Reigning supreme

Kurth rules as Kingsmen whip Jimmies

By MATT KOPSEA
Tribune Staff Writer

MISHAWAKA — There was no question who ruled at Penn's Palace Friday night. Senior point guard Tommy Kurth had things under control as he tallied a game-high 22 points, helping Penn cruise to a 57-30 victory over No. 7 (Class 2-A) Jimtown in boys basketball action.

Kurth, who has signed to play at Valparaiso next season, got the Kingsmen (1-0) off and running. The Kingsmen ruled early at the Palace, bolting to a 15-0 lead as Kurth netted seven points in the opening period.

The 6-foot-1 Kurth finished 7-of-13 shooting and 6-of-9 from the free-throw line.

"Tommy was like the floor general out there for us tonight," said Penn coach Al Rhodes. "He's got good court awareness and does a nice job of recognizing things that others might not pick up on. Most of the better offensive plays we ran tonight were the ones that Tommy called for us."

Helped along by 13 points from junior Matt Price, Penn's margin grew to as many as 26 points (31-5) in the second quarter before the Jimmies (1-1) closed out the half with a 6-0 spurt.

"I thought we played pretty good team defense tonight," Rhodes added. "They (Jimtown) like to feed the ball into the high post a lot. I thought our big men, Nick Brady and Alex Marsh, though, did a nice job of keeping them out of there for the most part."

In addition to being held scoreless for the first seven minutes, Jimtown also committed 13 of its 20 turnovers in the first 16 minutes.

"This is the eighth day we've together as a group and it showed early on," said Jimtown coach Randy DeShone. "We panicked there for awhile and Penn, being the good team they are, quickly found our weaknesses and used them to their advantage. They can defense you to death, which is why we never were able to get into any type of rhythm offensively until it was too late."

Tyler Forgey tallied eight points, while Logan Frye, Shane Cook, and Josh Ruben added six apiece for the Jimmies.

"Despite the outcome, I was extremely proud of our effort," DeShone said. "We actually got better as the game went on, but we still have a long way to go and a lot of improvements to make."

Freshman Jeff Laidig chipped in seven points off the bench, while Price and Brady hauled down five rebounds each for Penn.

"I was pleased with our individual efforts on offense tonight," Rhodes said.

"While our five-man execution (offense) has to get a whole lot better, I thought we rebounded the ball (32-16 edge) better than I expected we would."

The Kingsmen play host to Goshen tonight.

PENN 57, JIMTOWN 30
At Penn Palace
JIMTOWN (30): Shane Cook 2 0-0 6, Logan Frye 3 0-0 6, Richard Geraghty 0 0-0 0, D.J. Washington 0 0-0 0, Bret Giddings 0 0-0 0, Tyler Forgey 3 2-3 8, Brae Beadles 0 0-0 0, Josh Ruben 1 4-4 6, Deccoe Tate 0 0-0 0, Isiah Johnson 2 0-2 4, Austin Pirtle 0 0-0 0, Max Pollock 0
0-0 0. TOTALS: 11 6-9 30.

PENN (57): Allan Barnes 0 0-0 0, Jordan Brady 0 3-8 3, Sam Burden 0 0-0 0, Chris Chaffee 0 3-4 3, Alex Hendershot 0 0-0 0, Tommy Kurth 7 6-9 22, Jeff Laidig 3 1-2 7, Matt Price 4 2-2 13, Alex Marsh 1 3-4 5, DeSean Prentice 1 0-0 2, Brad

Slott 0 0-0 0, Nate Wood 1 0-2 2, Eric Perry 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 17 18-31 57.

Jimtown 3 11 20 30
Penn 15 31 42 57

3-point goals: Jimtown 2 (Cook 2), Penn 5 (Price 3, Kurth 2). Total fouls (fouled out): Jimtown 20 (Pirtle), Penn 15. Shooting: Jimtown 11-of-27 (41 percent), Penn 17-of-43 (40 percent). Rebounds: Jimtown 16 (Ruben 5), Penn 32 (Price 5, Brady 5). Turnovers: Jimtown 20, Penn 9. JV
score: Penn 48 (Nate Laidig 10, Nate Wood 10), Jimtown 11 (Brae Beadles 5). Varsity records: Jimtown 1-1, Penn 1-0. Officials: Jimmy Arnett, Nick Mark, Mark McCammon.

Staff writer Matt Kopsea:
mkopsea@sbtinfo.com
(574) 235-6315