Crown Point Bulldogs fall to Portage in boys/girls basketball double-header

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
01-05-2009

Friday, 01-02-2009 -  Boys / Girls basketball double-header, Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) at CROWN POINT, IN

PORTAGE (59) Donte Nelson 5-0-10, Damone Lowery 3-1-9, Dominique Walton 1-3-6, Aaron Ciesielski 6-6-18, Steve Perry 1-7-10, Clark Mussman 2-0-4, Kennan Ruzga 1-0-2,
Eric Lee 0-0-0, Demonte Dinkins 0-0-0, Luke Wheeler 0-0-0. TOTALS: 19 (17-25) 59.

CROWN POINT (55) Michael Albrecht 1-2-4,  Scooter Jacobus 1-0-2, CJ Mantel 1-1-3, Michael Lipton 0-5-5, Nik Pusara 0-1-1, Nate Akers 4-0-8, Chris Lakich 8-0-16, Brady Schuster 6-4-16, Jared Smoot 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 21 (12-18) 55.

FREE THROWS:  PORTAGE (17-25, 68%) Perry 7-8, Ciesielski 6-8, Walton 3-4, Lowery 1-3, Mussman 0-2.  CROWN POINT (12-18, 66.7%) Lipton 5-6, Schuster 4-4, Albrecht 2-2, Pusara 1-2, Mantel 0-2, Jacobus 0-1, Lakich 0-1.

REBOUNDS:  PORTAGE (24) Ciesielski 13, Mussman 4, Walton , Nelson, Dinkins, Ruzga 3, Perry;  CP (25) Schuster 9, Lakich 4, Smoot 3, Pusara 3, Lipton 2, Mantel 2, Albrecht, Akers.

ASSISTS:  PORTAGE (12) Nelson 5, Perry 3, Dinkins, Ruzga, Lee, Ciesielski;  CROWN POINT (14) Schuster 4, Albrecht 3, Lipton 3, Mantel 2, Pusara, Akers.

BLOCKED SHOTS:  PORTAGE (1) Ciesielski;  CROWN POINT (2) Akers 2.

FOULED OUT:  CROWN POINT (1) Brady Schuster (4th Q) :22 left.

3-GOALS:  PORTAGE (4) Demonte Dinkins 2, Dominique Walton, Steve Perry; CROWN POINT (1) CJ Mantel.

Friday, 01-02-2009 -  Boys / Girls basketball double-header, Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) at CROWN POINT, IN

PORTAGE (43) Bri Wischman 3-3-11, Tiffany Keil 2-0-5, Kayla Kriswell 1-1-3, Tara Ellis 1-4-6, Ashley Thompson 5-4-16, Kayla Criswell 1-1-3, Tori Bliss 0-2-2, Hannah Pajor 0-0-0, Alicia Cielieski 0-0-0, TOTALS: 12 (14-18) 43.

CROWN POINT (29) Sydnee Reeves 2-2-6, Daniela Tarailo 5-2-13, Zarah Cecich 1-1-3, Courtney Kvachkoff 2-0-4, Alle Geisen 0-2-2, Maegen Maloney 0-1-1, Madeline Moore 0-0-0, Kelly Gross 0-0-0, Clare Grubnich 0-0-0.   TOTALS: 10 (8-16) 29.

FREE THROWS:  PORTAGE (14-18, 77.8%) Wischman 3-4, Ashley Thompson 4-4, Ellis 4-4, Bliss 2-4, Criswell 1-2;  CROWN POINT (8-16, 50%) Reeves 2-6, Tarailo 2-3, Geisen 2-2, Grubnich 0-2, Cecich 1-1, Maloney 1-2.

REBOUNDS:  PORTAGE (37) Thompson 9, Pajor 8, Bliss 5, Wischman 4, Criswell 4, Ellis 3, Keil 3, Ciesielski;  CROWN POINT (32) Maloney 6, Tarailo 6, Reeves 5, Geisen 5, Grubnich 4, Kvachkoff 3, Cecich 2, Moore.

ASSISTS:  PORTAGE (7) Thompson 3, Keil, Wischman, Ellis Criswell;  CROWN POINT (7) Reeves 2, Grubnich, Geisen, Maloney, Tarailo, Kvachkoff.

FOULED OUT:  CROWN POINT (1) Sydnee Reeves (4th Q) 1:05 left.

3-GOALS:  PORTAGE (5) Brianne Wischman 2,,Ashley Thompson 2, Tiffany Keil; CROWN POINT (1) Daniela Tarailo.

Tuesday, 12-30-2008 -  Boys basketball, Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) at CROWN POINT, IN

MERRILLVILLE (48) Brandon Clark 4-0-12, Rayon Lewis 0-2-2, Jeremiah Jones 3-2-8, Dolapo Macarthy 2-5-9, Darius Stevens 0-1-1, Jonothan  Nwannunu 5-1-11, Ryan Smith 1-1-3, Rico Spikes 1-0-2.  TOTALS: 16 (12-19) 48.

CROWN POINT (47) CJ Mantel 2-0-6, Michael Lipton 3-3-10, Michael Albrecht 1-0-2, Nik Pusara 1-0-2, Chris Lakich 2-1-5, Nate Akers 1-3-5, Blady Schuster 6-2-17. TOTALS: 16 (8-15) 47.

FREE THROWS:  MERRILLVILLE (12-19, 63.2%) Lewis 2-4, Jones 2-2, Macarthy 5-7, Stevens 1-2, Smith 1-1, Nwannunu 1-3;
CP (8-15, 53.3%) Lipton 3-5, Akers 3-7, Schuster 2-3.

REBOUNDS:  MERRILLVILLE (39) Smith 10, Nwannunu 5, Clark 4,  Jones 5, Macarthy 9, Stevens 3,  Spikes 2, Lewis; CP (28) Akers 7, Schuster 6, Lipton 4, Mantel 3, Lakich 3, Pusara 3, Albrecht 2.

ASSISTS:  MERRILLVILLE (11) Spikes 3, Lewis 3, Jones 2, Clark, Stevens,  Nwannunu; CP (12) Albrecht 7, Schuster 2, Lipton, Lakich, Akers.

TURNOVERS:  MERRILLVILLE 15; CP 13.

3-GOALS:  MERRILLVILLE (4) Brandon Clark 4; CP (7) Brady Schuster 3, Mantel 2, Lipton, Lakich.

CROWN POINT (01-02-2009) In the Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC), you better learn how to lose and not let it bring you down.  Not every day.  Not all the time.  But some nights, especially against teams you play repeatedly, you are going to lose and there isn't a whole lot more analysis that covers the situation.

Crown Point's girls played perhaps their worst game of the season, especially on offense, in a 43-29 home court loss to Portage (8-4) in the first half of a boys/girls double-header Friday.  In the second game, the Indians (4-6) won their first league game in seven tries, 59-55 over Crown Point.

It was not a good night of Indiana basketball.  Everybody shot poorly and there were more turnovers than assists.  All of the four teams looked a little hung over from the holidays and the winners were somewhat fortunate they weren't facing a more formidable foe.

Was it a disastrous night for CP?  Of course, not.  It was one game.  But it was a very good night for the visitors, coach Rick Snodgrass' boys who won for the first time in DAC play and coach Kristen Petersen's girls came back from a bad late loss at Lake Central.

"I just couldn't wait for the game to get over," said Peterson, who was not overjoyed with the execution of the win.  "We were 14 ahead of Lake Central (44-30) the other night and we lost.  We let them score 24 points in the fourth quarter.  You want to get a little momentum heading into the playoffs."

"A lot of credit to Portage," said CP coach Scott Reid.  "When you play poorly, you've got to give credit to the other team."

That's being diplomatic.  Crown Point hit 10 of 51 shots (19.6%) from the field and 8 of 16 from the line.  Coming off a solid win over Merrillville just three nights earlier, this was totally unexpected. 

CP (10-4) did not score for eight minutes in the first half, but Portage's lead expanded from 7-5 to just 14-5.  The Lady Bulldogs also did not score for the first 5:13 of the third period.  Reid credited Portage with holding top scorer Daniela Tarailo (17 ppg.) to just 13 points and 13 shots.

"She's always going to be the center of attention," he said.  "The other girls just have to step up.  We really didn't play with any confidence on offense."

Peterson credited senior forward Kayla Criswell for defending Tarailo well.

"She doesn't get a lot of credit for what she does."

Portage's Tara Ellis hurt her hand in the second half, but after retiring to the training room to get taped up, she came back to finish the game with just three turnovers in 26 minutes of handling the ball.

There should be notice that CP won only six games last year and they are on the verge of doubling that.  But the Lady Bulldogs have now lost for the fourth time in five games.
 
In the boys game, CP also had some painful shooting moments, sinking only 9-of-24 shots in the first half.  Portage was 17-of-25 from the foul line in the game and 13 of 18 in the second half.

CP had problems with 5-foot-7 junior Portage point guard Donte Nelson who scored 10 with five assists and just three turnovers in 25 minutes.  Once they got the lead, the Indians were able to spread out the CP defense and limit CP's steals and easy chances.

The Indians were out manned inside, but they turned the tables on CP with 6-foot-4 forward Aaron Ciesielski, who scored 18 with 13 rebounds.  The Indians used a smaller, quicker lineup and CP, which has 6-foot-9 Nate Akers (10.5 ppg.) at center, had to sit down their biggest player to match up.

"After the close losses we've had," said Snodgrass, "we finally had a win.  In all our conference games except Valparaiso, we've had a chance to win in the fourth quarter.  We tried to play position defense and use our quickness."

"They're going to get some baskets inside.  We forced them to take some off-balance shots that didn't go in and that was the key.  For the most part our defense has been consistent all year.  Our offense has been our problem.  For the most part, we had good spacing tonight.  We were pretty good."

CP's 6-foot-5 Chris Lakich had a career-high 16 with four rebounds, while 6-foot-4 guard Brady Schuster had 16 with four assists.  But guards Michael Lipton, CJ Mantel and Michael Albrecht were a combined 2-of-16 and 1-of-8 from three point range.  CP led 32-28 before an 11-2 run led by the scoring and quickness of 5-foot-11 guard Demonte Lowery, who scored all nine of his points in the second half, put Portage ahead to stay.

"All our shooting numbers are down," said CP coach Clint Swan.  "Field goal percentage, three point percentage and free throw percentage.  Portage came to play.  They controlled the rebounds.  Their inside-out game got going and they made shots.  This was very disappointing.  I thought we'd played well in the first half."

Akers had three baskets inside in the third quarter but once Portage got the lead, he had to sit down while the Bulldogs (5-4) chased the basketball.  Unlike the girls, CP's boys are still relatively early in their season.  Nine games into this season, no one on CP but Michael Lipton has ever started more than nine games.  A lot of this is still new to them.

"Our first seven games had been one sided," said Swan, "whether we were winning or losing.  We're in tight situations for the first time and it shows.  We've got to learn how to win these games."

CP-PORTAGE NOTES:  Crown Point senior Flori Garcia sprained an ankle the morning before the game and had her foot in a walking cast for that night.  Coaches no longer answer questions about when a player will return off injury, but there are only four weeks left in the regular season.

"God knows we miss her," said Reid of the 5-foot-5 Garcia, who has always been a coaches' favorite.  But we've got other girls who can play.  They just have to believe in themselves."

CP brought up 5-foot-7 guard Courtney Kvachkoff to the varsity and she played almost 15 minutes, collecting four points and three rebounds in her debut with the big team.

There is a theory that is gaining ground that everybody in the DAC is worn out by the schedule, which has DAC teams playing through the holiday season while other schools take 10 days to two weeks off.

"It's exhausting," said Peterson.  "Coach (Scott) Reid and I were talking about it.  Here we are starting (the second half of the schedule) all over again.  We finished the first half Tuesday and we start over again Friday.  It's tiring for all of us."

Portage coach Kristen Petersen isn't a fan of the boys-girls double-headers, which dominate the DAC schedule this year at Michigan City and Crown Point.

"The biggest thing I don't care for is that tomorrow (Saturday), we've got to pick up our JV and come back here.  It turns it into a two day thing.  Actually, four days this week because we did the same thing with Lake Central.  We played JV Monday and varsity Tuesday.  You can't play four games in one night.

"Coach (Portage boys coach Rick) Snodgrass and I agree that we'd like to alternate Friday and Saturday.  We play one Friday and they play Saturday.  Then we switch.  That way we (the girls and boys teams) can all go to each other's game.  That's what we'd like to see in the situation we're under."

Will the 14-game DAC league season ever be changed to seven games and a tournament (as they play in the Porter County Conference) or some other format?

"Not anytime soon," Peterson predicts.

Since the girls teams always play first in the boys-girls double-headers, there is a thought that it's tough for the girls to walk into a quiet, nearly empty gym and get off to a fast start.
On a regular game night, the varsity watches the JV and them they run out for a time-limited warm up in front of a crowd that has been warmed up by the 'opening act.'

Does that matter?

"I don't think so," said Reid.  "We don't do anything different that we would on a normal night.  Portage just kicked our butts tonight.  If you can explain this league, good luck."

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Revised: January 05, 2009 .