Crown Point defeats Portage 66-55, tunes up for playoffs

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
02-22-2009

Friday, 02-20-2009 -  Boys Basketball, Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) at PORTAGE, IN

CROWN POINT (66) Nate Akers 5-5-15, Michael Albrecht 1-8-10, Michael Lipton 4-3-11, Brady Schuster 9-3-19, Nikola Pusara 3-2-8, Chris Lakich 1-0-2, CJ Mantel 0-0-0, Scooter Jacobus 0-1-1.  TOTALS: 21 (24-28) 66.

PORTAGE (55) Damonte Lowery 3-1-9, Clark Mussman 3-2-8, Dominique Walton 3-1-8, Aaron Ciesielski 8-4-20, Donte Nelson 3-0-6, Luke Wheeler 1-0-2, Keenan Rugza 1-0-2,Ryan Cherry 0-0-0, Eric Lee 0-0-0, Steve Perry 0-0-0, Demonte Dinkins 0-0-0. TOTALS: 22 (8-17) 55.

FREE THROWS:  CP (24-28, 85.7%) Albrecht 8-8, Akers 5-6, Lipton 3-4, Lakich 2-2, Schuster 3-4, Pusara 2-2, Jacobus 1-2;  PORTAGE ( 8-17, 47.0%) Mussman 2-6, Lowery 1-2, Ciesielski 4-6, Walton 1-2, Wheeler 0-1. 

ASSISTS:  CP (15) Albrecht 6, Lipton 5, Akers 2, Schuster, Jacobus; PORTAGE (10) Nelson 5, Walton 2, Lowery, Lee, Cherry.

REBOUNDS:  CP (27) Akers 9, Schuster 6, Pusara 4, Albrecht 3, Jacobus 2, Mantel, Lakich, Lipton;  PORTAGE (24) Mussman 8, Ciesielski 8, Nelson 3, Lowery 2, Walton, Cherry, Wheeler.

STEALS:  CP (8) Schuster 3, Pusara 2, Lakich, Albrecht, Lipton; PORTAGE (4) Nelson 2, Lowery, Walton.

BLOCKED SHOTS:  CP (5) Akers 2, Lipton, Schuster;   PORTAGE (2) Mussman, Walton.

FOULED OUT:  PORTAGE (1) Ryan Cherry (4th Q) 1:29 left.

3-GOALS:  PORTAGE (3) Damonte Lowery 2, Dominique Walton; CP (0).

PORTAGE (2-20-2009) When everybody plays fairly well, nobody has to be great.  That's the way Crown Point's Bulldogs have found success in the second half of the season, including a very clean 66-55 win at Portage Friday night.

"I like the way we're going," said CP senior Brady Schuster, who scored 12 of his 19 points in the second half.  "Four in a row and 8-2 on the road."

Not only did this workmanlike win in front of a slim crowd clinch a winning season for the Bulldogs, who had no returning starters form last year, but this was the fourth consecutive game that CP has had four boys score 10 or more.  That's hard to do even if you're trying.

"When we've had good balance," said coach Clint Swan, who saw his team suffer five losses by five points or less earlier this year, "That's when we've been good."

Quietly, CP (11-7) has defeated Boone Grove, Merrillville, LaPorte and Portage on the road and, while none of the triumphs have been instant classics, you have to create a three-game road winning streak to win the sectional.  This is the Bulldogs' first road win streak of the year.

CP used an 11-2 run to break an 8-8 first quarter tie as soph guard Michael Albrecht had four first half assists and 6-foot-9 Nate Akers grabbed four rebounds and  blocked a couple of shots.

Akers and senior guard Michael Lipton started slowly but Swan stayed with them and the duo combined for 26 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.

"I've always had a pretty slow hook," he said, of staying with the two seniors through few turnovers.  Like a lot of our guys.  Nate gets better as the game goes on."

Lipton realizes that he doesn't always start games with perfect play.

"Yeah," he agreed.  "Brady and I are both a little like that.  I don't really know why."

Portage's 6-foot-6 senior Aaron Ciesielski (20 points, nine rebounds) was more than a match for Akers in the pivot on the Indians' 'Senior Night' and when CP's Albrecht was called for his third foul with 6:12 left in the third quarter, he went to the bench with the score 29-26 for the visitors.

But Lipton, the 6-foot-2 soccer star, had three third quarter assists and the score was 40-32 by the time Albrecht returned with 1:38 left in the quarter.

"I'm almost glad he (Albrecht) got into foul trouble," said Swan.  "I played him 36 minutes last week at LaPorte (in a 69-55 OT win) and I don't want to wear him out.  The thing I liked was that we gained ground (on the scoreboard) with him on the bench.  We're better with him, but it showed the guys that we can play without him, too."

Schuster, a 6-foot-4 guard, scored eight points in the fourth quarter after Portage had rallied to within 46-42.  That, plus CP shooting 24 of 28 from the floor, maintained CP's lead to the end.

DOG NOTES:  Friday was the fifth consecutive game that senior center Nate Akers had scored in double figures.  Akers, who never started a CP varsity game until this season, sat a lot early in the year due to foul trouble, but he had 15 points, nine rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots at Portage Friday.  Small college scouts come to talk with the 6-foot-9 senior 'rookie' after every game.

"Yeah," said coach Clint Swan.  "I think that everybody realizes that at some schools he'd have been starting a long time ago.  He just didn't start here because we had so many older players ahead of him.  That's good for me, but it wasn't so good for him.  But everybody can see his potential."

Crown Point is OK with the draw they received in next week's eight team Class 4A Sectional 2, but they'd rather not face LaPorte again.

In the first game against LaPorte, Michael Lipton scored 16 and CP won 51-41, holding off a late Slicer rally after leading 24-10.  In the second game, CP got a game-tying three-point shot from Brady Schuster with two seconds left and outscored LaPorte 20-6 in overtime to win 69-56.

The Slicers are led by 6-foot-4 juniors Dustin DeMuth (14.2 ppg.) and Rich Leslie (11.6 ppg.) and DeMuth missed the overtime loss to CP serving a one-game suspension for fighting.

"They have been hard on us," said coach Clint Swan.  "We're a little bigger and they shoot a little better.  The draw could have been worse, but LaPorte causes us problems."

Michael Lipton is looking forward to seeing his 'close friends' on the Slicer squad.

"Yeah," he said. "(Rich) Leslie.  I don't think he likes me very much and I don't like him a lot, either.  I'm looking forward to playing them again."

Neither participating school quickly announces exactly when state tournament games are, but since the CP-LaPorte match is first in the draw it is assumed it will begin at 6:00 p.m. Tuesday night March 3.

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Revised: February 24, 2009 .