Bulldogs sweep DAC double-header: 43-34 in girls game, 56-49 in boys game

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
01-08-2012

CP's Tommy Bardeson (21) protects the ball against Chesterton's KJ Zelenika (3) in last week's game in CP. Bardeson had 14 points and seven rebounds. (All photos by Mark Smith)

CP's Zach Plesac brings the ball up the floor against Chesterton. Plesac had six points and four assists as the Bulldogs won 56-49.

Crown Point's Braxton Rice (23) gets a shot off over the Chesterton defense. Rice moves to center in the absence of starting center Nick Jeffirs.

CP's Braxton Rice (23) is surrounded by Matt Holba (4) and KeMonte Price on the foul line in last the DAC game last Friday night (1-7-2012) game against Chesterton.

CP's Dejan Stefanovic (24) wants to cause problems for Chesterton's Cole Teal before he gets to the three-point line. Chesterton sank nine three-point field goals, but CP won 66-59. (All photos by Mark Smith)

CP's Braxton Rice (23) leaps to disrupt the shot of Chesterton freshman Matt Holba (4) in last Friday's DAC game.

CP's Zach Plesac (12) is aware the Trojans Corey Rusboldt (14) is sneaking up behind him in the first half of CP's 56-49 victory. (All photos by Mark Smith)

CHESTERTON (49) KeMonte Price 3-2-10, Cole Teal 4-1-10, KJ Zelenika 3-0-8, Matt Holba 1-2-4, Corey Rusboldt 2-2-6, Donnie Johnson 2-1-7, Jacob Wasielewski 2-0-4. TOTALS: 17 (6-9) 49.

CROWN POINT (56) Zach Plesac 1-4-6, Braxton Rice 2-2-6, Dejan Stefanovic 3-2-8, Tommy Bardeson 5-2-14, Bret Barclay 7-4-18, Sean Kelly 2-0-4, Zak Bostian 0-0-0, Alex Nickla 0-0-0. TOTALS: 20 (14-19) 56.

FREE THROWS: CHESTERTON (6-9, 66.6%) Price 2-2, Holba 2-2, Johnson 1-2, Teal 1-1, Zelenika 0-1, Wasielewski 0-1; CROWN POINT (14-19, 73.7%) Plesac 4-4, Barclay 4-6, Bardeson 2-3, Rice 2-4, Stefanovic 2-2.

REBOUNDS: CHESTERTON (27) Johnson 7, Holba 6, Zelenika 6, Rusboldt 3, Wasielewski 2, Teal 2, Price; CROWN POINT (32) Barclay 7, Bardeson 7, Stefanovic 6, Kelly 5, Plesac 5, Rice, Bostian.

ASSISTS: CHESTERTON (10) Price 6, Zelenika 3, Holba; CROWN POINT (10) Plesac 4, Bardeson 3, Barclay 2, Kelly.

3-GOALS: CHESTERTON (9) Price 2, Zelenika 2, Rusboldt 2, Johnson 2, Teal; CROWN POINT (2) Tommy Bardeson 2.

 

CHESTERTON (34) Sarah Richards 0-1-1, Jocelyn Lipscomb 5-2-14, Lindsay Gorman 1-9-12, Annette Frank 2-0-5, Hannah McCafferty 1-0-2, Caroline Puntillo 0-0-0, Kelly Braun 0-0-0, Hannah VanDrie 0-0-0, Kassidy Scott 0-0-0. TOTALS: 9 (12-16) 34.

CROWN POINT (43) Michaela Prough 6-0-12, Kendall Brown 4-1-10, Alexis Joseph 4-0-8, Beth Ingram 1-0-2, Courtney Kvachkoff 3-2-8, Abby Kvachkoff 1-0-2, Morgan Frame 0-1-1, Lauren O'Keefe 0-0-0. TOTALS: 19 (4-7) 43.

FREE THROWS: CHESTERTON (12-16, 75%) Gorman 9-12, Lipscomb 2-2, Richards 1-2; CROWN POINT (4-7, 57.1%) Brown 1-3, Frame 1-2, Courtney Kvachkoff 2-2.

REBOUNDS: CHESTERTON (19) Gorman 5, Puntillo 3, Scott 2, Conway 2, Braun 2, Lipscomb 2, McCafferty, Richards, Frank;
CROWN POINT (29) Joseph 7, Prough 6, Frank 4, Courtney Kvachkoff 4, Abby Kvachkoff 3, Ingram 3, Brown 2.

ASSISTS: CHESTERTON (6) Richards 2, Conway, Puntillo, Braun Lipscomb; CROWN POINT (12) Brown 4, Courtney Kvachkoff 2, Abby Kvachkoff 2, Prough 2, Ingram, Frame.

3-GOALS: CHESTERTON (4) Jocelyn Lipscomb 2, Annette Frank, Lindsay Gorman; CROWN POINT (1) Kendall Brown.

CROWN POINT, IN (01-06-2012) The annual Crown Point-Chesterton girls boys double-header went the way most Crown Point-Chesterton games go. It's a lot easier to play defense than it is offense in girls basketball. Effort trumps skill. Boys basketball is often exactly the opposite. Skill, size and speed eventually trumps effort.

There was a lot of effort in Crown Point's 43-34 girls win over Chesterton and the Bulldogs' bigger, slightly more skilled players finally won out in the boys 56-49 win over the Trojans.

"They are us," said CP boys coach Clint Swan, who took time to talk specifically with 6-foot-6 Chesterton freshman Matt Holba after the game in the handshake line. "I told him I can believe I have to face you for four years. They (Chesterton) are young. They are athletic. They're playing a freshman. They're playing a sophomore. They're making the mistakes that young teams make. Hopefully we can improve more than they do in the years to come because they're going to improve. And we are too."

After an early four-game losing streak, the tide is clearly turning for Crown Point (4-6), which won for the second time in the week.

CP's 6-foot-5 junior guard Tommy Bardeson had 14 points, seven rebounds and three assists against Chesterton, tossing a couple of them to 6-foot-5 forward Bret Barclay, who scored 18 with seven rebounds.

The Bulldogs' 6-foot-6 junior forward Braxton Rice had just six points, but added two steals and two blocked shots while 6-foot-5 junior Sean Kelly chipped in five rebounds and four points in just 11 minutes of play, both filling time formerly played by 6-foot-5 freshman center Nick Jeffirs, who is ill and out indefinitely.

As out of control and as young (none of CP's starters are seniors) as they are at times, any high school team with four athletic 6-foot-5 complimentary players and a good coaching staff is eventually going to win consistently. It's only a matter of time.

Chesterton led 7-0 and 27-18 in the first half as the Trojans hit five three-point shots in the first half and got four assists from senior guard KeMonte Price. In the second half, CP's defense tightened and they slowly pulled ahead despite poor (20 of 50, 40%) shooting and 15 turnovers.

"Before, we were scoring, turning the ball over and giving up a basket at the other end," said Swan. "Now, we're scoring, turning it over but getting a stop. We're not compounding our mistakes."

"I couldn't be happier with the first half of the season." said Swan, who Friday coached the 10th game of the 20-game regular season.

"At the start of the year, we'd have signed up for 4-6," said Swan, whose largely now-graduated squad went 18-4 last season.

"At the start of this year we're playing Tuesday-Friday, Tuesday-Friday, Tuesday-Saturday and there wasn't much time for consecutive practices to work on ourselves and get better. And we lost a very close game (65-64) to a very good Merrillville team. And we lost another very close game (64-56 in overtime) to an East Chicago team."

The Bulldogs still make crazy passes (15 turnovers) at bad times and hard charging guards Bardeson and Zach Plesac still run over the other boys at times, but Swan insists that while he stresses out over the turnovers, he doesn't want this tall team to play conservatively.

"I don't want a team that makes no turnovers," Swan said. 'Because that mean they're not taking any chances. But by the same token, we've got to be more careful with the ball."

We've got to take the bad with the good. Those guys have got to cut down on mistakes and unforced errors, but they're both very talented."

Sophomore rookie forward Bret Barclay scored 11 of his 18 points in the second half and was impressive doing it. He sank face-the-basket jump shots and he scored on post moves. At mid-season the 6-foot-5, 185-pounder averages 12.3 but he shows potential to increase that in the second half of the year.

"He struggled in the first half," said Swan. "In the second half we just told him to be aggressive. They trapped him on the very first possession and he throws a skip pass to Plesac. Perfect decision. Plesac got fouled. As little as that seemed on paper, it gave him confidence for the rest of the game to go from there."

"We could be a lot worse than we are. We've made it through the first half of the season intact. If we stay healthy and keep getting better we can play with anybody in the league."

LADY BULLDOG NOTES: The CP-Chesterton girls game was another in a long series of the grinding, low-scoring games between the two schools.

Chesterton, which truly had no low-post player, was 9-of-36 from the floor, but they were able to pressure CP, which has only three guards on the roster. The Lady Bulldogs (9-6) broke a two-game losing streak with a strong game from 6-foot-1 Michaela Prough, who was 6-of-8 from the floor for 12 points and six rebounds.

Kendall Brown scored 10 points with four assists and just three turnovers in her best game since a three-week absence due to a concussion.

Head injures are difficult for everyone including players because their knowledge of themselves and how they feel is exactly what the injury affects. Brown didn't play well when she came back, but was it the injury or just the time off?
"I had the whole concussion thing," Kendall said after Friday's game. "I don't know. I lost some confidence."

If you wonder how players know if they're over a concussion, the truth is that they don't.

"No really," Brown says. "I took the test and I get better scores. Good enough to come back. I felt a lot better. But I wasn't playing the same."

There's a certain aspect of fear involved as well, even after the doctors and brain scans say you can play.

"I sure didn't want to take a charge anymore," she laughed. "You never really know. I tried to fib when I first got hurt because I wanted to play. It's my senior year. But she said, "You better not lie to me."

Considering the fact that the Lady Bulldogs have missed Brown, not to mention junior guards Sarah Rivich and Haley Bordui, who have not and will not play this season, a 9-6 record after 15 games is a good record.

"I think we're doing well. We're adjusting. For the seniors, this is our third coach in four years. So we're used to adjusting."

"I wasn't on the varsity when I was a freshman, but this (coach Anne Equihua's philosophy) is a lot the same as that. A lot of (long time former coach) Tom May stuff. I think we're doing OK."

BULLDOG NOTES: Freshman center Nick Jeffirs will be out most likely until February with mononucleosis. Folks connected with the team did not think this would end Jeffirs' season. The freshman averages 4.8 points and 2.5 rebounds per game so far.

Tommy Bardeson played with a fairly large bandage wrapped on his left hand last Friday. The 6-foot-5 junior, who averages 15.9 points per game, was 5-of-16 from the floor against Chesterton with seven rebounds, three assists and just two turnovers playing all 32 minutes.

With Lake Central (8-2, 6-1) taking an upset loss at Michigan City and Merrillville (6-4, 5-2) winning 57-42 at Valparaiso (8-2, 5-2) on Jan. 3, the Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) race was not over at mid-season as it appeared it might be. Crown Point (4-6, 3-4) realistically can't finish first, but other positions seem reachable.

"There's a lot of parity in our league," said CP coach Clint Swan. "There's a lot of parity in our sectional. We can play with anybody if we keep improving."

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Revised: January 09, 2012 .