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Westminster Christian's depth comes through

Westminster Christian boys basketball coach Bruce Firchau believes in a few of his team's luxuries this season and a main one besides depth is flexibility.

So when senior Robbie Kleczynski drew his third foul with just 3:15 left in the first quarter of Tuesday night's 70-43 rout of neighbor Harvest Christian in Pool A play of the 8th annual Warrior Thanksgiving Classic in Elgin, Firchau's panic meter never wavered. In fact, he knew he could rely on four-year varsity star Sam Carani to show off the Warriors' bells and whistles this season.

Carani, a 6-foot 5 Daily Herald honorable mention goalkeeper this past fall for the Warriors' soccer team, moved from the perimeter to the post and answered the bell, pouring in 18 of his game-high 28 points in the second quarter alone, which included 9 free throws, as the Warriors extended a 4-point lead from Kleczynski's departure to a 24-point lead at the half.

Kleczynski finished with 15 points and 6 rebounds and Brad Barker came off the bench to score 8 points, but the game and mainly the second quarter belonged to Carani.

“Well, that's senior leadership and experience and a four-year varsity player,” Firchau said. “I think we can swing players to different situations so Sammy really helped us inside as well as outside.”

Carani, who attacked the hoop and drew fouls, knocked down all 9 of his free throws in the second quarter to finish 12 of 13 from the stripe to go with his 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 buckets from 3-point range. His right-handed hook in the lane made it a 15-point lead and subsequent 3 from the top of the key made it 35-17 Westminster halfway through the second quarter.

“Last year Rob was injured for a good portion of the first half of the season so I really had to step up my game (then) and it was kind of like that,” said Carani, who scored 8 points in Monday's season-opening win. “His foul kind of sparked some of us on the team and gave us a lot of energy I had to move more to an inside position, rather than playing on the perimeter. That's why I was inside and I was pretty hot inside and they kept feeding me.”

Energy is what the Lions (0-2) ran out of. Led by Brett Cramer's 11 points and 5 rebounds, Harvest took an 8-7 lead thanks to its ability to break the Westminster press in a frenetic first 8 minutes. But Westminster adjusted to a 3-2 zone and outscored the Lions 24-7 in the second quarter, holding Harvest to just 1 for 12 from the field. Harvest scored only 5 points in the fourth quarter and Westminster pushed the lead to 30 with 4 minutes left.

“I've only had them for two weeks, I haven't had a whole lot of time with them being a new coach with them and they're still learning my system and my style of play,” Lions' coach Scott Cork said. “They understood and just ran out of basketball condition. They went to a zone and our legs were tired and we couldn't hit shots.”

After shooting 7 for 14 from the field in the first, the Lions shot a 21.4 percent clip from the field in the second half to finish at 27.5 percent.

Westminster shot 48 percent from the field as Dillion Rejman scored 13 points for the Warriors including going 3-for-3 from downtown in the first quarter and 3 of 6 overall from 3-point range. The Warriors also dominated matters down low, with 30 points inside and a 33-21 rebounding edge, which included 11 on the offensive end.

“This will be fun to watch as this season progresses,” Firchau said.

  Harvest Christian's Austin White puts up a runner in a lane full of Westminster Christian defenders during Tuesday's game at the 8th Annual Warrior Thanksgiving Basketball Classic in Elgin. Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com
  Westminster Christian's Scott Graziano tries to score on a breakaway as he is defended by Harvest Christian's Noah Fox during Tuesday's game at the 8th Annual Warrior Thanksgiving Basketball Classic in Elgin. Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com
  Westminster Christian's Brian McDonaugh scores against Harvest Christian during Tuesday's game at the 8th Annual Warrior Thanksgiving Basketball Classic in Elgin. Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com
  Westminster Christian's Brad Barker catches Harvest Christian sleeping on an inbounds pass and scores an easy layup during Tuesday's game at the 8th Annual Warrior Thanksgiving Basketball Classic in Elgin. Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com
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