Crown Point falls to Valparaiso 54-49 in Sectional Finals to end season

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
03-09-2009

Saturday, 03-07-2009 -  Boys Basketball, Class 4A, Sectional 2 Championship at MICHIGAN CITY, IN

CROWN POINT (49) Michael Albrecht 3-2-9, Tony Patrick 1-0-3, Brent Jacobus 1-0-2, CJ Mantel 2-0-6, Michael Lipton 2-2-6, Nate Akers 4-1-9, Brady Schuster 5-2-14, Nik Pusara 0-0-0-0, Chris Lakich 0-0-0.  TOTALS:  18 (7-10) 49.

VALPARAISO (54) Kyle Jacques 0-0-0, Brad Karp 7-2-19, Andy Martin 2-2-7, Adam Butterfield 0-0-0, Derek Kennett 0-1-1, Jerrick Suiter 4-5-14, Hayden Humes 5-2-13, Rick Freeman 0-0-0, Mark Hofferth 0-0-0.  TOTALS:  18 (12-15) 54.

FREE THROWS:  CP (7-10, 70%) Albrecht 2-2, Lipton 2-2, Schuster 2-3, Akers 1-3;  VALPO (12-15, 80%) Karp 2-2, Humes 2-2, Suiter 5-6, Kennett 1-2, Martin 2-3.

REBOUNDS:  CP (15) Akers 7, Pusara 3, Lipton 2, Schuster 2, Mantel;  VALPO (23) Suiter 7, Humes 4, Karp 3, Martin 3, Hofferth, Butterfield 2.

ASSISTS:  CP (11) Lipton 5, Albrecht 3, Pusara, Akers, Schuster;  VALPO (9) Martin , Hofferth, Karp, Kennett, Suiter, Humes.

STEALS:  CP (7) Pusara 3, Albrecht 2, Lipton, Mantel; VALPO (4) Humes 2, Karp, Butterfield.

TURNOVERS:  CP (7), VALPO (13)

FOULED OUT:  CP (1) Nik Pusara (4th Q) 0:36 left.

3-GOALS:  CP (6) CJ Mantel 2, Brady Schuster 2, Michael Albrecht, Tony Patrick; VALPO (6) Brad Karp 3, Jerrick Suiter, Andy Martin, Hayden Humes.

 

Friday, 03-06-2009 -  Boys Basketball, Class 4A, Sectional 2 Semifinal at MICHIGAN CITY, IN

CROWN POINT (59) Michael Albrecht 3-2-9, Tony Patrick 0-0-0, Brent Jacobus 0-0-0, CJ Mantel 2-0-6, Michael Lipton 3-3-10, Nate Akers 7-1-15, Brady Schuster 2-1-5, Nik Pusara 0-3-3-10, Chris Lakich 2-0-4, Dejan Stefanovic 0-0-0, Kyle Qualizza 0-0-0.  TOTALS:  22 (9-14) 59.

HOBART (36) Joe Aleman 3-1-7, Charles Nieves 0-0-0, Timmy Schultz 0-2-2, Bobby James 9-3-22, Robert Woods 2-1-5, Nick Taddei 0-0-0, Kevin McCann 0-0-0, Brandon Harris 0-0-0, Nick Lafty 0-0-0, George Georgos 0-0-0.  TOTALS:  14 (5-6) 36.

FREE THROWS:  CP (9-14, 64.3%) Pusara 3-3, Albrecht 2-2, Lipton 3-4, Qualizza 0-2, Schuster 0-1, Akers 1-2;  VALPO (506, 83.3%)  Schultz 2-2, James 3-3, Aleman 0-1.

REBOUNDS:  CP (28) Schuster 8, Akers 6, Albrecht 4, Pusara 3, Lipton 2, Lakich 3, Mantel, Qualizza;
HOBART  (21) James 6, Woods 4, Taddei 2, McCann 2, Aleman 2, Harris 2, Schultz, Lafty, Georgos.

ASSISTS:  CP (17) Albrecht 5, Lipton 5, Schuster 4, Mantel, Lakich, Akers;  HOBART (6) Aleman 3, Schultz, Woods, Taddei.

TURNOVERS:  CP (4);  HOBART (6).

3-GOALS:  CP (6) CJ Mantel 2, Michael Lipton, Michael Albrecht, Nick Pusara, Brady Schuster;  HOBART (3) Joe Aleman, Bobby James, Robert Woods.

MICHIGAN CITY (3-7-2009) When one team beats you three times, you have to eventually admit they are the better team.  So when Crown Point (15-8) ended the season last Saturday with a 54-49 loss in the Class 4A Michigan City Sectional championship game against Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) champion Valparaiso (20-3), the outcome was seen as the way things should be.

But there was a little more to it than that.  The Bulldogs survived an almost perfect Valpo first quarter and rallied to pull even before good foul shooting and few bad possessions resulted in the Vikings (20-3) taking away a repeat of CP's 2008 sectional title.

"My hat off to Crown Point," said Valpo's second year coach Chris Benedict.  "There are no surprises.  I told the boys I don't think they're going to do something we haven't seen.  You just do everything you can do and with three minutes, it was still even."

Crown Point trailed 21-11 with 6:10 left in the first half and they began to press Valpo all over the floor.  The Vikings, who have played without starting guard Matt Hittinger for over a month now, were vulnerable to the pressure, and CP rallied to make it a close game.

"I knew we'd be able to apply some pressure that might be more than what they could handle at times," said CP coach Clint Swan.  "It wasn't something I drew up on my board.  It was just a matter of picking them up full court man-to-man and seeing what happens."

What happened seemed to be that Crown Point got the ball inside to 6-foot-9 senior center Nate Akers for seven second quarter points, and when Valpo adjusted to that, the Bulldogs (15-8) found some outside shooting opportunities with Michael Lipton, Michael "Spike' Albrecht and CJ Mantel closing the gap with outside shots.  Trailing 40-36, CP hit consecutive baskets from Lipton and a three-pointer from the sophomore Albrecht to take a 43-42 lead.

Lipton forced a turnover and CP had the lead and the ball against the DAC champs with 3:00 to play.  After CP missed a shot and Valpo's Jerrick Suiter split two foul shots with 1:55 to play, the Bulldogs had a key possession.  Lipton drove the lane and was shut off.  He kicked the ball out to Albrecht who was closely guarded.  The Bulldogs had four time outs left and Swan appeared to be trying to call one.  Albrecht then drove the lane and had the ball knocked away from behind by Andy Martin to Hayden Humes.  Martin was fouled on the drive moments later and his two free throws put the Vikings ahead 45-43 with 1:06 left.

"There were a couple of situations where the ball didn't bounce our way down the stretch," said Swan, who suggested he didn't want a time out there.  "I remember the play you're talking about.  We were trying to get a play set up.  Mike (Lipton) attacked the rim.  He made a nice play.  That was one of those plays where the ball didn't bounce right for us."

Valparaiso, which did not shoot a free throw in the entire first half, got 15 free throws in the second half (12 in the fourth quarter) and made 12 of them.  CP never got into the penalty in the second half and the red-clad Bulldog fans complained often of the Vikings hand-checking and arm-blocking Albrecht, the skinny 160-pound CP ball handler.

"I think we were every bit as physical with them as they were with Spike," said Swan.  "It was a physical game.  It was reciprocal.  I didn't see anything unfair there at all.  How about Spike, though?  They put in (junior football player Michael John) Perkins in there just to get physical with Spike and he (Albrecht) is the one who hit the shot that puts us ahead."

Benedict, who had his Columbia City team in the 4A state finals against Lawrence North five years ago, talked about his surprise leading scorer 6-foot-3 junior Brad Karp, who scored 14 of his 19 points after halftime.

"Brad hustled and he got a lot loose balls," said Benedict of his forward who averages nine points a game.  "He hit big shots.  He hit the shots they were giving him.  He did a great job for us."

The win for Valpo was big for Benedict, who was 8-14 at the tradition-rich school last year.  He knows that Valpo followers are used to winning a lot.

"I'm not going to lie to you and tell you the expectations are not very high here," said Benedict.  "I knew that when I came here.  I want to credit the kids because they know that, too.  The DAC season is very long and we had to win three games in four days.  We played the late game every time."

"I told the boys that I'm not Skip Collins.  I'm not Virgil Sweet.  I'm not Bob Punter (all former Valpo coaches).  They were going to have to go out and do this for themselves.  And they did."

Swan paid tribute.

"They (Valpo) did something that a lot of people didn't think they could do here," the CP coach said.  "They won three in four days.  They beat Chesterton, Merrillville and us.  They did a great job."

Crown Point returns just one starter (Albrecht) and one key reserve (Scooter Jacobus) for next year's team, but Swan understands that's the way it's probably always going to be at Crown Point.  Most boys won't start until their senior season.

"Spike's a good place to start," said Swan, who was very emotional after watching his team bow out after an eight game winning streak.  "I don't like comparing past teams to present ones.  I've coached some pretty good teams and I've coached some pretty good players.  I'm cautious not to bring up my past.  I don't know that I've been able to extract as much out of any teams as I did this one.  I couldn't wait to get to practice with these guys."

"This is the second year in a row that the losses at the end have been really devastating and it's because I've enjoyed coaching the seniors so much.  I'm very lucky to be at Crown Point right now."

SECTIONAL NOTES:  Crown Point figures to begin next season with just one returning starter, guard Michael 'Spike' Albrecht.  But that will be significant.  The Bulldogs were charged with five turnovers in the Michigan City Sectional semifinal win over Hobart and only seven in the loss to Valparaiso.  Both games had Albrecht [8.6 ppg, 5.0 assists per game, 64 of 82 (78%) free throws], a 5-foot-10 sophomore handling the ball and directing the offense.

Coaches Clint Swan and Chris Benedict cold not even pretend to be enemies in Saturday's sectional championship game.

"I told him before the game," said Swan, "that if it was anyone other than us playing them, that I'd be rooting for him."

Benedict countered, "Coach Swan did a great job with his team this year.  He didn't have anything coming back and they started off slowly.  He was very patient with them and what had they won, eight in a row?"

Swan paid tribute to Nikola Pusara, CP's 6-foot-4 forward, who guarded Valpo's 6-foot-8 Hayden Humes.

"He did a great job tonight," Swan said.  "Here was a guy who had to find his role on our team and then he ended up starting every game this season and tonight he's guarding a Division I player.  He did a great job tonight."

Pusara ended the season as CP"s top foul shooter, sinking 48 of 56 (85.7%), while Nate Akers (96 of 160) was the top field goal shooter.

There were more Valparaiso students in the stands than there were Crown Point students; not a surprise since the 45-minute drive to Michigan City was a difficult one for Lake County people.  Valpo kids came dressed in all kinds of green attire and makeup.  Some Valparaiso boys had a tailgate party in the parking lot.  Many questioned their sanity since the party was held in 41 degree weather in a driving rainstorm.

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