Kiser scores 20, Paulik adds 15 as Rochester tops N. Judson

Spence, Casper key 14-4 Zebra bench scoring edge

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Jonas Kiser

NORTH JUDSON — Rochester boys basketball coach Luke Smith was looking to see how his team would respond after a loss to Winamac last week.

In practice this week, he added a 2-3 zone defense in addition to their switching man-to-man. He also wanted better rebounding.

He got the results for which he was hoping against host North Judson at The Nest Friday.

Jonas Kiser scored nine of his career-high 20 points in the fourth quarter, and Carson Paulik added a season-high 15 as the Zebras held off a Blue Jay rally in the fourth quarter to post a 65-55 win.

Christian Ingram scored a game-high 31 for North Judson, and Javen Christensen torched the nets for 18. Ingram and Christensen combined for nine 3-pointers.

Rochester improved to 2-1. North Judson fell to 1-2.

“That was all them,” Smith said of his players. “They bought in this week. They believe in what we’re doing. We just had to fix a couple defensive positioning things, and I thought we were really good on defense. I don’t know what the rebounding differential was, but man, it felt like we did what we asked them to do there.”

Rochester also had a 14-4 advantage in bench points – that included eight points from Liam Spence and five from Parker Casper – and made 9 of 12 free throws in the fourth quarter.

Rochester led by 16 on two different occasions – at 27-11 in the second quarter and again at 41-25 on Jack Reffett’s right corner 3-pointer with 5:59 left in the third quarter.

North Judson would rally behind Ingram, a sleek 6-3 shooting guard who could both hit from the perimeter and score off the drive, and Christensen.

They would get within six at 50-44, at 52-46 and at 61-55 in the fourth quarter, but the Zebras had the answers. One of the answers involved Casper, whom coach Luke Smith said afterwards that he regretted not getting varsity minutes in the first two games, finding Kiser for a layup to make it 54-46.

Casper’s minutes were amplified after Brady Coleman was called for a technical foul with 5:00 left in the first half. Coleman had scored nine points up to that point, but Smith benched him for the remainder of the game.

Smith said he did not have a “concrete” rule that any player who gets a technical will be benched for the rest of the game but added that Coleman “was beating himself up.”

“There are some situations that may not warrant that,” Smith said. “But he was the second guy in a little tangle-up over there on the sideline, and it’s always the second guy that gets caught up. He’s fresh for tomorrow night (against Logansport).”

With Grant Clark also out while he recuperates from knee surgery and Mitchell Clark battling foul trouble, Conner Dunfee and Alex Chapman also got minutes off the bench.

Zander Nowak split a pair of free throws for the Blue Jays, but Kiser took the 6-4 Nowak off the dribble and scored to make it 56-47.

“Last week the ball stuck in Jonas’ hand a lot,” Smith said. “But we stood and watched Jonas work, and we’re not going to be very effective if that’s the way we play. So we just talked about let’s make sure we get a ball reversal or two before we get to the point where we’re really attacking. Once we get that defense shifting and moving, then it opens up some of those lanes for Jonas, and I just thought he did a much better job seeing what that matchup was. … He was really good for us.”

With North Judson in pressure mode, Aiden McGowen’s steal and layup cut the lead to 56-49, but Kiser hit two free throws with 1:47 left, and Paulik added two from the line with 1:29 left.

A Christensen 3 and three Ingram free throws would again cut the lead down to six with 22.8 seconds left before four more Zebra free throws would ice the game.

“Another thing for us tonight was we talked a lot about the point differential in the paint against Winamac, how we got smoked there,” Smith said. “We totally slipped that tonight, where we were getting layups and they were forcing the tough shots. So I thought our offense was much better tonight too. I’m thankful.”

Rochester went on a 17-2 run in the first quarter to build a 12-point lead.

The run included a Coleman layup off a Reffett assist, a Kiser 15-footer off a Mitchell Clark assist, a Coleman transition layup, a Paulik 3-point play in transition and a Coleman 3-pointer from the right corner. Ingram scored on a driving layup, but Kiser line-drived a trey, and Coleman scored on a steal and a layup to make it 17-5.

Triples from Ingram and Christensen cut the lead to six, but Spence made a 3 from the left corner with five seconds left in the quarter.

“It was very big,” Kiser said of the start. “It gave us a lot of momentum going into the rest of the game really. I feel like we never really lost it, but some moments, it was kind of wavering, but we quickly got right back to where we left off.”

Christensen appeared to bury a 30-foot prayer at the buzzer, but officials disallowed it, saying Christensen stepped on the right sideline with 0.4 seconds left before releasing his shot.

Rochester would then go on another 7-0 run over the first 2:10 of the second quarter. Paulik hit a 3 from the left corner, Kiser got inside position for an offensive rebound and putback, and Paulik hit a pullup banker.

The lead was up to 16.

“I think it’s a lot easier to score when everyone’s flowing and moving around,” Kiser said. “I think I definitely learned from Winamac.”

Less than a minute later, Coleman was called for a technical after getting tangled up North Judson’s Andrew Chambers after a turnover, and the Blue Jays followed with a 9-2 run that Ingram capped with a 3-pointer.

The Zebras’ two points during that run came from Casper, who back cut along the baseline and took a Kiser pass and scored on a reverse layup.

The lead was 33-22 at halftime. North Judson would cut the margin to single digits for the first time on an Ingram left-wing 3-pointer that made it 43-35 with 2:05 left in the third quarter.

But with thanks to a friendly rim, Kiser scored on a dextrous lefty floater. He was fouled but missed the ensuing free throw, but when Spence canned another corner 3 on the next possession, the lead was back to 13.

Rochester also won the JV game 49-42 behind 11 points from Chapman and 10 from Aiden Wilson. Casper and Van Kiser added seven each, Grayson Miller had six, and Owen Lett and Taylor Howard had four each.

Game notes

• Kiser also led Rochester in rebounds with eight.

• Rochester is 3-4 against North Judson since they were put back on the schedule for the 2019-20 season.

• Logansport beat Hamilton Heights 66-61 in overtime at the Berry Bowl Friday. Rochester hosts Logansport today.

• Rochester travels to Northwestern for their Three Rivers Conference opener next Friday. Northwestern lost to Taylor 57-13 on Friday.

• Kiser’s previous career high was 19 points against Maconaquah last year.

Rochester 65, North Judson 55

ROCHESTER (65) (2-1)

Carson Paulik 4 5-5 15, Mitchell Clark 0 0-0 0, Brady Coleman 4 0-0 9, Jack Reffett 2 1-2 7, Jonas Kiser 8 3-5 20, Liam Spence 3 0-0 8, Parker Casper 2 1-3 5, Alex Chapman 0 0-0 0, Conner Dunfee 0 1-2 1

TEAM: 23 11-17 65

NORTH JUDSON (55) (1-2)

Christian Ingram 9 9-9 31, Javen Christensen 6 1-2 18, Andrew Chambers 0 0-0 0, Nolan Trusty 0 0-0 0, Zander Nowak 0 2-4 2, Aiden McGowen 2 0-0 4, Gabe Brazauskas 0 0-0 0, Max Ingram 0 0-0 0, Adrian Radtke 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 17 12-15 55

Three-point field goals:

Rochester 8 (Paulik 2, Spence 2, Reffett 2, Kiser, Coleman),

North Judson 9 (Christensen 5, C. Ingram 4)

Total fouls: Rochester 19, North Judson 23

Fouled out: Chambers (NJSP), fourth, :18.8

Technical foul: Coleman (RHS), 5:00, second

Turnovers: Rochester 16, North Judson 19

Score by quarters

Rochester 20 13 15 17 – 65

North Judson 11 11 17 16 – 55

JV: Rochester 49, North Judson 42