Boone Grove wins 8th Sectional title with 44-39 win over rival Wheeler

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith
3-7-2006

Saturday, 3-4-2006 - 2A Boone Grove Sectional 33 Semifinal

HANOVER CENTRAL (38)  Charlie Huffnagle 4-2-12, Eric Gross 3-2-9, Andrew DeYoung 1-4-6, Jordan Rizo 2-0-4, Mark Myszkowski 1-0-2, Michael Wendlinger 1-0-2, Joe McClymont 1-1-3, Aaron Watson 0-0-0, Tim Kubiak 0-0-0, Jerrod Howard 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 13 (9-14) 38.

WHEELER (67)  Lamar Micou 1-1-3, Nate Kasper 7-1-15,  Mike Owen 2-3-8, Nick Pitts 4-2-11, Derek Highlan 4-2-13, Devin Schlueter 3-1-7, Tyler Koss 1-5-7, Matt Kasper 1-1-3.  TOTALS: 22 (18-24) 67.

FREETHOWS:  HANOVER (9-14, 64.5%)  Huffnagle 2-3, Gross 2-4, DeYoung 4-4, McClymont 1-2; WHEELER  (18-24, 75%) Nate Kasper 3-4, Matt Kasper 1-1, Micou 1-2, Owen 3-5, Pitts 2-2, Highland 2-2, Schlueter 1-2, Koss 5-6.

3-GOALS:  HANOVER (3) Charlie Huffnagle 2, Eric Gross; WHEELER (5) Derek Highland 3, Nick Pitts, Mike Owen.

Saturday, 3-4-2006 - Class 2A Boone Grove Sectional 33 championship

WHEELER (39)  Lamar Micou 0-3-3, Nate Kasper 5-5-16, Zach Green 2-0-5,  Mike Owen 1-3-6, Nick Pitts 2-1-7, Derek Highlan 0-0-0, Devin Schlueter 0-0-0, Tyler Koss 0-1-1, Matt Kasper 0-0-0.   TOTALS: 10 (13-18) 39.

BOONE GROVE (44)  Bryce Palleson 3-5-12, Will Mitchell 2-6-10, Jon Shurr 4-3-11, David Mastey 3-0-6,
Joe Johnson 1-0-2, Jake Pivarnik 1-0-3, Matt Pierce 0-0-0, David Block 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 14 (14-18) 44.

FREETHROWS:  WHEELER  (13-18, 72.7%) Owen 3-4, Pitts 1-2, Nate Kasper 5-6, Micou 3-4, Koss 1-2, BOONE (14-18, 77.2%) Palleson 5-6, Mitchell 6-8, Shurr 3-4.

3-GOALS:  WHEELER (6) Zach Green 2, Nick Pitts2, Mike Owen, Nate Kasper, BOONE (2) Jake Pivarnik, Bryce Palleson.

PORTER TOWNSHIP (3-4-2006) - The best games are when both sides have everything on the line.  Wheeler is one of the few Indiana high schools that has never won a boys sectional basketball tournament.  Boone Grove traditionally wins the Porter County Conference (PCC) and/or the local 2A sectional.

But in 2006, they lost the PCC tournament on a last second shot.  And Saturday, here they were against a sometimes bitter rival in front of a sellout crowd in the 2A Sectional 33 championship game.  And after a good 90-minute slowdown slugfest, it was Boone Grove again
winning 44-39.  The Wolves take on Westview (13-9) Saturday in the Class 2A North Judson Regional semifinals.  

I admit to feeling a little sorry for Wheeler.  Imagine what it's like to be an Indiana high school that's never won a post-season title of any kind in basketball.  But my sympathy was not shared by anyone on the home side Saturday.

"It feels really good," said Will Mitchell.  "There's no other way to describe it." 

"It's a big rivalry.  Ever since I've been in middle school it's been like this.  It's always like this."

"We're 25th in the state in defense," reported coach Matt McKay, now an eight-time sectional champion.  "And they're 27th."
"They wanted to make history tonight.  We've already made our history.  We just want to keep it in the present."

This was a physical game with boys large and small being knocked down and thrown around all night as game officials called just 34 fouls.
Boone Grove's physical strength decided the outcome as 6-1, 210-pound David Mastey scored six points, grabbed nine rebounds and basically pushed people around.

Wheeler's 6-6 junior center Nate Kasper scored 16, but he was not a factor in the second half as Boone built a 33-20 lead.

When Wheeler defeated Boone 54-43 in January, Boone did not have Mitchell, a 6-3 guard or 6-1 senior guard Matt Pierce, two physical senior players.

When asked what the difference in the defensive matchups was from the January game, McKay answered quickly.

"The big difference tonight was that Will Mitchell was on the floor."

When Boone got a standoff in the with Mastey and 6-4 senior Jon Shurr middle and slowed the pace, the Wheeler shooters (they have a team total of 100, three-point baskets) were simply not open.

Wheeler (19-6) did make a run in the late going. The Bearcats went to their trademark 3/4 court press which, surprisingly, they did not use in the first half.  They forced six fourth quarter turnovers and got three point shots from Kasper and Nick Pitts to cut the lead to 41-39 with 28 seconds left.

Boone junior Bryce Palleson hit three free throws in four tries to end the scoring in the final seconds.

"We let them back in it," said McKay.  "They're a good team and they made a desperate run at us.  But we were able to hold them off and that's also the sign of a good team."

Boone's season has been remarkable. They did not have Mitchell and Matt Pierce for the first 10 games and, with the exception of reserve Joe Johnson.  They really do not have a lead guard.  But they have become a very difficult team to score against as Wheeler's season-low 39 points indicates.

"We really try to pride ourselves on defense," says Mitchell. "Mastey comes out and plays hard defensively and we really needed that. He's stepped up big this year."

This was a loud game.  The Wheeler visitors played in front of a roaring crowd.  Palleson was run into the padded wall behind the Boone basket after a dunk late in the third quarter and the Wheeler crowd thought Mastey got away with pushing the Bearcat forwards all night.

Shurr said that on the floor "there was a lot of talking going on." But he smiled and added "I can't tell you exactly what was said."

Thoughts quickly turned to the regional for Boone. This will be the Wolves' eighth try at a regional title under McKay.

Shurr said, "We've got to win it for him. This time."

SECTIONAL NOTES:  Class 2A sectional champ Boone Grove is 3-2 against Class 2A schools this year, but that's a deceptive stat.  The Wolves are also 3-2 against Class 4A schools.  Boone is 9-1 against Class 1A schools but three of those games are against 1A sectional 49 champion Hebron (17-4).  This is the first time in history that Boone Grove and Hebron have both advanced beyond the sectional level.  If the Hawks and Wolves both win regional titles, they could conceivably play semistate games on the same floor in Kokomo on March 18.  

A lot of that will be determined by whether the 2A foe for Boone is Taylor or Lewis Cass, both of whom could be called suburban Kokomo schools.

The IHSAA is trying to avoid teams being on their home floor for the semistate.  In Class 1A, if heavily favored Lafayette Catholic is the foe for Boone Grove, the game would likely be in Kokomo because the other northern semistate site is Lafayette's Jefferson high school, a huge advantage for Lafayette Catholic.

This is Boone Grove's eighth sectional title and they got a leg up on the regional.  

Due to Westview's appearance in Saturday's girls state finals (they lost to Heritage Christian), that delayed the Westview boys sectional title game against Jimtown.  Boone and all their players got to travel and watch Westview beat Jimtown 32-29 Monday night.

Although Westview coaches certainly scouted the Saturday night Boone-Wheeler game (players were probably in Indianapolis to watch their girlfriends), Westview (12-9) has never seen Boone, expect on tape.  This is a small advantage at a time when you need everything you can get.  Wheeler is 76-19 over the last four years, but they have never won the sectional.

Truthfully, up until 1997, Wheeler was never going to win because they were in the same sectional with big neighbor Valparaiso.  Imagine how a Wheeler-Valpo game would have gone the last few years.  In the present five-team format (Wheeler, Boone, Lake Station, Hanover and Bishop Noll), the Bearcats will win soon.  But that present five-team sectional is going to change after next season with the IHSAA 'multiplier' reclassifying Catholic schools and enrollment still reportedly dropping at the four 3A Gary schools.

The early start (7 p.m.) to the sectional championship game fooled a lot of fans. The vast majority of sectionals begin at 7:30 p.m. But, to be fair, all PCC games (5:30 JV, 7 p.m. varsity) begin a half hour earlier than other leagues.  Wheeler, a former PCC team, also starts games 1/2 hour earlier and the 2A girls sectional had a 7 p.m. start time for the sectional final.

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