Crown Point Bulldogs split boys/girls basketball double-header at Chesterton

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
01-12-2009

Friday, 01-09-2009 -  Boys / Girls basketball double-header (Game 1), Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) at CHESTERTON, IN

CROWN POINT (40) Sydnee Reeves 2-2-6, Alle Geisen 3-0-6, Madeline Moore 0-2-2, Daniela Tarailo 7-3-21, Zarah Cecich 1-2-4, Maegen Maloney 0-1-1, Clare Grubnich 0-0-0, Courtney Kvachkoff 0-0-0. TOTALS: 13 (10-22) 40.

CHESTERTON (45) Morgan Palombizio 3-4-11, Dana Christensen 3-6-14, Lindsey Hutnick 2-0-4, Claire Holba 2-3-7, Jessica O'Brien 0-2-2, Lindsey Gorman 1-1-4, Andea LevRio 1-1-3. TOTALS: 13 (17-24) 45.

FREE THROWS: CP (10-22, 45.0%) Tarailo 3-9, Reeves 2-5, Moore 2-2, Cecich 2-4, Maloney 1-2.; CHESTERTON (17-24, 70.8%) Palombizio 4-5, Christensen 6-8, Holba 3-4, O'Brien 2-2, Gorman 1-2, LeVrio 1-3.

FOULED OUT:  Sydnee Reeves (4th Q) :44 left.

3-GOALS:  CP (4) Daniela Tarailo 4; Morgan Palombizio, Lindsey Gorman.

Friday, 01-09-2009 -  Boys / Girls basketball double-header (Game 2), Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) at CHESTERTON, IN

CROWN POINT (60) Michael Albrecht 4-6-14, Brady Schuster 6-2-17, Michael Lipton 3-2-9, Nikola Pusara 3-2-8, Scooter Jacobus 2-6-10, Nate Akers 1-0-2, Jared Smoot 0-0-0, CJ Mantel 0-0-0, Kyle Qualizza 0-0-0,  TOTALS: 19 (18-24) 60.

CHESTERTON (56) Tommy Peller 6-7-20, Mitch McGary 6-4-16, John Thanos 2-1-5, Freddy Price 2-0-4, Adam White 2-0-4, Alec Houpt 2-0-4, George Sanudas 1-1-3, Remy Lewis 0-0-0, Juan Monegro 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 20 (12-20) 56.

FREE THROWS:  CP (18-24, 75%) Albrecht 6-7, Jacobus 6-9, Lipton 2-2, Pusara 2-2, Schuster 2-4. CHESTERTON (12-20, 60%) Peller 7-7, McGary 4-11, White 1-2.

REBOUNDS:  CP (19) Albrecht 4, Lipton 3, Schuster 3, Smoot 3, Pusara 2, Lakich 2, Jacobus, Akers; CHESTERTON (15)  McGary 6, Peller 4, White 2, Haupt 2, Sanudas.

ASSISTS:  CP (13) Albrecht 9, Akers, Schuster, Smoot,  Lipton; CHESTERTON (12) Peller 4, White 3, McGary 3, Price, Houpt.

FOULED OUT:  CP (1) Nate Akers (4th Q) 7:19 left.

3-GOALS:  CP (4) Brady Schuster 3, Michael Lipton; CHESTERTON (4) Tommy Peller, Adam White, George Sanudas, John Thanos.

CHESTERTON (1-9-2009) These boys/girls double-headers may run a little long.  And the junior varsity tends to get bored because they don't get to play.  But, at the end of the night, everybody usually walks away with a little something.  Last Friday's Chesterton split with CP wasn't a total loss for any of the four teams in the house at the still new-looking Chesterton high school.

Chesterton's girls avenged an earlier defeat with a 45-40 win over a Crown Point team that needed to break a scoring drought with a 23-point fourth quarter.  Then, CP's boys got big points from underclassmen in a 60-56 win over the Trojans.

"It was a total team effort tonight," said CP senior rookie Brady Schuster, who scored 17 points.  Everybody did something."

'Everybody' included first-time starter Brent (Scooter) Jacobus, who scored 10 points in 17 minutes of play and helped defend Chesterton scoring leader Tom Peller (17 ppg.) as did CP sophomore guard Michael (Spike) Albrecht, who played his best game of the year with 14 points and nine assists.

Jacobus was assigned to guard Chesterton scoring leader Tommy Peller (17 ppg.).  It would be inaccurate to say that the junior, who played 19 minutes, stopped Peller, who scored 20, but he at least made it a 'hard 20'.

"I knew I was going to start in practice this week because CJ (Mantel) and Mike (Lipton) were injured," said Jacobus, who is a starter on CP's sectional champion tennis team.  I just tried to stay in front of him."

Jacobus isn't going to score in double figures many times and he may be back on the bench when CP hosts up-and-coming Lake Central (6-4) next week (Jan. 16).  But he's a crowd-pleasing player who can cause trouble for the opposition.

"That's the first time he's ever started," confirmed Swan.  "He plays very hard.  He does a good job on defense.  He hit his free throws.  He did everything we could have asked of him."

The play of the night came when CP's 6-foot-9 back-up center Jared Smoot blocked a shot by 6-foot-9 Chesterton sophomore center Mitch McGary (16 points) and Albrecht took the ball the length of the floor for a layuop and a three-point play putting CP ahead 54-46 with 1:47 left.

Crown Point had played nine games before the visit to Chesterton, but this was the first time they'd won a close battle on the road in the final minutes.  It might have been the first game this year they'd beaten someone they 'shouldn't' have beaten.

"I didn't know until tonight," said Schuster, who was asked how his team is at the halfway mark of the 20-game regular season.  "I really didn't.  We'd lost the last two.  I didn't know how this was going to go tonight.  But we played great tonight.  We've got a good team."

"This could be a turning point," said coach Clint Swan.  "If we take the approach that we've got to get better, they can build on this.  These guys have to understand that this thing (the DAC or the sectional) isn't going to win itself.  I love this team.  I'm having so much fun watching them get better.  Guys like Jared Smoot are just really learning the game.  So many of the seniors have not played.  They're learning, too.  It's great to watch them learn how to play as a team."

The Lady Bulldogs (10-5) scored 22 fourth quarter points in the fourth quarter and cut a 31-17 Chesterton lead down to 41-37 with 1:27 left and 43-40 with 17 seconds to play.  After last week's 43-29 loss to Portage, the final quarter burst was positive, but not very satisfying.

"We didn't lose this game on defense," said coach Scott Reid.  "We lost it with 17 points in the first three quarters.  I don't know what the problem is.  We have no sense of urgency when we start the game."

Both teams wee short-handed Friday night.  Chesterton was without 6-foot senior Abbe Skube, who was in uniform, but did not play by the decision (she is not injured) of coach Jack Campbell.  Crown Point senior guard Flori Garcia missed her second game with a foot injury and the Lady Bulldogs seemed to miss her ball handing and ball-stealing floor game.

But scoring leader Daniela Tarailo scored all seven CP points in the first quarter, and until Sydnee Reeves and Alle Geisen combined for eight in the fourth quarter, CP's offense had ground to a complete halt against the always-tough Trojan defense.

Chesterton, without Skube (11.1 pg.), was not a lot better, but their trapping and zone defenses slowed CP to a crawl.  The Trojans sank 17 of 26 from the foul line to pull out a key win.

Chesterton has lost to Penn (12-2) and Jefferson (12-3), but longtime coach Jack Campbell didn't want to hear how his team is better than their record.

"That's stuff went out in the 1980s," he smiled.  "We're the best 0-and-14 team in the state.  We don't say anything like that.  This was good because we beat a team that had beaten us before (CP won 45-36 in December) and that suggests that you are improving.  We play these teams so many time.  You just change up next time and hope it works better for you.  You hope that by the time the sectional rolls around you are at your best.  We didn't shoot the lights out, but we made enough plays at the end."

CP has fallen into their traditional pattern of playing defensive struggle in the 30 and 40-point range.  It's not something they want to do.  It's hard to tell Reid that 10-5 is an excellent record.

"We've got to put the ball in the basket," said Reid, who credited the Trojans for playing good defense Friday, but is getting impatient with his offense.  "Time is running out.  We've talked about this senior class for three years now and we know what they can do.  But we've got to put the ball in the basket.  I don't care what our record is.  I just want us to play four quarters offensively and defensively and we really haven't done that."

"If we do, I tell you what," added Reid.  "We can win the sectional."

NET NOTES:  This was the 16th meeting between the boys varsity teams of Crown Point and Chesterton in the last six seasons.  They could meet twice more this year.  The Lady Bulldogs have met Chesterton 14 times now in six years.

Chesterton senior forward Abbe Skube is not injured, but she sat out for the second consecutive game.  Coach Jack Campbell says he cannot comment on the reason Skube, a four-year varsity player, is not playing.  It is assumed, although not stated, that she will be back before the regular season ends.

Chesterton boys center Mitch McGary has a size-17 shoe, reports coach Tom Peller.  With that news, you don't have to be a licensed physician to predict that the 6-foot-9, 15-year-old, sophomore is going to eventually be at least 7 feet tall.

Crown Point senior Brady Schuster (11.5 ppg.) spent three years on freshman and JV teams after being cut from his junior high team in seventh grade.  Why didn't he just give up? 

"I just love to play," the 6-foot-4 guard said after scoring 17 Friday.  I would never have quit."

Crown Point center Nate Akers (9.2 ppg.) continues to get called for soft-looking fouls that put him on the bench.  The 6-foot-9 senior, who shoots 55% from the floor, played just 9:41 at Chesterton and fouled out with 7:17 left in the game.  Oddly, there are one or two small college scouts at every CP game (the Bulldogs have seven varsity seniors, four who are 6-foot-3 or taller) and many come to see Akers.

CP used 10 players at Chesterton and they'll need them all at the end of the month when they play four games in nine days against Michigan City and East Chicago Jan. 23 and 24 before facing Valparaiso (9-1) and Boone Grove (7-1) Jan. 30 and 31.

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Revised: January 13, 2009 .