Chenowith Regroups to Spark Villa Park

Villa Park center Eric Chenowith found himself in an unusual position early in the Spartans’ game at Century Wednesday night: On the bench.

Despite grabbing four quick rebounds, the seven-foot junior picked up two fouls in the first four minutes and Coach Kevin Reynolds had no choice but to sit Chenowith, who had only two points to show for his effort.

But the Spartans responded, and led by guard Isaiah Cavaco, they erased a seven-point, second-quarter deficit and eventually cruised to a 61-43 nonleague victory with Chenowith back on his game in the second half.

Cavaco, who finished with 14 points, made four of six field goal tries in the first half.

Chenowith returned in the second half to add 10 rebounds and 12 points to make up for his first-quarter sluggishness.

“I was just thinking of how I could cheer my teammates on,” Chenowith said after the second foul, which happened on a rebound attempt. “I thought the second foul was ticky-tack. It made me mad. It’s unusual for me to sit down that early.”

Century (10-6) opened with a good strategy: taking the ball right at Chenowith in an attempt to get him into foul trouble. The Centurions, led by a couple of baskets from a driving Terrail Zoller, grabbed a 7-0 lead in the first two minutes and, somewhat stunned, Reynolds asked for a timeout.

Zoller, who led all scorers with 17 points, was effective inside the key in that first half with six rebounds.

But Villa Park limited the Centurions to eight points in the second quarter, rallying for a 26-23 halftime lead.

With Chenowith back and dominating the backboards, the Spartans (11-3) opened a 36-26 lead with three minutes 21 seconds left in the third quarter.

Later, Cavaco pulled off the big play, hitting a three-point baseline shot as he was fouled by Jason Farris with 1.6 seconds showing on the clock. Cavaco completed the rare four-point play and the Centurions never got within nine points after that.

“They saw me play in a tournament and I passed off a lot,” Cavaco said. “So I was looking to penetrate more. They gave me the lane and the shots went in.”

Century scored only seven points in the third quarter.