Lake Central 4th Qtr rally steals win on Bulldogs' home court, 67-63 in boys basketball

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
01-17-2009

Friday, 01-16-2009 -  Boys Basketball, Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) at CROWN POINT, IN

LAKE CENTRAL (67)  Kyle Scheffel 2-1-7, Kyle Kaluza 2-1-5, Keith Thompson 6-4-18, Loai Issa 4-0-8, Eric Summers 7-5-20, Zack Felton 4-1-9, Leith Hobbs 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 25 (13-20)  67.

CROWN POINT (63) Michael Albrecht 2-1-5, CJ Mantel 7-5-19, Michael Lipton 5-1-11, Nikola Pusara 1-6-8, Chris Lakich 1-0-2, Nate Akers 3-4-10, Brady Schuster 4-0-8, Jared Smoot 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 23 (11-1-3) 63.

FREE THROWS:  LC (13-20, 65%) Scheffel 1-2, Kaluza 1-2, Thompson 4-4, Felton 1-2, Summers 6-10; CP (11-13, 84.8%) Albrecht 1-2, Pusara 6-6, Akers 4-5.

REBOUNDS: LC (21) Scheffel 7, Summers 6, Thompson 3, Felton 2, Issa 2, Kaluza; CP (20) Pusara 7, Akers 5, Lipton 4, Mantel 3, Lakich.

ASSISTS: CP (14) Albrecht 6, Schuster 4, Lipton 2, Mantel, Pusara; LC (11) Summers 3, Issa 3, Kaluza 2, Scheffel, Thompson, Felton.

STEALS: CP (7) Albrecht 3, Pusara 2, Lipton, Lakich;   LC  (6) Thompson 2, Summers, Issa.

FOULED OUT: CP (1) Nate Akers (4th Q) 3:10 left.

3-GOALS: CP (6) CJ Mantel 5, Michael Lipton; LC (4) Keith Thompson 2, Kyle Scheffel 2.

CROWN POINT (01-16-2009) The numbers don't lie.  Well, yeah, sometimes they do.  Crown Point sank 23 of 45 from the field, a solid 51.1%  in their Duneland Athletic Conference game against Lake Central last Friday.  The Bulldogs were a sharp 11 of 13 (84.6%) from the foul line and a strong 6-of-13 from three point range.  But they lost.  Crown Point somehow  lost a 15-point first quarter lead and dropped the DAC battle 67-63.

A barometer of how much Crown Point (6-5) has improved is that they didn't lose by 15 like they did at Lake Central (8-4) in December.   But the Indians are the more experienced team and CP is probably glad that a third meeting between these two south Lake County neighbors can only occur in the Class 4A Michigan City Regional in March.

Down 26-11 in the first quarter anD 57-49 with 6:10 left and 61-56 with 4:07 to play to play, Lake Central (8-4, 5-3 DAC) outscored the home team 11-2 down the stretch to steal one from the home team, LC's fourth consecutive win over Crown Point.

"They were shooting the lights out in the first quarter," said LC's Kyle Kaluza, who combined with guard Keith Thompson for 12 fourth quarter points.  "We just had to keep playing.  We didn't think they could shoot like that forever."

"We just made a lot of mistakes in the fourth quarter," said CP coach Clint Swan. "We've got to be able to close out the game.  They made plays at the end of the game."

Crown Point led 61-56 when Kaluza, a 5-foot-8 senior guard, hit a jump shot from the baseline.  After a missed CP shot, LC's 6-foot-9 center Eric Summers (20 points, 7 rebounds) drew the fifth foul from CP's 6-foot-9 senior center Nate Akers and split two free throws to make it 61-59.

CP's CJ Mantel, who had his best game of the year, missed a jump shot and Summers was again fouled and again split two foul shots with 2:20 left.  After an exchange of missed shots, CP lost the ball with 1:38 left and senior Zac Felton scored the go-ahead 62-61 basket on an offensive rebound.  Mantel scored to give CP their final lead, but Thompson, a 5-foot-10 senior drove down the lane to give LC a 64-63 lead with 42 seconds to play.

Then, two big turnovers.  CP senior Chris Lakich grabbed a loose ball under the basket, but he was called for traveling trying to get the ball up to the rim against Summers with 20 seconds to play.  Kaluza was fouled and he split two foul shots to make it 65-63.

The Bulldogs rushed the ball up the floor for one final chance, but Lipton, who fueled the first quarter start with three baskets, could not hold a pass in front of the CP bench and the ball went out of bounds.  Thompson sank two foul shots with six seconds to play to create the final score.

"People in our league know that Eric and Zack Felton are good players," said Lake Central coach Dave Milausnic.  "Maybe now they'll start thinking Keith Thompson is a pretty good player, too.  Crown Point shot the ball very well.  They're a good team.  But we were able to come back.  We've been playing pretty well."

Crown Point mixed and matched defense to try to handle Summers, who played a key role.  The LC senior center was able to put the ball on the floor and create defensive problems in the middle of the CP defense.

Akers and 6-foot-5 Bulldog senior Chris Lakich collected nine fouls trying to contain the LC star, who will be a baseball player in college.  Summers only got 13 shots from the field, but he also earned 10 free throws.

Mantel excited the crowd of about 1,000 (which included visitors from Portage, Merrillville, Chesterton and Andrean, all of whom had games canceled) with a career-high five three-point field goals.  Mantel is now 15-of-37 from three point range for the year and the Bulldogs need his shooting to balance the floor on offense.

"He's had some injury and illness problems," said Swan.  "We could see this coming.  He had a very good week in practice.  he is a very good shooter."

LC's six seniors will finish their days (Barring a regional rematch) with four consecutive wins over CP.  Some of it is familiarity.

"We don't know the other teams so well," said Kaluza.  "But we all know all the CP guys.  We've played against them since grade school."

Crown Point has now played four consecutive games decided by five points or less.  They have lost three of them and that's got to be pretty aggravating.

"This is the 11th game of the season," said Swan, discussing some of his team's individual problems and the team total of 20 turnovers.  "We cant keep talking about how we're inexperienced."

CP NOTES:  Lake Central has swept the two-game season series from Crown Point in each of the last two seasons and they are 11-2 against Crown Point over the last seven years.  LC swept CP in the 2004 and 2006 seasons.  The two teams are not in the same sectional.

Crown Point and Lake Central played Friday largely due to the proximity of the two schools.  With temperatures below zero and dangerous conditions outdoors, nobody was taking too much of a risk traveling to school three miles away.

CP wrestling also hosted Valparaiso the night before when the temperatures were on their way down to 18 below zero.  Valpo called off the wrestling date at CP Wednesday night due to snow in Valparaiso.  With roads clear, the Viking wrestlers came to CP Thursday despite the cold.  The Bulldogs won 73-0.

Coaches Bob Buscher (Michigan City), Jim East (Merrillville) and Mike Magley (Lowell) came to CP to watch the Bulldogs play LC.  The only other game played in Lake County was another short-travel matchup between Wirt and Gary West Side.  Nikola Pusara was 6-fo-6 from the foulline and he is now 22 of 26 (84.6%) for the year.

Nate Akers (9.2 ppg.) is shooting 56.5% (39 of 69) from the floor, but due to foul trouble, he has played just 200 minutes (18.1) in 11 games.

CP's 20 turnovers was a season high.  The Bulldogs have made just 144 turnovers (13.1) in 11 games.

CJ Mantel has played just 160 minutes due to health related issues, but he is a statistical oddity.  Mantel shoots the ball better from three point range than he does anywhere else.  The 5-foot-10 senior is 28-of-70 from the floor after eight games but 15 of 37 (40.5%) from three point range.  It's also hard to explain, but CJ is just 6-of-13 from the foul line.

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Revised: January 22, 2009 .