Bulldogs' reserves surge in 79-40 win over Boone Grove

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
01-28-2008

Saturday, 01-26-2008 - Non-conference at CROWN POINT, IN

BOONE GROVE (40)  Michael Eleftheri 4-2-10, Zac Ursitti 1-0-3, Danny Block 3-3-9, Ryan Reynolds 1-1-4, Wayland Roach 6-0-12, Alex Radivan 0-2-2, Jacob Wright 0-00, Greg Wilkins 0-0-0, Ben Vasquez 0-0-0.  TOTALS:  15 (8-14) 40.

CROWN POINT (79)  Stephen Albrecht 4-5-13, Aleks Alavanja 7-0-14, Zach Cecich 5-0-10, Kyle Hanaway 1-1-3, Michael Lipton 2-0-4, Jacob Burkholder 4-0-8, Billy Cox 3-0-7, Nate Akers 1-0-2, CJ Mantel 4-2-13, Nikola Pusara 0-0-0.  TOTALS:  31 (8-10) 79.

FREE THROWS:  BOONE (8-14, 57.1%)  Eleftheri 2-2, Block 3-6, Reynolds 1-2, Radivan 2-4;  CROWN POINT (8-10, 80%) Albrecht 5-5, Hanaway 1-2, Alavanja 0-1, Mantel 2-2.

REBOUNDS:  BOONE (17) Roach 5, Block 4, Eleftheri 4, Radivan, Vasquez, Wilkins, Ursitti.  CROWN POINT (29) Alavanja 6, Cecich 6, Albrecht 4, Burkholder 3, Lipton 3, Derks 2, Hanaway 2, Cox, Mantel, Akers.

ASSISTS:  BOONE (7) Eleftheri 4, Block 2, Wilkins;  CP (13) Hanaway 6, Lipton 3, Albrecht 2, Derks 2.

STEALS:  BOONE (5) Wright 2, Eleftheri, Vasquez, Wilkins;  CP (3) Hanaway, Lipton, Akers.

3-GOALS:  BOONE (2) Zac Ursitti, Ryan Reynolds;  CP (4) CJ Mantel 3, Billy Cox.

Friday, 01-25-2008 - Duneland Athletic Conference at VALPARAISO, IN

CROWN POINT (32)  Stephen Albrecht 3-5-12, Aleks Alavanja 3-0-6, Zach Cecich 4-0-8, Kyle Hanaway 2-0-4, Michael Lipton 0-0-0, Jacob Burkholder 0-0-0, Billy Cox 0-0-0, Derrick Garletts 1-0-2, CJ Mantel 0-0-0, Ben Derks 0-0-0.  TOTALS:  13 (5-7) 32.

VALPARAISO (31)  Matt Hittenger 1-0-2, Trent Reddington 5-0-13, Andy Martin 2-0-6, Hayden Humes 2-0-5, Eric Jackson 1-0-2, Scott Ostojic 1-0-3, Derrick Kennett 0-0-0, Jerick Sutter 0-0-0.  TOTALS:  12 (0-0) 31.

FREE THROWS:  CROWN POINT (5-7, 71.4%) Albrecht 5-5, Alavanja 0-1, Derks 0-1:  VALPARAISO (0-0, 0%).

ASSISTS:  Kyle Hananay (CP) 3;  Matt Hittinger (V) 5.

REBOUNDS:  Aleks Alavanja (CP) 5;  Hayden Humes (V) 6.

3-GOALS:  CROWN POINT (1) Stephen Albrecht;  VALPO (7) Trent Reddington 3, Andy Martin 2, Hayden Humes, Scott Ostojic.

 

Friday, 01-25-2008 - Porter County Conference at KOUTS, IN

BOONE GROVE (53)  Wayland Roach 7-3-17, Michael Eleftheri 3-4-10, Zac Ursitti 3-2-10, Alex Radivan 1-1-3, Jacob Wright 1-0-2, Greg Wilkins 2-0-6, Danny Block 2-0-4, Ben Zasquez 0-0-0, Ryan Reynolds 0-0-0.  TOTALS:  19 (10-15) 53.

KOUTS (50)  Morgan Drazer 4-1-9, Bra Parks 3-3-9, Kyle Mueller 8-1-17, Preston Frame 2-0-4, Jon Hand 1-0-2, Abe Osburne 2-0-5, Ben Osbourne 2-0-4.  TOTALS: 22 (5-9) 50.

FREE THROWS:  BOONE (10-15, 66.7%) Eleftheri 4-6, Roach 3-4, Ursitti 2-3, Radivan 1-2;  KOUTS (5-9, 55.5%) Drazer 1-3, Parks 3-3, Mueller 1-2.

3-GOALS:  BOONE (5) Zac Ursiti 2, Greg Wilkins 2, Wayland Roach;  KOUTS (1) Abe Osbourne.

CROWN POINT, IN (01-27-2008) The Boone Grove-Crown Point game always seems to be  conducted in an atmosphere of political cooperation.  The CP red states and the Boone blue states getting along before and after they compete against each other.  You see reds and blues hanging around talking to each other long after the game ends.

Saturday's game was another between friendly neighbors made more so because both Boone and Crown Point had won more important league games on Friday night.  Boone Grove tired badly after halftime, and as a sophomore-dominated team should, they lost to the 4A senior-dominated Bulldogs 79-40 in a non-conference game both sides probably forgot the minute they walked out into the cold January night air.

CP (10-5) went deep into the bench early and got outstanding reserve play, wearing down their Class 2A Porter County neighborhood rivals.

"If I had a game ball tonight," said CP coach Clint Swan, "it would go to the bench.  We got very good play out of everybody.  We beat a team that's leading their conference."

Boone veteran coach Matt McKay agreed.

"Their number nine and 10 guys are just better than ours.  And bigger.  I thought we executed well in the first half.  The second quarter got away from us a little."

"We showed some promise," added McKay, " but I'd rather have been close the whole game.  There's been years when we've beaten them (CP).  But it's tough to come off a conference win (53-50 over first place Kouts) and play these guys when they're as good as they are this year."

On Saturday, CP scored eight in a row to take a 19-15 lead early in the second period and the Bulldogs then added seven in a row to go up 33-21 in the final minute of the first half.

Swan didn't want to make anything of the fact that he has been going with a larger starting lineup the last three games, all CP victories.  Center Jacob Burkholder has moved into the starting five and senior guard Ben Derks has been coming off the bench.  Derks is 5-foot-11 and Burkholder is 6-foot-8.  The change gives the Bulldogs a front line of Zach Cecich (6-3, 235), Aleks Alavanja (6-6, 205) and Burkholder (6-8, 230), with 6-foot-2 guards Kyle Hanaway and Stephen Albrecht.

"I don't know," said Swan, who saw the bench play very well against Boone.  "We've had pretty good success with that and we've stayed with it.  I just feel we've gotten real good motion out of that.  If we don't get that, we may change again.  But right now, we like what we're getting."

The Bulldogs, who beat a slowdown Valparaiso upset bid by a 32-31 score Friday, stayed strong in the second half while Boone's shots began to come up short and their passes lost some accuracy.  Senior Billy Cox and junior guards Michael Lipton and CJ Mantel came off the bench to total 24 points with Mantel scoring a season-best 13.

"They gave us some good minutes," said Swan.  "Everybody from Lipton to CJ Mantel.  Derrick Garletts.  Ben Derks. They played better in the first half than our starters did.  They're some pretty good players.  We saw some things tonight that we liked and hopefully we can build on that."

DOGS/WOLVES:  Crown Point survived a last second game winning shot attempt by Valparaiso sophomore Andy Martin to win 32-31 Friday in Porter County.  New Valpo coach Chris Benedict, who played a slowdown style at Columbia City and was highly-successful with it, clearly has brought that style to Valpo and it makes them a pain to play.

"We touched the ball four times in the second quarter," Kyle Hanaway reported.

The Bulldogs have a couple of college scouts at every game now because they have seven seniors, all of whom (with the possible exception of football star Zach Cecich) could find a place to play in college next year.  Hanaway, who has led Northwest Indiana in assists the past two seasons, will attend Taylor College, a private NAIA university of about 1,800 in Upland, Indiana.

"I actually decided a couple of weeks ago," he said after Saturday's game.  "I like it.  I like the coaches.  Good basketball tradition.  I've got full tuition and I just have to pay for housing.  It's a good league. They play Bethel.  Bethel was ranked last week.  St. Joseph's (Rensselaer), Marian.  Its about two hours and 10 minutes from here.  It's only 1900 kids.  It's quiet.  There's not a lot going on.  I just wanted to play basketball in college and now I will."

Taylor (16-7) is having a strong season and lead guard Alex Daniel (6.8 ppg., 3.8 apg), a 6-foot-2 junior from Muncie, averages almost four assists per game.  The backup appears to be 6-foot-2 junior guard Danny Cox (12.5 ppg., 2.3 apg), a starting swing man out of New Castle.  Hanaway might appear to be asked to serve a year as Daniels' apprentice and then lead the Trojans, who play in the same league as Bethel College, where Michigan City senior guard Stephen Ward will attend.

Crown Point defeated Boone last season 76-61 at Boone.  The 75-67 victory over East Chicago was still a confidence building fact even a week later.

"We maximized possessions," said CP coach Clint Swan, "and our kids were able to see what they were capable of doing.  It wants a situation where they were afraid.  One possession at a time.  We kept it close the first half and were able to pull away in the second half."

Swan agrees that his Bulldogs have victories over teams that are superior to the teams CP has lost to this season.

"I think that speaks to the pressure that these guys felt pressure to accomplish some things that these guys have never accomplished before," said Swan. "We've just got to relax and play.  Against East Chicago, there were no expectations so they just played.  If we can do that against teams of East Chicago's caliber or teams of anybody's caliber, we'll be fine."

"We had a good game plan," said Hanaway.  We packed it in.  It was a fun game.  I went against Conner.  I know Derrel Conner a little.  We made (Angel) Garcia go outside and he likes that."