Bulldogs roll to 68-48 home court win over Chesterton in regular season finale

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
02-27-2011

Sean Crary (30) chases the Trojan' DeMonte Price in Friday's final game (2-25-2011) of the regular season.

Crown Point center Jared Smoot (42) forces a pass from DeMonte Price. Smoot had the best game of his career with 26 points, nine rebounds, five blocked shots and just two turnovers in a 68-48 win over Chesterton.

Michael Albrecht (10) is honored before the game with coach Clint Swan and athletic director Bill Dorulla on scoring his 1,000th point.

Banners hanging from t he balcony recognized CP's five seniors, Billy Brown (31) , Michael Albrecht (10), Jared Smoot (42) , Sean Crary (30) and Evan Langbehn (12).  (All photos by Mark Smith)

Future Bulldogs watch from the upper deck as the final basketball game of the 2011 is played at Crown Point.

CHESTERTON (48) Cole Teal 2-06, Kemonte Price 4-4-14, Tyler Devitte 3-0-6, KJ Zelenika 2-0-6, Jake Post 1-0-2, Kyle Schmidt 5-0-10, Jordan Peterson 2-0-4, Nate Apathy 0-0-0, Alex Rochowiak 0-0-0. TOTALS: 19 (4-10) 48.

CROWN POINT (68) Evan Langbehn 2-2-6, Dejan Stefanovic 1-0-3, Sean Crary 4-1-9, Michael Albrecht 6-7-20, Jared Smoot 10-6-26, Braxton Rice 1-0-2, Tommy Bardeson 0-2-2, Billy Brown 0-0-0, Stephen Galik 0-0-0, Brett Haskell 0-0-0, Ron Plesac 0-0-0, Zach Plesac 0-0-0. TOTALS: 24 (17-19) 68.

FREE THROWS: CHESTERTON (4-10, 40%) Price 4-6, Peterson 0-0-2, Devitte 0-1, Rochowiak 0-1; CROWN POINT (17-19, 89.5%) Albrecht 7-8, Langbehn 2-2, Bardeson 2-2, Smoot 6-6, Rice 0-1.

REBOUNDS: CHESTERTON (17) Schmidt 4, Peterson 4, Teal 3, Price 2, Devitte 2, Zeleniak, Post; CROWN POINT (21) Smoot 9, Langbehn 5, Albrecht 3, Stefanovic, Bardeson 2 Brown.

ASSISTS: CHESTERTON 9) Zelenika 3, Devitte 2, Teal, Price, Apathy, Petersen' CROWN POINT (14) Albrecht 7, Langbehn 2, Bardeson 2, Stefanovic, Bostian, Crary.

BLOCKED SHOTS: CHESTERTON (1) Nate Apathy; CROWN POINT (5) Jared Smoot.

3-GOALS: CHESTERTON (6) Cole Teal 2, KeMonte Price 2, KJ Zelenika 2; CROWN POINT (3) Michael Albrecht, Sean Crary, Dejan Stefanovic.

Chesterton_at_CP-Boys_statistics_02-25-2011.pdf

CP-Boys_1st_20-games_Season_Stats_02-27-11.pdf

CROWN POINT, IN (02-25-2011) A 17-3 record, 9-1 at home, 11-3 in the Duneland Athletic Conference. You can't do a lot better than that. That's where Crown Point is entering the 101st Indiana state high school basketball tournament following a 68-48 victory over Chesterton last Friday.

"You try not to put too much stock in the regular season," said Crown Point coach Clint Swan. "Because it's all about what you do in the sectional."

"But it was a special year. A great year for us. I think we found consistency and that was a product of great senior leadership."

The Bulldogs (17-3) led 22-11 early in the second quarter, but Chesterton kept up the effort and pulled to within 36-32 in the middle of the second quarter on a three-point shot by junior guard DeMonte Price, who led the Trojans with 14 points.

But led by Michael Albrecht, who was honored on this night for being a 1,000-point career scorer, CP slowly pulled away after the halftime break. The Trojans scored just eight field goals in the second half. Crown Point coach Clint Swan was proud of another defensive performance where CP limited the shooting of the opposition.

"For the season," Swan reported, "our opponents' shooting percentage is 32%. That's unheard of. Not just in our conference, but anywhere. And that's all on Jared. People who watch us will never even begin to understand how much difference he makes to us.

Smoot, CP's 6-foot-10 center, scored 26 points and grabbed nine rebounds, but he blocked five shots and intimidated a dozen others. Chesterton, which had no player taller than 6-foot-5 Jordan Petersen, was 19 of 51 from the floor.

"People see him at the offensive end," continued Swan, "and when he struggles, they think he doesn't contribute. But he makes it possible for all our guys to play very aggressive defensively and he covers for a lot of our mistakes. I was glad to see him have a really good offensive game tonight in his final game here."

Crown Point ended the season with losses to Merrillville (2) and Valparaiso, both teams they could meet in the upcoming Michigan City Sectional which begin Tuesday, March 1. CP begins play with Hobart (2-18) on March 2. Swan does not want his boys to break the habit of taking one game at a time. The process being more important than any one opponent, even one that has won just two games all season.

"Hopefully we continue to play well," Swan said of the sectional week. Even Langbehn has a bit of a (foot) problem but he says he's fine. We're pretty healthy overall."

DOG NOTES: Chesterton, which lost 6-foot-10 senior Mitch McGary to a prep school before the season began, was 0-14 in Duneland Athletic Conference play.

It isn't certain exactly how many 1,000-point scorers there are in the history of Crown Point basketball. CP's all-time leading scorer is Tom Liss, who scored 1,412 points.
Beyond Stephen (2008) and Michael (2011) Albrecht, there is doubt about everybody else.

Crown Point got a good draw in that they matched up with Hobart (2-18) in quarterfinal play at the Class 4A Michigan City Sectional, but they got a less-than-good draw in that they play Wednesday night. The semifinals are Friday and the championship game is Saturday.

CP has not yet played three games in four days this season, which is what they would have to do to win the sectional. CP coach Clint Swan was concerned with the fact that he and his boys did not know Hobart, the only team in the Michigan City sectional that Crown Point has not already played twice.

"The team we're playing is the only team we don't know," he said. "They are well coached and we're going to have to watch a lot of film on them."

CP began the season with Dejan Stefanovic out and Jared Smoot with leg problems but Smoot was as mobile as he has been all season, scoring a career-high 26 points against Chesterton. Stefanovic has long since returned to the lineup as a has Zak Bostian, who collapsed during a game at mid-season.

Crown Point won the Michigan City sectional three years ago, but they did not have to meet or defeat Merrillville or Valparaiso. The last time CP defeated Merrillville in sectional play was when the Bulldogs won the 1998 Merrillville Sectional with a 60-49 victory over the Pirates.

Crown Point uses largely eight players, the starting lineup plus Zak Bostian, Billy Brown and Tommy Bardeson. If something happens to Michael Albrecht, the fill-in may be Brett Haskell, who has been on the junior varsity all season.

Haskell's only position is lead guard and Albrecht plays 30 minutes a game so Haskell could only play JV. But if CP can get to a big lead against Hobart or if Albrecht runs into foul trouble, you may see Haskell (6-0, 154) pushing the ball up the floor.

 
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Revised: March 10, 2011 .