NORTH JUDSON, IN (3-12-2005) - As the years go by, the close losses become the hardest to take.

There's a fairness in simply getting blown out. Not being good enough. It's the natural order of things.

But for the eighth time in 20 years, Boone Grove followed up a sectional championship by losing the regional, this time a late night 48-46 overtime loss Saturday to unranked John Glenn in the finals of the North Judson regional.

There was a feeling here of opportunity missed. Boone overcame two lackluster first halves by rallying to beat North Montgomery 51-40 and lead Glenn 38-33 on a layup by Kyle Krol with 3:19 to play in front of 2,500 fans in the old North Judson gymnasium.

But Glenn, which beat Rensselaer 58-47 in the days' first semifinal, took advantages of two Boone turnovers and got a two-point shot from Brandon Egger plus a three-point goal from Joe Curtis to tie the game with 1:31 left.

Another Boone turnover gave Glenn the ball and the boys from southern St. Joseph's county held the ball for a final shot. The Falcons, who came off a sectional upset of No. 1 Jimtown on March 5, set up a backdoor pass to Chris Walls for a layup. But Boone's Danny Borys blocked the shot and caught the ball, calling time out with three seconds left. Boone could not set up a wining shot, sending the game to overtime.

Glenn took two-point leads on four different occasions in the extra four minutes, the last one being on two free throws by senior Joe Curtis with 27 seconds to play.

Boone set up a three-point shot for sophomore Jake Pivarnik, but the shot was partially blocked by Jared Thompson. Glenn's Chris Walls was fouled but he missed the front end of the 1-and-1 free throw opportunity. Boone called time out with five seconds to play and again set up a winning three-point shot and Joe Faron's shot to win the game hit the front of the rim and bounced back.

Borys, who scored all 14 of his points in the second half, grabbed the rebound but his hurried push shot missed everything as the Glenn student body rushed the floor to celebrate the first regional win in the history of the Walkerton, Indiana school.

“We've had a helluva school year,” said coach Gordon Mosson, who was very emotional afterwards. “Our football team reached the semistate. Six of these guys played on that team. I was so proud of our team. Boone was dead tired. We were tired. You don't win 19 games without thinking you can win games down the stretch. The class system helped this but it was Hoosier Hysteria at its best.”

Boone's Matt McKay was equally emotional. “We had about three options on that last play,” he said. “We had Borys, we had the option of looking for a hole to streak to the basket. And we had the option of Faron shooting. To be honest with you, we were going for the win. The way our guys were looking we needed to get the game over. We couldn't go another overtime. And Joe had a good look. It just didn't go in.”

The Wolves, who were strong in winning three games at the Wheeler sectional, did not play top flight basketball against either North Montgomery or Glenn. The Wolves trailed in the semifinal game by 13 points before a 26-5 fourth quarter run stole the game from North Montgomery.

The championship game was very similar. In a slow-paced game, Glenn led 30-22 with 1:16 left in the third quarter. Joe Curtis' desperation 25-foot three-point shot at the buzzer gave Glenn a 33-27 lead after three quarters.

But Boone, which used just six players for the vast majority of the two games, again rallied. Borys, the Porter County Conference (PCC) scoring champion, hit three baskets in a row to put his side ahead 34-33. Two free throws and a layup by Kyle Krol upped the lead to 38-33 with 3:19 left and it appeared that Glenn could not respond.

But the Wolves fumbled away three consecutive possessions to put Glenn back in the game.

“We made some bad decisions with the ball,” McKay noted. “We let them back in the game and they took advantage.”

Boone also gave up two baskets, especially the three-point shot by Curtis, who led all scorers with 15. On the game tying play, Glenn ran a weaving attack out front and Boone just didn't move quickly when Curtis popped out for a wide open three-pointer.

The Falcons, with no player taller than 6-foot-3, used an 'open offense' with no true center. Glenn wasn't an offensive force by any means but they did score a half dozen baskets on bounce passes from beyond the foul line to wing players cutting to the basket for layups.

“They are very well schooled,” said McKay of Glenn. “That's a Gordon Mosson trademark. He's got this team playing well at the right time.”

The Falcons held the ball at the end of all four quarters, using a minute or more to set up the final shot. They scored the final basket of the quarter three times before Borys' blocked shot at the end.

Boone's inherent weakness cost them the regional title. The wolves relied almost entirely on seniors Borys, Krol and Faron, plus junior Jon Shurr and Will Mitchell and sophomore Jake Pivarnik.

Playing twice in the same day and straining to come from behind in the fourth quarter long after Glenn had beaten Rensselaer, Boone was obviously tired in the late going. Faron and Pivarnik, who took the final three point shots, played all but 30 seconds of both games, over 65 minutes total.

“Danny played about 64 minutes,” said McKay. “Everybody was tired. They were too. But I wish that just once we could get the first semifinal game.”

There is a flip side of every coin. For the Falcons, this might have been the biggest day in the history of the school's basketball program. Glenn coach Gordon Mosson had waited 23 years (334-185) to win the regional title and he was a little stunned afterwards.

“This has been a long time coming for our community, our schools, and I'm not too self-centered but it's been a long time coming for me, too. That's why there's a few tears right now. I'm going to turn 50 this year and I feel like 60.”

Glenn won just two sectionals (1989-1991) under the one-class system so Mosson, a Rossville and Purdue graduate, a life long resident of Indiana and a 300-win coach, had never been beyond the regional level until this night.

“I've got two brothers here tonight and I lost my oldest brother about three years ago,” he said looking off into the distance.

“We lost my mom a year ago. I lost my dad a long time ago and my mom raised three of us. But my brothers are here and I've got sisters in law. They came all the way from Rossville-Lafayette. They drove two hours to see this. It's just a great thing for them to be here tonight.”

Glenn (20-6) is a prohibitive underdog against speedy Harding (14-9), a team that has played an elite schedule including the other members of the inner-city Summit Athletic Conference. The Falcons won't be favored in the Huntington North Class 2A Semistate this Saturday but remember, they weren't favored the last two weeks either. Glenn's 20-win season is their first since they went 20-4 and lost to Plymouth in the old one class format in 1994.

For Boone, you have to hope their day at the state finals will come. The Wolves return three fine players in 6-4 Jon Shurr, 5-10 guard Jake Pivarnik and 6-3 wing Will Mitchell.

But Wheeler will field a strong team again for the 2006 playoffs and North Montgomery returns 6-6 center Kevin Kyle and 5-9 freshman Kyle Calder. And nobody's going to overlook Gordon Mosson and Glenn (90-48 in the last six years) again after this year.

“There are 350 some schools that would like to be here,” said McKay sadly, leaning up against the North Judson locker room door. The Boone coach looked like he had been there before.

WOLF NOTES: Boone won only two sectionals (1983 and 1997) under the one class system. This was the sixth time in nine years Boone had advanced to the regional and the sixth time they'd been in the regional title game (the regional consisted of just one game in 1998, 1999 and 2000), but Boone has yet to win. Four of the games have been decided by eight points or less and two have gone to overtime.

Boone didn't get any foul shots in the first half and they were called for two offensive fouls. A very physical double team kept the ball away from scoring leader Danny Borys.

“They (the officials) kept saying we were initiating the contact,” said McKay, who pleaded for (and received) some foul call and foul shots after halftime. “It doesn't always matter who initiates contact. If there's contact, its a foul unless its a player control foul.”

Borys was clearly fouled in the backcourt with the score tied 38-38 and two seconds left. The 6-4 Boone senior was clearly pushed by Dylan Morris near the sideline, who tried to bump the Wolves' star out of bounds. Officials ignored the foul and Borys missed a 40-foot desperation shot. The foul did not prevent Borys from shooting and he was not likely to hit the game winning shot from where the play began. But most everyone in the building saw the foul.

“That most definitely was a foul,” said McKay, who witnessed the foul in front of the Boone bench. “But they (officials) are not going to call that at that time. No way they're going to call that.”

McKay boosted Borys for Indiana all-star consideration. “Nobody's really stopped him,” said McKay. “He's one of the top players in our area. (Andrean's) Luke Harangody can't stop him. Now, he can't stop Harangody either. All I know is, at the top-100 workout, he scored on everybody.”

The Boone win over North Montgomery was almost miraculous as the Wolves, held to 25 points for three periods, scored 26 in the final quarter. North Montgomery hit seven three-point shots to build a 30-17 lead, but Will Mitchell came off the bench to score 15 and help Borys (20 points) lead a comeback.

“That's been a little of what we've done all year,” said McKay. “Just stay in ball games until we get a run. That's the way it was in both games today. But we did finally get a run in both games.”

The regional final loss prevented Boone's first 20-win season in 22 years. The Wolves were 21-4 in 1981 and since then, they have won 19 games in 1980, 1983, 1996, 1997 and 2005. Boone finished with 18 wins in 1985, 1998, and 2000.

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1983

Sectional

BOONE 82, North Newton 55

BOONE 88, Rensselaer 76

BOONE 53, Kankakee Valley 51

Regional

Attica 57, BOONE 56

1997

Sectional

BOONE 64, Kouts 46

BOONE 64, Kankakee Valley 47

Regional

Winamac 80, BOONE 49

1998

2A Sectional

BOONE 53, North Newton 51

BOONE 56, Wheeler 45

BOONE 75, River Forest 72 (OT)

2A Regional

Bremen 47, BOONE 29 (title game)

1999

(2A) Sectional

BOONE 75, Wheeler 65
BOONE 76, North Newton 59

BOONE 60, Lake Station 41

Regional

Bremen 54, BOONE 51 (title game)

2000

(2A) Sectional

BOONE 66, Hebron 55

BOONE 90, Lake Station 46

BOONE 52, Wheeler 50

Regional

Knox 62, BOONE 57 (title game)

2002

Sectional

BOONE 63, Rensselaer 51

BOONE 59, Wheeler 57

Regional

BOONE 47, Fairfield 40

Jimtown 56, BOONE 48 (OT)

2003

Sectional

BOONE 64, Rensselaer 58 (OT)

BOONE 69, Wheeler 66

Regional

BOONE 71, Triton 59 (OT)

Northfield 59, BOONE 42

2005

Sectional

BOONE 56, Lake Station 16

BOONE 76, Hanover Central 57

BOONE 75, Bishop Noll 69

Regional

BOONE 51, North Montgomery 49

John Glenn 48, BOONE 46 (OT)

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BOONE GROVE (19-7)

Coach: Matt McKay, 186-110 in 13th year at school

DATE	OPPONENT	RESULT / TIME	OTHER INFO
Nov. 24	at Valparaiso {4A}	L   48-  61
Dec. 3	Washington Twp. {1A}‡	W   59-  42
Dec. 10	River Forest {1A}	W   71-  20
Dec. 17	at LaCrosse {1A}‡	W   49-  34
Dec. 22	Kouts {1A}	W   56-  47	tournament
Dec. 23	Hebron {1A}	W   51-  39	tournament

Jan. 7	at Hanover Central {2A}‡	W   60-  53
Jan. 8	Wheeler {2A}	W   58-  45
Jan. 14	at South Central (Union Mills) {1A}‡	W   56-  33
Jan. 15	at Portage {4A}	L   43-  54
Jan. 20	Hebron {1A}	W   53-  32	tournament
Jan. 22	LaCrosse {1A}	W   56-  35	tournament
Jan. 24	Kouts {1A}	3ot  L   68-  70	tournament
Jan. 28	Kouts {1A}‡	W   68-  56
Jan. 29	Merrillville {4A}	L   65-  75
Feb. 4	at Morgan Twp. {1A}‡	W   51-  48
Feb. 5	at North Judson {2A}	2ot W   58-  50
Feb. 15	Hebron {1A}‡	L   52-  54
Feb. 18	at Kankakee Valley {3A}	W   68-  59
Feb. 22	Chesterton {4A}	L   51-  63
Feb. 25	Calumet {3A}	W   58-  50

Mar. 1	(n)Lake Station {2A}	W  59-  16	sectional
Mar. 4	(n)Hanover Central {2A}	W  76-  57	sectional
Mar. 5	(n)Hammond Noll {2A}	W  75-  69	sectional
Mar. 12	(n)North Montgomery {2A}	W  51-  40	regional
Mar. 12	(n)Glenn {2A}	ot  L  44-  46	regional

‡PORTER COUNTY CONFERENCE GAME

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Revised: March 14, 2005 .