Christmas break is a wonderful opportunity for kids to get away from school and spend time with friends and family celebrating the birth of our Savior. Many families leave town and travel for large family gatherings or vacations, but the Timothy boy’s basketball team stayed in town for an opportunity to compete at York High School’s Jack Tosh Holiday Tournament.

The team looks forward to this tournament each year as it guarantees them four high quality games. This year the Trojans squared off against Lake Forest, Bolingbrook, St. Patrick, and Providence Catholic. Overall the team went 2-2 with victories over Lake Forest and Providence. 

The Lake Forest win saw the team coming back from a seven point halftime deficit and pulling out a 47-43 win. The team was led by Josh Harris’ 13 points that evening and Ben VanderWal’s seven rebounds. With the victory the team was pushed onto the winner’s bracket with an opportunity to play a very talented Bolingbrook team.

That second game against Bolingbrook (the eventual tournament champions) was as entertaining as they come, and gave the large crowd who came out to watch their money’s worth. The Trojans found themselves behind by seven again at halftime, but quickly got back in the game and had pulled to within two heading into the fourth quarter. During the back and forth final eight minutes the Trojans had multiple opportunities to take control of the game, but couldn’t pull away and found themselves down two with the ball in the closing seconds. Again the Trojans had their opportunities to pull it out, but missed both a go-ahead three and a game tying floater as time ran out and lost a heartbreaker 60-62. The team had a couple of noteworthy performances that game as AJ Vos had 17 points and 5 rebounds and Matt Owens had 18 points, 7 assists, and 6 rebounds. 

Coming back the next day was a struggle for the boys. The energy level and shot making was not as high as the previous night against Bolingbrook and it showed as the team struggled against a good St. Pat’s team and lost 53-69. 

The final game of the tournament found the Trojans battling the Celtics of Providence Catholic. This game was a back-and-forth game from beginning to end and resulted in a 60-56 victory for TC. The team was led by Josh Harris and Matt Owens scoring 14 apiece and Ben Vanderwal scoring 17 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. With this win the Trojans ended 2019 with a record of 10-3 and ranked as one of the top 15 2A teams in the state in multiple polls. 

The team has 16 more regular season games before the state tournament starts in late February. We have many home games left and would LOVE to see you at a few of them. Our next two games will be this weekend as Friday the 10th finds the 11-2 Elmwood Park Tigers visiting the WAC. Both teams are undefeated in conference and expect to compete for the conference championship. Then on Saturday morning the boys will load up the busses and drive to Hudsonville, Michigan to take on Covenant Christian High School. We hope to see you Friday night!