Pirates hold on to beat Bulldogs 65-64 in Boys Basketball

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
12-28-2011

Merrillville's Jake Raspopovich (10) brings the ball up the floor against CP Tuesday night (12-27-2011). All photos by Mark Smith.

New Pirate coach TJ Lux talks to the team in the second half Tuesday. Merrillville held on to win 65-64.

CROWN POINT (65) Tommy Bardeson 7-0-16, Braxton Rice 4-0-9, Zach Plesac 10-3-25, Bret Barclay 3-2-9, Sean Kelly 1-0-2, Nick Jeffirs 1-0-2, Zak Bostian 0-1-1, Markus Kessler 0-0-0, Dejan Stefanovic 0-0-0, Alex Nickla 0-0-0. TOTALS: 26 (6-7) 64

MERRILLVILLE (65) Jake Raspopovich 1-4-6, John Mosley 1-2-4, Ed Seay 10-7-27, BJ Jenkins 5-1-13, Jelani Pruitt 4-2-10, Zoran Talley 2-0-5, Frank Jefferson 0-0-0. TOTALS: 23 (16-22) 65.

FREE THROWS: CP (6-7, 85.7%) Plesac 3-3, Barclay 2-2, Bostian 1-2; MERRILLVILLE (16-22, 72.7%) Raspopovich 4-5, Seay 7-7, Pruitt 2-2, Mosley 2-2, Jenkins 1-4.

REBOUNDS: CP (19) Bardeson 9, Rice 4, Barclay 4, Plesac, Kelly; MERRILLVILLE (21) Seay 8, Jenkins 4, Raspopovich 3, Pruitt 3, Mosley 2, Talley.

ASSISTS: CP (16) Bardeson 8, Plesac 5, Nickla, Rice, Stefanovic; MERRILLVILLE (5) Raspopovich 2, Talley 2, Jenkins.

STEALS: CP (9) Bardeson 3, Rice 3, Plesac 2, Barclay; MERRILLVILE (9) Jenkins 5, Seay 3, Mosley;

3-GOALS: CP (6) Zach Plesac 2, Tommy Bardeson 2, Bret Barclay, Braxton Rice; MERRILLVILLE (3) BJ Jenkins 2, Zoran Talley.

MERRILLVILLE, IN (12-27-2011) Nobody asked for their money back after last Tuesday's annual Merrillville-Crown Point girls-boys double-header, and nobody left without a little something to show for the night. After Merrillville's undefeated girls team held on to beat Crown Point 64-56, the Pirates boys watched a 13-point fourth quarter lead slip away before topping the arch-rival Bulldogs 65-64 on a lay up by junior BJ Jenkins.

Jenkins' basket in the final 10 seconds saved Merrillville (4-4) after junior Bulldog guards Tommy Bardeson and Zach Plesac scored 16 of the Bulldogs' 20 fourth quarter points to put on a show for about 1,500 fans.

"I don't know how anybody does this," said Merrillville rookie coach TJ Lux after his team survived his first CP-Merrillville game. "I don't know how older coaches do it for 10 or 20 years. We like to make things interesting. We play well at times and then we give the other team a chance."

Crown Point (2-5) was hungry for a chance and they surged into a 64-63 lead with a 20-6 run over six minutes capped by a 25-foot three-point shot by Bardeson, CP's 6-foot-5 junior guard with 27 seconds remaining in the game.

Merrillville called time out and junior guard BJ Jenkins worked off a screen by 6-foot-8 senior center Ed Seay and flipped a wide angle lay up in off the glass to give the Pirates the lead with 10 seconds left. CP did not call time out and Bardeson was able to drive down the lane for a contested lay up over Seay. The ball bounced off the rim and the Pirates had their first win over CP in two seasons.

"I thought he got a good shot," said CP coach Clint Swan of Bardeson's final effort. "I didn't want to call time out and let them set up the defense. We had the ball where we wanted it."

It's still early enough in the season to project ahead and CP's effort on this holiday night suggested they can top Merrillville at least once before the season ends.

"I was very proud of our comeback," said Swan, who put in a great effort on the sidelines urging his team on. "We were able to get some turnovers which led to points."

Down 26-18 in the second quarter and 57-44 with seven minutes to play, the Bulldogs used a half-court trapping defense to steal some passes from the shorter Pirates.

"We'd seen that press from them," said Lux, the former Pirate and Northern Illinois University star of the 1990s who replaced retiring coach Jim East this year. "But we were back on our heels and that makes the court longer. They do have some length. Our main ball handlers (Jenkins and Jake Raspopovich) are 5-10, 5-11 and their defenders are 6-foot-5, 6-foot-4."

Crown Point's back court of Bardeson and Zach Plesac combined for 41 points and 13 assists and the shocker there was Plesac, CP's baseball and football star who was 10 of 17 from the field. He had four assists in the first quarter and seemed a step quicker than Merrillville's quicker players.

"I thought that in the first few games he'd been holding back," said Swan. "I told Zach he had to let it all out. He played extremely well. He had that extra toughness and extra quickness and we needed that."

Bardeson and Plesac showed they can give the Bulldogs a dual backcourt threat where either could play the point and be the floor leader. Merrillville showed some of the same thing with Raspopvich and Jenkins, but the focus for the home team was Seay, who scored 19 of his 27 in the first half. CP has size, but they don't have a true center and Seay will be a problem for them when they meet again in February. CP also threw up 23 three-point shot attempts, some of them from well behind the three-point line.

Swan suggested that some of his rebuilt team (they start five new players from last year's 18-4 team) have confidence problems, but Barclay and Bardeson don't lack confidence in shooting from distance. The duo combined for 11 three-point attempts and some of them were nowhere near the 'arc.'

"We got behind," said Swan, who suggested that 23 three-pointers in 58 attempts were not in the plans, "and we had to take some shots."

Crown Point didn't get back on defense well in the first half and they gave up some runaway baskets and tip ins. But the Bulldogs are an odd team in that they have four 6-foot-5, 6-foot-6 players (Bardeson, Brett Barclay, Nick Jeffirs and Braxton Rice) who all do different things and truly play different positions. Even with a 2-5 start, they have the potential to get dramatically better.

"We didn't do much against him (Seay) in the first half," said Swan. "But we were able to cause them some problems later on and we did come back and get the lead. BJ just came off a screen and he hit a heckuva shot."

DOG NOTES: Crown Point will play East Chicago Saturday at 3 p.m. in the "Region Rumble." The Bulldogs got a late call to play on the same bill with Bowman Academy and Indianapolis Cathedral (5 p.m.) in a double-header at East Chicago's 8,000-seat Barrato Center on New Year's Eve. There are plenty of $8 tickets available.

"We were approached to do it," said CP coach Clint Swan. "Anytime we get a chance to showcase the program, we're going to do it."

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Revised: December 28, 2011 .