Chesterton coach Marc Urban has come to expect the kind of performance that Jake Wadding gave in a 50-48 victory over 21st Century on Friday in front of a raucous, full-house road crowd.

Wadding finished with 29 points and nine rebounds. He was 11-of-16 from the floor and 6-of-7 from the free-throw line.

Those numbers rarely waver.

Urban wonders whether other people know how good Wadding, a 6-foot-4 senior forward, really is.

“Honestly, I don’t know if Jake gets the respect he deserves,” Urban said. “He’s averaging around 21 points on not a lot of shots. I’m glad he’s my guy. He’s a great kid, and he made a lot of winning plays (Friday).”

With the Trojans (6-0) trailing by three points with 1:22 left, Wadding sliced through the middle of the lane, scored and got fouled. He made the free throw to tie it at 45-45.

Wadding finished it off when he made two free throws with 6.5 seconds left. That gave the Trojans a 50-47 lead.

21st Century (6-1) had a chance to tie it when Johnell Davis, who finished with 24 points, was fouled with less than a second left. Davis missed the first free throw, made the second and then tried to throw the ball off the rim and get it back for one final shot. It didn’t work out.

Wadding never acts like it’s a big deal when he carries his team.

He credited his teammates for finding him when he tied the score.

“They found me in an open lane and got the ball to me in the right spot,” he said.

Wadding was 6-for-6 from the line in the fourth quarter.

He is unflappable in those situations.

“You don’t think about it,” he said of shooting the free throws with the game in the balance. “You just go up there and knock them down.”

For the Cougars, this is a game that got away.

The Cougars had a seven-point lead in the fourth quarter on a Davis bucket with 5:20 left. That gave them a 40-33 lead.

They just couldn’t put the Trojans away.

21st Century couldn’t make shots. They finished 19-of-52 from the floor.

Davis said it was just a difficult night shooting the ball.

“Our defense was good,” he said. “We just didn’t come up with the plays we needed. Everybody has an off night.”

The game lived up to its hype. Chesterton is ranked No. 1 by the Post-Tribune, and 21st Century is No. 2.

“I loved the atmosphere,” Davis said. “I like to play in front of big crowds. I just block everything out.”