Chesterton’s Owen Guest has been making a concerted effort to put up more shots.
Before practice. After practice. Before school.
The junior guard’s extra work paid dividends Friday night.
Guest scored 11 points, hitting three of Chesterton’s 10 3-pointers, in a 58-34 win at home against West Side.
“Anything I can do to help the team out,” Guest said. “I felt like I needed to get in the gym more. I feel like it really helped. We’re back.
“I felt great. I felt a lot more confident. Everyone on my team just lifts me up. Even in warmups, I felt really good.”
Guest’s performance for the Trojans (23-0), who completed an undefeated regular season with their win against West Side (7-13), didn’t surprise coach Marc Urban.
“OG is such a smart, mature kid,” Urban said. “He never shows frustration with himself, if he is frustrated. I have all the confidence in the world in him. … He’s due here to really start lighting it up. He’s a great kid. He’s a really good shooter, and (Friday) hopefully loosened him up a little bit.”
Guest also has made significant strides on the defensive end, according to Urban.
“If there’s one spot he’s gotten better, he’s become a really, really good defender,” Urban said. “He has some length. He’s put on 15, 17, 18 pounds. He’s a very smart player, so he sees things before they happen.”
It had been a while since an undefeated regular season happened for a Region team. Munster went 22-0 in 2013.
Statewide this season, in addition to Chesterton, only Monroe Central (21-0), a Class 2A team, finished with an unblemished record.
“It’s definitely something special,” Urban said. “It says a lot about these kids because it’s not easy, especially as the games go on and on and they get bigger and bigger. But we talk about having Teflon on — anything that’s said to us or whatever just bounces right off.”
Chesterton, which is ranked No. 1 in both the all-classes coaches poll and the Class 4A poll from The Associated Press, opens the Portage Sectional against Lowell on Wednesday after the senior class wrapped up a 53-0 career home record during the regular season.
“The only thing that matters is what we do in the locker room, what we do in practice and what we do between the lines for 32 minutes,” Urban said. “They’ve been really good at that. It’s a great accomplishment, but we are really looking forward to getting over to Portage next week.”
Senior point guard Travis Grayson had 19 points, including three 3-pointers, and five assists for the Trojans. Sophomore forward Justin Sims added 11 points, junior guard Sean Kasper scored nine points on three 3-pointers, and senior forward Chris Mullen had three points and 10 rebounds.
Senior guard Carson Parrish, a top reserve, Mullen and Grayson each departed to applause with 2:31 left in the game.
“Our team is so connected,” Guest said. “Nothing from the outside is going to bother us whatsoever. We go into every single game like we’re 0-0. We have to win this game — that’s the mindset.”
Freshman guard/forward Anthony Holmes had 10 points for the Cougars, who play against Munster in the 4A Lake Central Sectional on Wednesday.
Guest is looking forward to the start of the postseason.
“Everyone understands how special it is,” he said of going undefeated in the regular season. “But at the same time, we’re not done yet. We’re celebrating, but as soon as it comes (Saturday) morning, we’re ready to go for sectionals and tournament time.
“We’re so confident. We feel like no one wants to see us, and that’s exactly where we want to be. The whole year there’s been a target on our back. No one outside of Chesterton wants to see us win. That’s what we want because we’re here for each other and we’re here for the town.”
