and senior Zinn Amos added 14, including 4-of-5 shooting from 3-point range.

“Cooper is like the Energizer Bunny when he gets out there,” Providence coach Kyle Murphy said. “He’s only a sophomore, but he gets out there with active feet and hands and creates havoc at the top of the defense. And he’s been doing this all year against the competition in the Catholic League. He had a few deflections against St. Rita, and they have five D-I players on the court.

“We are at our best when we are balanced like we were tonight. Seth Cheney, another sophomore, had another good game, and so did Zinn Amos. When we share the ball and kick out for open 3s or take it all the way to the hole, we are at our best. We did that tonight. We moved the ball and made the extra pass, and we executed to finish.”

Providence was in control the whole way, opening the game on a 12-3 run and taking an 18-5 lead after one quarter. They increased the lead to 40-16 at halftime, as Amos and Eggert each scored six points in the second quarter, and Cheney had four.

Eisenhower turned up the defense early in the second half and went on a 12-2 spurt, buoyed by AJ Abrams, who scored eight of his game-high 24 points in that stretch. Providence collected itself and outscored the Cardinals 7-3 the rest of the quarter to take a 49-31 lead into the fourth.

Midway through the fourth quarter both teams emptied the benches. Providence got five points from Demetrio Garza and a 3-pointer by Bobby Jenner. Eggert also added a pair of free throws before his night ended.

“I feel like we are building momentum,” Eggert said. “We have improved a lot since the beginning of the season. This is the time of the year to start playing our best basketball.”

Murphy agreed.

“We are starting to come together at the right time,” he said. “The competition we have played in the Catholic League has prepared us well for the postseason. I feel like we are getting hot at the right time of the year, and we are excited for the rest of the season.”