Bulldogs tune up for Sectional opener with 70-65 win over Chesterton

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
02-25-2006

Friday, 02-23-2007  - Duneland Athletic Conference boys basketball at Crown Point 

CHESTERTON (65)  Adam Hutnick 4-2-10, Austin Bower 5-2-13, Jordan Lewis 1-0-2, Tommy Peller 1-0-2, Alex Beierwalter 3-0-6, Zack Novak 11-4-30, Jack Houpt 1-0-2, Mark Babcock 0-0-0.  TOTALS:  26 (8-9) 65.

CROWN POINT (70)  Aleks Alavanja 5-5-15, Zach Cecich 8-0-16, Stephen Albrecht 9-3-23, Kyle Hanaway 0-2-2, Mitch Robinson 3-0-6, Matt Ernest 2-4-8, Ben Derks 0-0-0, Andy Krumwied 0-0-0.  TOTALS:  27 (14-23) 70.

FREE THROWS:  CHESTERTON (8-9, 88.9%) Hutnick 2-2, Bower 2-3, Novak 4-4;  CROWN POINT (14-23, 60.9%) Albrecht 3-7, Hanaway 2-4, Alavanja 5-6, Ernest 4-5, Cecich 0-1.

REBOUNDS:  CHESTERTON (23) Novak 10, Beierwalter 4, Hutnick 2, Bower 2, Houpt 2, Lewis, Babcock, Peller;  CROWN POINT (34) Alavanja 7, Cecich 7, Albrecht 6, Robinson 5, Hanaway 5, Ernest 3, Derks.

ASSISTS:  CHESTERTON (14) Lewis 7, Beierwalter 2, Hutnick 2, Babcock, Peller, Bower;  CROWN POINT (21) Hanaway 17, Ernest, Cecich, Alavanja, Albrecht.

TURNOVERS:  CHESTERTON (10), CROWN POINT (14).

3-GOALS:  CHESTERTON (5) Zach Novak 4, Austin Bower;  CROWN POINT (2) Stephen Albrecht 2.

CROWN POINT (2-23-2007) -  If you want Crown Point to beat Chesterton in the opening quarterfinal game of the Class 4A Crown Point Sectional Tuesday night in the 97th Indiana state basketball tournament, the outcome of Friday night's Crown Point-Chesterton game was exactly what you would hope for.

The Bulldogs won, but they did not embarrass the Trojans.  The game lacked some intensity, especially defensively in the first half, but CP was the better team and they held on for the high-scoring win on CP's 'Senior Night'.

In 96 hours, the Bulldogs and Trojans get back together at CP to do it all over again.

"I've had so many people asking me what I was going to do tonight," said CP coach Clint Swan, referring to the back-to-back games with the same foe.  "I have a hard enough time putting together one game plan.  We're going to go back with much the same approach.  What this game does is let us know exactly what we need to work on.  But they'll do the same thing, as well-coached as they are.  I think it will be a better quality game Tuesday night."

Friday's game was very entertaining if not a defensive showcase.  Both teams had more assists than turnovers and Crown Point was called for only 13 fouls.  Until the third quarter, there was none of the physical play that will be expected in Tuesday's playoff game.  The Bulldogs broke a 10-10 tie and forged leads of 16-10 and 29-16 with a fast breaking offense.  Trojan juniors Zack Novak and Austin Bower helped the visitors rally to within 43-37 in the third period and 60-55 with 2:40 left.

The difference in the game was 6-2 junior guard Kyle Hanaway, who was credited with 17 assists in a game where Crown Point had only 27 baskets.  Hanaway, the Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) assist leader, set up Stephen Albrecht (23 points), Zach Cecich (16 points) and Aleks Alavanja (15 points) for high percentage shots.  Off of Chesterton baskets and missed shots alike, Hanaway would bring the ball up the floor on the run and consistently find the open man.  Sometimes, in the back court, Hanaway would launch a half court pass to one of CP's scorers running ahead of the defense.

"I think what he is doing this year assist-wise is phenomenal," said Swan. "He's averaged almost nine assists a game.  I think the thing is, he's just a really good basketball player.  He could play a lot of different positions.  You put him on the wing and he'd be a very good wing.  Before the football kids got here (in the pre-season), there were times when we thought he was our best post player.  He's very unselfish.  He's very strong and athletic.  What Kyle's doing is rewarding his teammates the way they get out and run the floor."

In Tuesday's playoff game, the Bulldogs will look to get a handle on Chesterton's 6-foot-5 left-handed forward Zach Novak, who scored 21 of his 30 points in the second half.  Crown Pont's Zach Cecich did well containing the Trojans scoring leader in the first half but Novak went to the perimeter and hit some jump shots.

CP got 21 points out of the combination of junior forwards Alavanja and 6-foot-4 Mitch Robinson, who scored six in the second half when Alavanja was on the bench in foul trouble.

"Mitch is the kind of guy I wish I could find more minutes for," said Swan.  "He gave us what we needed tonight."

Crown Point seniors Matt Ernest and Andy Krumwied were honored before the game as graduating seniors.  The two football players have the distinction of finishing first in football in the fall and tied for second (with Chesterton) in the winter.

"Everybody's good.  Everybody's ready," said Swan, of the upcoming post-season.  "When we started out this season, we were 0-3 in the conference.  For us to come back and finish second, that's a tremendous accomplishment for these kids.  I'm very proud of them."

BULLDOG NOTES:  Chesterton did get injured guard Mark Babcock back in the lineup.  Babcock broke his foot before Christmas and missed two months.  He played 15 minutes Friday at CP and did not score, but his return is a definite boost to the Trojans, who have more depth at forward than they do at guard.

Kyle Hanaway finished the 20-game regular season with 171 assists, an average of 8.5 per game.  Stephen Albrecht finished 54-of-139 from the three-point line.  Chesterton's Zack Novak scored 438 points (21.9) in 20 games. CP's Stephen Albrecht scored 371 points (18.5) in 20 games.

Some questioned the assist total of 17 for Kyle Hanaway because it did not seem like he had that many.  There are different definitions of assists and it is valid that some would not call a half court pass that led to a driving lay up an assist.  Some definitions of an 'assist' say that if the recipient of a pass dribbles the ball more than once or twice to the basket, that takes away the assist.  Hanaway's half court pass assists fall into that category.  It's also true that when a player has a lot of assists, you look for him to make them so you see more of them.  Scoring is very arbitrary.  Some folks don't call a tip-in that hits the rim a rebound but it has to be.

When you are keeping score, assists are the toughest thing to categorize, because an assist depends on whether the shot went in or not.  Often, in the speed of the game, you watch the scorer do his thing and forget who gave him the pass.  It's hard not to go with the official statistician.

On Tuesday night, Crown Point and Chesterton will be followed by a quarterfinal game between Merrillville (11-9) vs. Portage (4-16).  The Pirates have lost forward Andy Anderson for the season with a torn ACL suffered in practice last week.  Merrillville beat Portage 63-54 Friday night. Valparaiso (20-2) finished as 13-1 in league play after a 57-56 win over Michigan City.

This is the first Crown Point boys basketball sectional in 37 years.  CP hosted the sectional from 1965-1970 in the old, one class tournament.  When they hosted, CP won twice, in 1966 and 1969.  The Bulldogs also won the sectional title in 1971 when the tournament was moved to the much larger Calumet Field house.  Crown Point has won only six sectional titles in the 97 years of the state tournament.

Tuesday's game with be the 12th meeting of CP and Chesterton in four seasons.  In 2005, CP won two out of three.  In 2006, the Trojans were 2-1 against CP.  In 2004, CP lost both regular season games to Chesterton but defeated them 55-50 in sectional play.

WWLO (89.1) FM, which has carried most of CP's boys game this season, will air only the CP-Chesterton game live.  Most other local stations will air the showdown between Gary West Side and Munster.  There will be live cut ins from Crown Point but only WWLO has announced it will carry the CP sectional opening game in its entirety.

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Revised: February 25, 2007 .