Bulldogs tie Valpo 30-30 at half, but fade in second half on road to Vikings, lose 66-53

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
02-18-2016

Team /Record 1 2 3 4 Final
CROWN POINT (12-8) 12 18 13 10 53
VALPARAISO (16-5) 18 12 21 15 66

Friday, February 12, 2016 - Duneland Athletic Conference game at VALPARAISO, Ind.

Crown Point's Blake Bonin (10) keeps an eye on Valparaiso senior Evan Walls (4)
early in last Friday's game in Valparaiso. Walls had 14 points, five steals and six
assists.
(All photos by Mark Smith)
Crown Point junior Dominic Tomich (12) looks to disrupt Valparaiso' Adrian Casady (3) last Friday at VHS. CP and Valpo were tied 30-30 at the half.
Dominic Tomich (12)and Leo Zdanowicz watch Conner Ten Hove (44) score in second quarter action. The Vikings finished undefeated at home for the second consecutive season.
Valpo's Steve Helm (10) attacks the Crown Point defense last Friday. Helm scored 21, including 16 after halftime.
CP's Leo Zdanowicz (25) sets a pick for junior Sasha Stefanovic (33). Stefanovic led CP with 17 points, 13 in the first half.
Dominic Tomich (12) chases Evan Walls (4) in last week's DAC game in Valpo. The Vikings improved to 16-5 on the season.
Grant Gelon (30) shoots over Valparaiso's Conner Ten Hove (44) in first half action last Friday. Gelon was 3-of-7 from 3-point range.
Crown Point's cheerleaders spread out below the murals for Valpo senior basketball players last Friday in Porter County. Valpo is 34-10 the last two seasons including 19-0 at home.
CP's Dominic Tomich (12) and John Sakaleros (42) make it tough for Steve Helm (10) to get a clean shot last week at VHS. Helm scored just five points on 2-of-9 shooting in the first half, but added 16 on 6-of-8 shooting in the final two periods.
New Valpo coach Barak Coolman wears an all-green suit on the night for the final home game at VHS. The Vikings remained tied with Merrillville for the DAC lead with a 66-53 win over Crown Point. (All photos by Mark Smith)
 

Copyright © 2016 USA-365.com and Meyer Multimedia Services, a division of Meyer Broadcasting Corp.  All rights reserved.
Revised: February 20, 2016 .

 

CROWN POINT (53) Grant Gelon 4-0-11, Sasha Stefanovic 5-4-17, John Sakaleros 2-1-5, Blake Bonin 1-0-3, Dominic Tomich 1-1-3, Andrew Kenneally 5-2-12, Zach Stewart 1-0-2, Leo Zdanowicz 0-0-0, Tommy Sanborn 0-0-0. TOTALS: 19 (8-14) 53.

VALPARAISO (66) Evan Walls 4-5-14, Steve Helm 8-5-21, Conner Ten Hove 6-0-13, Jay Bisacky 1-2-4, Patrick Kelly 4-2-14, Brandon Newman 0-0-0, Jack Clark 0-0-0, Baker Harris 0-0-0. TOTALS: 23 (14-19) 66.

FREE THROWS: CROWN POINT (8-14, 57.1%) Stefanovic 4-4, Kenneally 2-4, Sakaleros 1-4, Tomich 1-2. VALPO (14-17, 82.4%) Helm 5-5, Walls 5-6, Kelly 2-3, Bisacky 2-3.

ASSISTS: CROWN POINT (15) Bonin 6, Stefanovic 4, Tomich 3, Gelon, Zdanowicz; VALPO (12) Walls 6, Helm 4, Bisacky 2.

REBOUNDS: CROWN POINT (18) Kenneally 6, Stefanovic 5, Gelon 4, Sakaleros, Bonin, Zdanowicz; VALPO (20) Walls 6, Helm 6, Nisacky 4, Kelly 3, Newman.

STEALS: CP (5) Bonin 2, Gelon 2, Stewart; VALPO (8) Walls 5, Biscaky 2. Kelly.

3-GOALS: CROWN POINT (7-of 20) Grant Gelon 3, Sasha Stefanovic 3, Blake Bonin; VALPO (6-of-18) Patrick Kelly 4, Evan Walls, Conner Ten Hove.


VALPARAISO (02-12-2016) Maybe the Valparaiso Vikings can make you looked tired.

And Crown Point’s Bulldogs looked a little tired in last Friday’s late season matchup in Porter County. Tied 30-30 at halftime, the Bulldogs missed a lot of shots and made a lot of turnovers in a 66-53 loss to the Vikings in the Valpo home finale.

Vikings Steve Helm and Evan Walls controlled second half plays and CP’s distance shooting went cold as the Vikings stayed tied with Merrillville (18-1, 5-1 DAC) at the top of the Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC).

Helm, a 6-foot-4 senior, scored 14 of his game-high 21 in the third quarter with quick moving drives into the foul lane. Helm scored 12 of his 14 in the second half and totaled six rebounds, five steals and six assists.

Crown Point (12-8, 4-2 DAC), playing for the 10th time in 29 days, seemed tired at the end. The Bulldogs get just under 50 shots a game and against Valparaiso they were 19 of 42. CP also made 14 turnovers against a team that didn’t pressure them full court.

The Vikings (16-5, 5-1 DAC) led 18-12 before back-to-back 3-point shots by Grant Gelon tied the game at the end of the quarter. A steal by Gelon and a 3-pointer from Sasha Stefanovic off an assist from senior guard Blake Bonin put the Bulldogs up 38-36.

But CP sank just eight second half field goals, was only 6-of-10 from the foul line and scored only 23 points in the final two periods.

A quiet crowd of about 1,000 saw the tempo of the game slow in the final quarter as Crown Point missed field goals and Valpo made free throws.

DOG NOTES: Valparaiso won every single home game for the second season in a row. Valpo topped CP 44-41 in Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) play last season. The Vikings’ last home loss was March 5 of 2014 against Chesterton.

Crown Point’s Dominic Tomich has made 90.3% (28 of 31) of his free throw attempts in 18 games. Tomich is also 41.2% (14 of 34) from 3-point range.

Senior Grant Gelon is 27 of 32 (84.4%) from the foul line and 72 of 175 (41.4%) from 3-point range. Junior Sasha Stefanovic is 79 of 104 (76%) in free throw attempts and 33 of 87 (37.9%) on 3-point attempts. Junior forward Andrew Kenneally hasn’t taken a 3-point shot all season. But he is 82 of 136 (60.3%) on 2-point attempts. John Sakaleros is 42 of 65 (64.6%) on 2-point shots.

Senior guard Blake Bonin has 94 assists and 43 turnovers in 19 games.

Crown Point ends the season at Lowell (17-4) Friday, Feb. 26.

The draw for the state tournament will be made public this weekend after CP hosts Lake Central in Friday’s home finale.

CLASS SECTIONAL JOHNHARRELL.NET TOURNAMENT HISTORY PAST SEASONS
4A 2 E-MAIL CORRECTIONS MAP TO SCHOOL 13-8
RED, WHITE GYM SIZE: 3,800
CROWN POINT
BULLDOGS
Coach: Clint Swan, 130-93 in 10th year at school, 268-165 in 19th year overall
DATE OPPONENT RESULT / CT OA 62.8, DA 55.8
Nov. 25 at Lafayette Jeff {4A}   L   64-  71  
Dec. 5 Penn {4A}  W   85-  57  
Dec. 12 Warren Central {4A}   L   45-  47  
Dec. 18 Munster {4A}  W   53-  38  
Dec. 19 at Pike {4A}   L   60-  83  
Dec. 29 Lawrence North {4A}   L   61-  64  tournament
Dec. 29 Avon {4A}  W   90-  64  tournament
Dec. 30 Columbus East {4A}  W   83-  66  tournament
Jan. 2 South Bend Washington {4A}  W   68-  60  
Jan. 8 at Michigan City {4A}   L   55-  58  
Jan. 15 Merrillville {4A}  W   55-  50  
Jan. 16 at Griffith {3A}   L   51-  54  
Jan. 22 Chesterton {4A}  W   61-  55  
Jan. 23 Bowman Academy {2A}  W   82-  61  
Jan. 29 at LaPorte {4A}  W   53-  42  
Jan. 30 Boone Grove {2A}  W   40-  31  
Feb. 4 Portage {4A}  W   56-  29  
Feb. 6 at East Chicago Central {4A}   L   73-  80  
Feb. 9 Andrean {3A}  W   71-  51  
Feb. 12 at Valparaiso {4A}   L   53-  66  
Feb. 19 Lake Central {4A}  W   60-  44  
Feb. 23 at Hammond Morton {4A} 7:00 pm  
Feb. 26 at Lowell {4A} 7:00 pm  
DUNELAND CONFERENCE GAME    NEUTRAL COURT
 
CLASS SECTIONAL JOHNHARRELL.NET TOURNAMENT HISTORY PAST SEASONS
4A 2 E-MAIL CORRECTIONS MAP TO SCHOOL 16-6
GREEN, WHITE GYM SIZE: 5,000
VALPARAISO
VIKINGS
Coach: Barak Coolman, 16-6 in 1st year at school, 118-68 in 8th year overall
DATE OPPONENT RESULT / CT OA 64.5, DA 54.0
Nov. 25 at Boone Grove {2A}  W   50-  42  
Nov. 28 Hobart {4A}  W   69-  57  
Dec. 8 at Lowell {4A} ot  L   71-  76  
Dec. 12 at South Bend Adams {4A}  W   68-  60  
Dec. 19 Elkhart Memorial {4A}  W   70-  41  
Dec. 22 Penn {4A}  W   58-  40  
Dec. 28 Indianapolis Herron {3A}  W   91-  53  tournament
Dec. 29 Bedford North Lawrence {4A}   L   55-  58  tournament
Dec. 30 Hamilton Heights {3A}   L   71-  76  tournament
Dec. 30 Fort Wayne North {4A}   L   53-  60  tournament
Jan. 8 at Portage {4A}  W   60-  41  
Jan. 9 Zionsville {4A}  W   85-  68  
Jan. 15 Michigan City {4A}  W   62-  48  
Jan. 16 at New Prairie {3A}  W   64-  43  
Jan. 22 at Lake Central {4A}  W   66-  53  
Jan. 23 Lafayette Jeff {4A}  W   55-  37  
Jan. 29 at Merrillville {4A}   L   71-  75  
Jan. 30 Munster {4A}  W   68-  49  
Feb. 4 LaPorte {4A}  W   61-  53  
Feb. 6 Hammond Noll {2A}  W   48-  46  
Feb. 12 Crown Point {4A}  W   66-  53  
Feb. 19 at Chesterton {4A}   L   57-  58  
Feb. 20 at Concord {4A} 6:45 pm  
Feb. 26 at South Bend Clay {4A} 7:00 pm  
DUNELAND CONFERENCE GAME    NEUTRAL COURT
 
DUNELAND
ALL TIMES CENTRAL
  CONF AG OA DA AM STREAK
Merrillville 6-  1 19-  1 68.9 55.2 13.7 Won 8
Valparaiso 5-  2 16-  6 64.5 54.0 10.5 Lost 1
Crown Point 5-  2 13-  8 62.8 55.8 7.0 Won 1
Chesterton 4-  3 14-  7 63.9 60.4 3.5 Won 5
Lake Central 3-  4 12-10 50.5 49.6 0.9 Lost 4
Michigan City 3-  4 12-10 59.7 56.8 2.9 Lost 1
LaPorte 1-  6 11-  9 56.1 51.7 4.4 Lost 3
Portage 1-  6 8-14 53.5 61.1 -7.6 Won 1
Tuesday, Feb. 9
Crown Point 71, Andrean 51
East Chicago Central 63, Lake Central 55
Thursday, Feb. 11
Chesterton 67, Portage 631OT
Friday, Feb. 12
Merrillville 64, LaPorte 58
Michigan City 58, Lake Central 46
Valparaiso 66, Crown Point 53
Saturday, Feb. 13
Chesterton 60, Munster 56
Michigan City 77, Bowman Academy 59
Tuesday, Feb. 16
Chesterton 61, Hammond 58
Friday, Feb. 19
Chesterton 58, Valparaiso 57
Crown Point 60, Lake Central 44
Merrillville 67, Michigan City 62
Portage 56, LaPorte 55
Saturday, Feb. 20
LaPorte at Goshen, 6:30 pm
Merrillville at Hobart, 7 pm
Valparaiso at Concord, 6:45 pm
Tuesday, Feb. 23
Chesterton at Mishawaka Marian, 7 pm
Crown Point at Hammond Morton, 7 pm
Marquette Catholic at Lake Central, 7 pm
Morgan Twp. at Merrillville, 7 pm
Portage at Lake Station, 7 pm
Friday, Feb. 26
Boone Grove at Chesterton, 7 pm
Crown Point at Lowell, 7 pm
Elkhart Central at LaPorte, 7 pm
Hammond Morton at Portage, 7 pm
Lake Central at McCutcheon, 6:30 pm
Merrillville at Penn, 7 pm
Valparaiso at South Bend Clay, 7 pm
‡Conference game