Crown Point's early lead fades away as Morton finishes strong for 60-52 win over Bulldogs

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith
12-6-2006

Tuesday, 12-5-2006 at Crown Point, IN - Non-Conference game

MORTON (60)  Michael Pinkins 2-4-8, John Littig 8-1-17, Joe Elabed 4-0-11, Damone Howard 8-2-18, Shevin Williams 2-2-6, Sidney Moore 0-0-0, Armani Handy 0-0-0, Justin Faught 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 24 (9-18) 60.

CROWN POINT (52)  Kyle Hanaway 2-0-4, Ben Derks 3-0-9, Zach Cecich 9-1-19, Stephen Albrecht 8-0-18, Mitch Robinson 1-0-2, Andy Krumwied 0-0-0, Aleks Alavanja 0-0-0, Derek Garletts 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 23 (1-6) 52.

FREE THROWS:  Morton (9-18, 50%) Pinkins 4-7, Littig 1-3, Howard 2-4, Williams 2-4;  CROWN POINT (1-6, 16.6%) Cecich 1-4, Alavanja 0-2.

REBOUNDS:  Morton (26) Howard 9, Littig 7, Pinkins 5, Williams 4, Elabed;   CROWN POINT (18) Albrecht 7, Cecich 5, Robinson, Alavanja, Derks.

ASSISTS:  Morton (11) Pinkins 7, Elabed 2, Williams 2, Littig, Moore;  CP (12) Hanaway 7, Derks 2, Alavanja 2, Cox.

3-GOALS:  MORTON (3) Joe Elabed 3;  CROWN POINT (5) Ben Derks 3, Stephen Albrecht 2.

TURNOVERS:  Morton (3-1-3-3) 10;  CROWN POINT (1-1-0-5) 7.

FOULED OUT: Aleks Alavanja (CP) 4th Q - 1:34 left.

CROWN POINT, IN (12-5-2006) - Crown Point led by eight in the first quarter and the Bulldogs led by six in the third quarter.  Trouble was, Morton led by eight at the end.  The Bulldogs may still believe they are better than Morton, but the Governors have it on paper, a 60-52 road win in Crown Point on a cold Tuesday night.

"You've got to tip your cap to Morton," said CP coach Clint Swan.  "They played extremely hard.  They crashed the boards and did the right things at the right time."

Morton coach Russ Marcinek added, "I know how this sounds but we could beat any of the 20 teams on our schedule, and we could lose to any of the 20.  We're right at that level.  I think this game convinces our guys that's true."

Crown Point may soon need confidence that they can beat anybody.  These first two home games were contests that CP hoped to win before the center of the schedule swirled into town.  There's no point in being shy about it.  With Lake Central, Valparaiso and Michigan City up next, the Bulldogs are going to have to step up their game to avoid an 0-5 start.

"We did not do a very good job of moving the ball in the second half," said Swan.  "Our offense is out of sync right now and the bigger problem is our inability to get stops when we need them at the defensive end."

Leading 37-31, Morton got a trio of three long range baskets by 6-foot-3 senior Joe Elabed, sparking an 18-7 run to create a 49-44 lead with 5:45 left in the game.

CP appeared to wait to be trapped in the 1-3-1 half court set which featured some quick players.

"We put Damone Howard at the top of that press," said Marcinek, the former Bishop Noll star.  "It wasn't something we just did against CP. We play that defense a lot.  Damone is about 6-3 and he gets his hands on a lot of passes.  We have some guys who are about 6-3 and they're long.  That defense really got us going tonight."

Crown Point got 18 points (12 in the first half) from 6-2 Stephen Albrecht and another strong inside game from 6-3 Zach Cecich, who scored 19.  Junior guard Ben Derks sank three three-point shots and Kyle Hanaway had seven assists but that was about it.  In the fourth quarter, no one could hit an outside shot while offensive rebounding by Howard, 6-3 Shevin Williams and 6-6 John Littig was pushing Morton to the victory.

Crown Point scored only four baskets in the fourth quarter and two of them were giveaways after Morton had built a 10-point lead in the late going. Morton took some bad shots in the late going but when they got the ball to lead guard Michael Pinkins, things settled down.  Pinkins was the reason that Morton committed just 10 turnovers against an active CP defense.  He handled the ball like a senior floor leader should and gave his team a chance to rally.

Crown Point has problems.  Against one of the few non-4A schools on the Crown Point schedule, the Bulldogs had rebounding problems and couldn't make second half shots drop while Morton gained confidence as the game went along.  Morton went away feeling good, but they came in with losses to Lew Wallace and Bishop Noll.  CP has to be seriously concerned about losing to a 3A school when they've got five games against the Merrillvilles, the Valparaisos and the East Chicagos left to play.  Viewed only through the prism of the first two games, you suddenly don't see a lot of wins on the CP schedule.

"We are nowhere near where we want or need to be," said Swan, "especially with the schedule we have coming.  We need to try to get our own house in order and not worry about the other teams later."

BULLDOG NOTES:  The Tuesday night crowd was understandably small, maybe 200-250 fans.  CP's next home game is Dec. 15 against Michigan City.  The rescheduled game against Griffith is Dec 19.  After allowing eight three-point goals against LaPorte, CP gave up three to Morton.

"How many did Elabed have?" asked CP coach Clint Swan afterwards.  "He was the guy I was worried about.  Except for a period where we lost him defensively, I thought we did a good job on him."

Junior lead guard Kyle Hanaway has done an excellent job through two games bringing the ball into the front court.  At 6-foot-1 and 183 pounds, the CP junior appears physically able to take the contact he will receive at the lead guard slot.

There was talk Tuesday night that Angel Garcia, the 6-foot-10 junior who has been ruled ineligible to play at East Chicago by the IHSAA, may be able to play by the time CP faces East Chicago on Jan. 20.   There was talk of a court injunction against the IHSAA that would allow Garcia, a former player on the Spanish national team, to join the Cardinals.

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Revised: December 06, 2006 .