Crown
Point comes close again, but falls 58-54 to Merrillville in Boys BasketballCrown
Point comes close again, but falls 58-54 to Merrillville in Boys BasketballA USA-365.com Special Report
by Mark Smith
02-06-2011
| Team /Record | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final |
| CROWN POINT (13-3) | 15 | 7 | 11 | 21 | 54 |
| MERRILLVILLE (15-0) | 10 | 10 | 14 | 24 | 58 |
Friday, February 4, 2011 - Duneland Athletic Conference game in MERRILLVILLE, IN
CROWN POINT (54)
Sean Crary 5-2-13, Michael Albrecht 10-2-24, Jared Smoot 2-2-6, Dejan Stefanovic
1-0-2, Tommy Bardeson 1-0-3, Billy Brown 1-0-2, Evan Langbehn 1-2-4, Zak Bostian
0-0-0. TOTALS: 21 (8-13) 54.
MERRILLVILLE (58) Brandon Clark 2-5-9, Tokumbo Fashawe 3-2-8, Ed
Seay 4-0-8, Josh Hogan 6-4-16, Jeremiah Jones 6-5-17, Brandon Smith 0-2-2, Andre
Ross 0-0-0, Anton Redmon 0-0-0. TOTALS: 21 (16-24) 58.
FREE THROWS: CP (8-13, 61.5%) Smoot 2-3, Crary 2-6, Albrecht
2-2,Langbehn 2-2; MERRILLVILLE (18-28, 64.1%) Clark 5-6, Fashawe 2-4, Jones 5-7,
Seay 0-1, Hogan 4-6, Smith 2-2, Rees 0-2.
ASSISTS: CP (6) Albrecht 4, Crary 2; MERRILLVILLE (8) Jones 2,
Seay, Smith, Hogan, Fashawe.
REBOUNDS: CP (20) Smoot 5, Crary 4, Stefanovic 3, Albrecht 3,
Bardeson 2, Langbehn 2, Brown; MERRILLVILLE (24) Seay 9, Fashawe 7, Jones 4,
Hogan 3, Smith.
STEALS: CP (2) Crary 2; MERRILLVILLE (4) Jones 2, Redmon, Hogan.
FOULED OUT: CP (1) Dejan Stefanovic (4th Q) 1:17 left.
3-GOALS: CP ( 4) Michael Albrecht 2, Sean Crary, Tommy Bardeson; MERRILLVILLE (0).
CP-Boys_at_Merrillville_02-04-11.pdf
CP-Boys_1st_16-games_SeasonStats_02-07-11.pdf
But, as they did in December, the Bulldogs boys had a real chance to end Merrillville's undefeated season, holding a slim lead into the third quarter and rallying from a nine-point deficit in the final period.
"We played well for 27, 28
minutes," said CP coach Clint Swan of the 32-minute battle. "I thought we got
tired at the end."
Michael Albrecht , CP's top scorer, was the key to the game for both sides. When
the 6-foot-2 guard scored 12 in the second quarter and Sean Crary scored on a
steal and lay up at the halftime buzzer, the Bulldogs led 22-20 over the
top-ranked Pirates.
Merrillville got to the foul line
more in the second half. A lot more. The Pirates were 0-of -3 in the first half
and 16 of 24 in the fourth quarter. Crown Point was awarded just 13 free throws
all night and Albrecht, who scored 24 points and had the ball in his hands half
the game, was given only two single free throws after made baskets.
Crown Point's season-long problems on offense cost them this game. With Albrecht
and Crary, who scored 11 of his 13 points in the first half, leading the
scoring, CP needed other options. Albrecht would dribble off a screen and both
defenders involved would follow him. The Pirates had no fear of anyone but the
two senior guards and it helped them build a 48-39 lead with 3:13 left in the
game.
CP (13-3) went into a scramble comeback mode and closed to within 55-52 on a three-point shot by sophomore Tommy Bardeson with 1:02 left. Merrillville's Brandon Clark sank two foul shots with 45 seconds to go, but CP center Jared Smoot sank two foul shots with 41 seconds to go, to cut the lead to 57-54.
Crown Point then intentionally fouled Tokumbo Fashawe, who missed both free throws, giving CP the ball. Fashawe, a 6-foot-5 senior, blocked a shot by Albrecht, but the Bulldogs forced a jump ball which returned the ball to Crown Point with 30 seconds to play.
On CP's final possession, Albrecht drove to the basket and was knocked down by Merrillville's 6-foot-8 center Ed Seay. Unlike the block by Fashawe moments earlier, the Seay play was an obvious foul that simply wasn't called. Loud CP protests were ignored and CP had to intentionally foul Clark to stop the clock with six seconds to go.
Swan declined to discuss the officiating, but the CP coaches clearly thought their side could have played much better, especially in the second half.
"They're so good," said Swan of Merrillville. "I thought we played well offensively in the first half. We controlled the tempo that way. I think it (the pace) was just the way the game went. They went at Sean defensively and he got some fouls. That takes you out of the flow."
"Our guys came in at halftime and it was business as usual," recalled Swan. "They weren't especially amped up. We're a senior-dominated team. They've been through all this before. They played the 'ball screen' better in the second half and Spike got a little tired. I'm not very good at getting him out of the game (Albrecht played the entire game). I've got to do a better job of getting him a couple of minutes. That's my fault."
Merrillville was not sharp, taking
bad shots and stalling out offensively against the CP defense. The post game
script said that they hadn't thought about Munster (14-0) and the Saturday
showdown all week, but nobody took those comments seriously.
DOG NOTES: Edward Seay again got the best of CP's Jared Smoot inside. Smoot
scored six points with five rebounds while Seay, a 6-foot-8 junior, had eight
rebounds, eight points and two blocked shots.
Merrillville was 11-0 in 1999 before finishing at 22-4. The Pirates lost the season opener before winning 18 in a row in 1997. They finished at 22-3. Merrillville won 18 games in a row on their way to the state finals in 1995. Present day assistant coach TJ Lux was a starting forward on that team.
Crown Point has fallen back into their habit of losing to Merrillville. In 2007 to 2009, Crown Point won four of six from the Pirates, but last Friday's loss was their fourth in a row to their neighboring school to the north.
Before that, Merrillville had defeated CP 16 consecutive times dating back to a 1998 Crown Point victory in the championship game of the Merrillville sectional. Since that game, Merrillville has been 22-4 vs. Crown Point over 13 years. Unofficially, Merrillville was credited with eight turnovers and CP committed nine. The Purdue University band performed during the game as part of a musical exchange program with Merrillville high school.
The state tournament draw is Sunday, Feb. 20 at 6 p.m.
Merrillville's Raveen Murray scored 30 points, including 17 in the second half as Merrillville rallied to beat Crown Point 81-74. Kendall Brown scored 16 for the Lady Bulldogs (13-7), who led 47-37 at halftime. CP played without Lisa Kurth (concussion), Hayley Bordui (illness) and Zarah Cecich (college visit). This game originally had been planned to be played on Thursday. Feb. 3 but it was bumped back to Friday by last week's snowstorm.
Crown Point had earlier defeated the Lady Pirates 68-54 in December. The two teams are in opposite halves of the eight-team Class 4A Portage Sectional and cannot meet again until the Feb. 12 championship game.
"You know how I feel about the draw," said CP coach Mike Cronkhite, who was happy with his short-handed teams' play. "We've played everybody there and who ever we draw (Valparaiso) we'll just line up and play them again."
Crown Point defeated Valparaiso twice this season 56-54 and 57-56. The two teams meet in Tuesday's second semifinal game at 7:30 p.m.
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