Bulldogs beat Winchester 75-70 in come-from-behind win in OT at 'Region Rumble'

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
01-02-2008

Tuesday, 01-01-2008 - Region Rumble at Valparaiso University, VALPARAISO, IN

WINCHESTER (70)  Brock Ward 1-0-2, Andrew Haney 0-4-4, Danny Maggart 3-0-6, Clayton Briggs 2-1-6, Brock Morrison 7-5-20, Tyler Koch 13-4-32, Lucas Wickersham 0-0-0, Levi Cross 0-0-0.  TOTALS:  26 (14-19) 70.

CROWN POINT (75)  Ben Derks 2-4-9, Kyle Hanaway 2-2-6, CJ Mantel 0-2-2, Derrick Garletts 1-1-3, Billy Cox 1-1-3, Michael Lipton 0-0-0, Zach Cecich 7-1-15, Aleks Alavanja 1-0-2, Stephen Albrecht 12-5-35.  TOTALS:  26 (16-19) 75.

FREE THROWS:  WINCHESTER (14-19, 73.7%) Haney 4-6, Koch 4-5, Briggs 1-2, Morrison 5-6;
CROWN POINT (16-19, 84.2%) Derks 4-4, Albrecht 5-6, Hanaway 2-2, Cecich 1-3, Cox 1-1, Mantel 2-2, Garletts 1-1.

REBOUNDS:  WINCHESTER (23) Koch 11, Morrison 3, Ward 2, Maggart 2, Briggs 2, Wickersham 2, Cross;
CROWN POINT (23) Cecich 7, Alavanja 7, Albrecht 4, Dres 2, Burkholder 2, Hanaway.

ASSISTS:  WINCHESTER (13) Haney 5, Morrison 4, Ward 2, Maggart, Koch;
CROWN POINT (13) Hanaway 5, Derks 4, Albrecht, Cecich, Cox, Lipton.

STEALS:  WINCHESTER (10) Haney 3, Koch 2, Briggs 2, Ward, Maggart, Wickersham;
CROWN POINT (10) Albrecht 2, Derks 2, Hanaway 2, Lipton 2, Cox, Cecich.

3-GOALS:  WINCHESTER (4) Tyler Koch 2, Clayton Briggs, Brock Morrison;  CROWN POINT (7) Stephen Albrecht 6, Ben Derks.

FOULED OUT:  WINCHESTER (1) Brock Morrison (OT) 1:56 left;  CROWN POINT (1) Aleks Alavanja (4th Q) 0:12 left.

VALPARAISO, IN (01-01-2008) -  I don't think this was Crown Point's best game of the first half of the season.  But this was the first time it felt like they could win some kind of championship.  Because this was played like a championship game.  'This' was the 'Region Rumble' finale late on New Year's Day matching 2A No. 3 Winchester against the highly regarded Bulldogs, who were coming off a highly disappointing 10-point loss to arch-rival Merrillville four days earlier.

While a small crowd wondered why they had come from near and far despite a daylong snowstorm for an 8:00 p.m. night game on a holiday, the two teams showed them why.  Winchester, a small Class 2A school from east central Indiana's Randolph County, built a 58-48 lead playing with great enthusiasm and intensity.  And Crown Point then lifted their game.  With no reason to win this game other than pride, The Bulldogs (7-2) rode the hot shooting of senior Stephen Albrecht and some desperate defense to stop the third-ranked Falcons and win in extra time.

"I was angry at the whole situation," said Albrecht, who scored 14 fourth quarter points in three minutes.  "I thought it was just going to be like last year when we came here and played hard for a while and got beat.  It was really a great comeback to come back and win like that.  They're a fun team to play against."

It wasn't much fun when the Falcons, who reached the state championship game last year at the end of a 22-5 season, took the 58-48 lead on two free throws by all-state guard Tyler Koch and 6-foot-3 senior Clayton Briggs with 4:44 left.  CP coach Clint Swan had the feeling it wasn't over.

"They aren't the kind of team that's going to get a lead like that and then hold the ball," said Swan, who traveled to Indianapolis to watch Winchester lose 65-53 on Dec. 29.  "This is a team that can really put together some great runs... 14-2, 16-2, 18-2 in the same game.  Much more than we even saw tonight.  When we called time out, I told them, 'Okay.  They had their run.  We can get right back in it."

It didn't take long.  Albrecht hit a three-point shot off the left wing to make it 58-51 and Koch, who scored 32, answered with two foul shots.  Albrecht, CP's 6-foot-2 senior scored on a running shot in the lane and Bulldogs guard Ben Derks stole the ball and scored making it 60-55.  After Koch was called for traveling against double-team defense, Albrecht hit another long left wing shot to cut the lead to two points.  A panicked Winchester pass was stolen by CP's Zach Cecich and another three-pointer by Albrecht gave CP the lead at 61-60, a 13-2 run in three minutes time.

Two foul shots by Winchester guard Andrew Haney gave the Falcons a 62-61 lead, but again Albrecht connected.  His shot from almost 25 feet away put CP up 64-62 with 1:15 left.

"We knew we had to set some screens for him once he had the ball," said Swan.  "But a lot of that was just him.  He has the ability to make shots.  Any shots.  He can shoot when he's not squared up.  When his elbows aren't tucked in.  All the stuff we harp on.  He can go up for shots that are not perfect looking, but he can balance himself and knock them down.  Once he hit a couple, there was no stopping him."

Albrecht, who sank 60 three-point baskets in 21 games last season, agreed.

"The guy who was chasing me got clocked on a couple of screens.  That's how I got open.  I was running off some nice screens.  I hit one shot from the corner and then I really felt I was in rhythm.  That really helped me.  I needed to hit some shots.  I was struggling."

Brock Morrison's 3-point play with 12 seconds left tied the game after the 18-5 CP run erased the 58-48 lead, but Kyle Hanaway's driving 10-footer gave CP a 71-70 lead with 1:09 left in OT and Winchester turned the ball over the next two times down the floor.  Winchester played with great intensity, shuttling players in and out frequently.  CP shot 56% from the field (26 of 46), 84% (16 of 19) from the foul line and 7 of 12 from 3-point range.  Albrecht was 12-of-44 from three-point range for the season, but he was 6-of-7 Tuesday night in a show on long distance accuracy that had the CP crowd on its feet much of the fourth quarter.

"When you're in rhythm," said Albrecht, "you don't know where you're shooting from.  You just want to shoot it.  I'm lucky it was going in."

This game might have been different had not Koch, a versatile, spring-jumping wing player, picked up his fourth foul and sat out the last 3:53 of the third quarter.  CP outscored Winchester 10-4 in that last 3:53.  CP didn't have a good match for Koch.  Aleks Alavanja, the Bulldogs' 6-foot-6 forward, was in foul trouble all night.

Crown Point got a lot of defensive help from guards Ben Derks and Billy Cox in disrupting the Falcons fast-paced flow.

"Ben did a great job on (Winchester lead guard Andrew) Haney," said Swan.  "I don't think we forced turnovers so much as he stretched them out.  Made it hard for them to run their sets.  Billy Cox came in and did the same thing."

This kind of game is what Duneland Conference teams miss by playing 14 leagues games.  CP plays a couple of quality nonconference foes in East Chicago and 2A power Boone Grove, but there is not a 2A team like Winchester in NW Indiana right now.

"They all rebound like maniacs," said Albrecht.  "It was really a physical game.  To really storm back at the end... that was great."

"Their intensity is their hallmark," said Swan of the Falcons.  "They play with a lot of pride and a lot of passion.  We knew whether they were 2A, 3A or 4A... we'd have to grind it out.  A very good player like Tyler Koch.  What did he have?  Eight offensive rebounds?  That's huge."

The Bulldogs' reward for beating a ranked team Tuesday is to play another one, 4A No. 10 Chesterton (9-0) ,Friday night in the second half of the boys/girls double-header (6:00 p.m.) at Crown Point.

"That's the great thing about playing at Crown Point High School," Swan said.  "Merrillville last Friday. Winchester tonight and Chesterton this coming Friday.  You get to play the best teams.  A little sleep deprivation is the only bad thing about it."

RUMBLE NOTES:  Crown Point's Stephen Albrecht agrees that his team has acquired a little knowledge about playing games on New Year's Day after doing it twice in a row

"We were lucky tonight," he said.  "We had the later (8:00 p.m.) game.  We just played Merrillville a few nights ago so we were used to it.  But, yeah, it's different. You can't go anywhere on New Year's Eve.  You just stay at home.  The experience of last year really got us ready for tonight.  We knew we had to come out strong, because the other (out of town) team will."

Albrecht, who was averaging 14 points over the first eight games, was 12 of 16 from the floor and 5-of-6 from the foul line.  He is 31 of 35 (88.5%) in foul shooting.  At Valpo Monday night, he played without the protective sleeve on his right elbow.

"I'm not hurt.  In the fall, I had a problem where I couldn't even shoot sometimes because of my elbow and I wear that sleeve to keep it warm.  But it's fine."

Crown Point was just 96-of-157 (61.1%) from the foul line in the first eight games before sinking 16 of 19 Tuesday night.  Winchester entered the game shooting 38% (63-of-166) from three-point range.

The Falcons, who averaged 75.3 points a game before Tuesday, were 4-of-13 from three-point range against Crown Point.  Winchester lost the 2A state championship game to Northwestern 78-74 in two overtimes last season.  Northwestern, a Kokomo-area school, was reassigned to Class 3A this season.

The Times-sponsored Rumble continued Wednesday night at the Hammond Civic Center.  The crowd at the CP-Winchester game was smaller than it could have been, because the 'Rumble' people did Evansville Reitz a favor.  Reitz was allowed to play the second game of the day, a 67-54 loss to Chesterton starting at 4 p.m. Tuesday because they had to get back to Evansville.  Reitz needed time to make the six-hour trip back to the bottom of the state because school was in session on Wednesday, Jan. 2.

Had Chesterton-Reitz been the 6:00 p.m. game, the Chesterton fans almost certainly would have stayed to watch CP play Winchester.  The 6:00 p.m. was a no-contest girls match between 4A Portage and 1A Attica, which got some fans to thinking about how to get home in the snowstorm.  Crown Point brought about 200 fans, but the snow may have convinced a couple hundred others to stay home.  If anyone thought about driving up from Winchester during the day Tuesday, they thought twice about it as the snow was much heavier east of Valparaiso (where South Bend TV station WNDU reported an official 11 inches of snow) than it was west of Porter County.

Tentatively, the format won't change for the 10th 'Rumble' next year.  The chance to go unopposed (there are no other games in the state) on New Year's Day creates the opportunity to draw capacity crowds if you get good weather.  There will be four games on New Year's Day 2009, which is a Thursday, at Valparaiso University, and, at least, two more on Friday Jan. 2, 2009, at the Hammond Civic Center.

Most teams' 2008-2009 schedules are not complete, so there's no word on who will be in next season's Rumble except that it will not be Chesterton or Crown Point who have senior-dominated teams this year.  Hanover Central replaces the 'Rumble' game of CP's schedule next year.  Local teams that might get the call include Boone Grove, which starts five underclassmen now.  Merrillville, which will return four 6-foot-6 to 6-foot-8 regulars next season and Gary's new Bowman Academy (4-3), which presently has no seniors in the entire school (its only a 2-year-old school), but has been extremely competitive so far this season.

A choice for girls "Rumble" region team could be Michigan City, which returns top guards Bianca McGee and TaKenya Nixon or Griffith, which will returns all five starters.

If the 'Rumble' organizers could pick and choose opponents for the region team, they would certainly be Oregon-Davis, which is now headed for a second consecutive state championship with a sophomore lead guard in all-stater Gabi Minix and South Bend Washington, which is presently also going for a second consecutive state title with junior lead guard Skyler Diggins.  If the Rumble could have anybody for the boys foe, it would probably be Lawrence North, which will play East Chicago this Friday night.  North has six players listed at 6-9 or taller.  Another might be Fort Wayne's Bishop Luers, with 6-foot-7 all-stater DeShaun Thomas, who is just a sophomore this year.