Wildcats fall on road to 59ers, 62-45

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
01-10-2015

Team /Record	1	2	3	4	Final
HANOVER (3-6)	12	7	14	12	45
ANDREAN (3-4)	14	16	12	20	62

Friday, January 2, 2015 - Non-Conference game in MERRILLVILLE, Ind.

The Andrean student section watches Jordan Smith (5) attack the 59er defense. (All photos by Mark Smith)

HC junior Blake Maris (0) shoots over Colin Flowers (4) early in last Friday's (01-02-2015) game at Andrean.

HC's Payton Smith (23) looks for a teammate in the nonconference game against Andrean.

Andrean's Parker Huttel (14) moves the ball around the perimeter against Hanover Central.

Alex Provenzano (3) shoots over Nick Podkul (3) in the nonconference game between Andrean and Hanover. The two teams could meet again in 3A Sectional 18 at Calumet in March.

Andrean's Colin Flowers (4) tries to catch up to Hanover's Blake Maris (0) in the Hanover-Andrean matchup. The 59ers won 62-45. (All photos by Mark Smith)

Copyright © 2015 USA-365.com and Meyer Multimedia Services, a division of Meyer Broadcasting Corp.  All rights reserved. Revised: January 17, 2015 .

HANOVER (45) Jordan Smith 1-4-7, Brandon Sears 4-0-10, Payton Smith 2-2-7, Bobby McClelland 4-0-8, Billy McClelland 1-0-3, Blake Maris 2-3-8, Daquan McDonald 1-0-2. TOTALS: 15 (9-11) 45.

ANDREAN (62) Nick Podkul 3-1-8, Aidan Finigan 4-0-8, Matt Anjorin 5-0-10, Colin Flowers 5-0-13, Evan Galindo 1-2-4, Jonothan Kirby-White 3-6-14, Dean Chance 1-0-3. Chris Wolak 0-0-0. TOTALS: 22 (11-19) 62.

FREE THROWS: HANOVER (9-11, 81.8%) Jordan Smith 4-6, Payton Smith 2-2, Maris 3-3 ; ANDREAN (11-19, 57.8%) Galindo 2-3, Podkul 1-2, Finigan 0-1, Flowers 0-2, Kirby-White 8-11.

REBOUNDS: HANOVER (19) Payton Smith 7, Bobby McClelland 4, Jordan Smith 3, Sears 3, McDonald 2
ANDREAN (25) Anjorin 9, Finigan 4, Chance 4, Flowers 4, Kirby-White 2, Podkul 2.

ASSISTS: HANOVER (11) Maris 3, Payton Smith 3, Jordan Smith 2, Billy McClelland 2, Bobby McClelland' ANDREAN (12) Flowers 2, Podkul 2, Anjorin 2, Huttel, Galindo,

STEALS: HANOVER (2) Billy McClelland, Payton Smith; ANDREAN (3) Kirby-White 2, Flowers.

BLOCKED SHOTS: HANOVER (1) McDonald; ANDREAN (5) Anjorin 2.

3-GOALS: HANOVER (6) Brandon Sewars 2, Jordan Smith, Payton Smith, Blake Maris, Billy McClelland; ANDREAN (5) Colin Flowers 3, Nick Podkul, Dane Chance.

That comparative score thing can be tricky, though.

The 59ers (3-4), playing their first game in two weeks, pulled away from Hanover in the fourth quarter for a 62-45 victory. A game neither side was too happy with.

"It's a win," said Andrean coach Scott Hicko, who wasn't thrilled. "We in no way took them lightly. We haven't won enough to do that. They got some offensive rebounds and they hung around. But it's a win. We'll take it."

"Since we beat Wheeler and Wheeler beat them," said HC coach Bryon Clouse, "I'm a little disappointed. It wasn't a 17-point game. We were 45-40 in the fourth quarter. But we were 9 of 30 on 2s (two point shots) and 6 of 21 on 3s."

"We didn't play with strength. Sometimes we did, but in the end we didn't. They were more physical."

Hanover led 7-6 and trailed 12-10 after three free throws by junior guard Blake Maris late in the first quarter.

Andrean forward Matt Anjorin and guard Jonothan Kirby-White split 12 second quarter points to boost the 59ers to a 30-19 halftime lead in front of a small post New Year's day crowd.

The Wildcats (3-6) scored six in a row to cut the 59er lead to 32-25 midway in the third quarter and and two three-point shots by Brandon Sears helped the visitors pull within 37-33 in the final minute of the third quarter.

Andrean's 6-foot-7 junior center Aidan Finigan scored three baskets early in the final period to push the 59ers up 51-42 with 3:50 to go.

Hanover seemed to wear down after that, scoring just one basket the rest of the way, a three-point goal by Payton Smith with 1:04 left.

Andrean pulled away despite making just 11 of 19 from the line in the final quarter, including 5-of-8 from White.

"That might have been his best game of the year," said Hicko. "He came off the bench and gave us some energy. We have to play the entire game. We need more intensity from the start."

Hanover's road to being a top team lasts longer than this season but, if Andrean is the 3A (Calumet) Sectional 18 favorite, HC left Merrillville with reason to believe they could compete with the 59ers in two months.

"We're better," he said. "We're better than last year. We just have to get everybody back and believe in ourselves."

CAT NOTES: Andrean played Hanover Central Friday without senior guard Ben Davidson, who had a knee injury, but was very close to returning to active play last week.

Davidson returned and scored six points Saturday night as Andrean won at Morton 77-70 in two overtimes. The 59ers play defending state Class 1A champ Marquette in Michigan City Saturday night, Jan. 10.

Hanover is without junior guard Nate Novak, sophomore guard Dustin Lindley and senior forward Brad Witvoet, all of who should be back on the active roster soon.

Hanover's 6-foot-2 senior forward Brandon Sears, who didn't play basketball last year, is a physical presence for the team close to the basket. But it was a bit of a surprise to see him fire up some three-point shots.

"No, he has the 'green light' to shoot those," said coach Bryan Clouse. "We had six 3s and he made two of them. He can make that shot. He gives us a lot of strength near the basket; that we need."