East Chicago Central coach Pete Trgovich knows he has one of the best inside players in the area in Jibril Harris.
His problem revolves around keeping Harris on the floor.
On Saturday, Harris played his first full game of the year without getting in foul trouble.
The 6-foot-7 senior finished with 17 points in a 55-48 victory over Griffith.
Make no mistake. This was Harris’ show.
“It’s awesome to be able to play and help my team win,” he said.
The game turned EC’s way in the third quarter when the Cardinals started dumping it down low to Harris after getting him isolated on one side of the floor.
That helped the Cardinals beat Griffith’s trap. Harris scored 13 in the second half.
With East Chicago trailing 34-29 with just over two minutes left in the quarter, Harris scored six straight points.
Griffith’s Jake Dye was able to sandwich a basket in during the Harris run.
The Cardinals (9-6) took lead for good on a basket by Devonte Jones with 7:13 left.
Harris has only fouled once this season. But Trgovich couldn’t remember a game during which Harris didn’t have to sit early because of foul trouble.
One of Trgovich’s projects going to forward will be to consistently keep Harris on the floor.
With quality guards such as Jermaine Couisnard (19 points) and Alyion Stubbs (8 points), a productive Harris, who has lost 20 pounds since the season started, would mean a lot for ECC.
“We just haven’t seen him enough,” Trgovich said. “He’s always in foul trouble. He just doesn’t move his feet enough. He is so skilled he thinks his skills will take care of everything.”
Harris said the officials told him he was using his body too much. Harris was perplexed by this.
“That’s what my body is for,” he said.
Trgovich likes him because he’s a true inside player. There is no outside part to his game.
“He plays like a big,” Trgovich said. “He’s not one of those bigs that wants to be a 3-point shooter.”
For Griffith (13-2), it was another game that got away.
The Panthers were leading Crown Point at halftime a week earlier, but lost by 12.
Griffith led for most of the second and third quarter. It was up 26-21 with 5:58 left in the third.
That’s when Griffith coach Gary Hayes thought his team could extend its lead.
Instead, the Panthers got caught in Harris’ snare.
Hayes was disappointed with his team’s shot selection. The Panthers took too many 3-point shots in the second half.
“We took too many quick threes,” he said. “We didn’t go hard enough to the basket.”
Tarves Arnold led Griffith with 12 points and Dye added 11.
Twitter @MikeHuttonPT
