Bulldogs start 4 sophomores in 49-39 nonconference win over Gavit

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith
12-29-2005

Tuesday, 12-27-2005  boys basketball at Crown Point, IN

GAVIT (39)  Hudson Hubbard 4-2-10, Marvin Sanders 3-0-6, Alex Bravo 2-0-4, Sam Riddle 1-0-2, Asoniu Taufi 2-1-5, Antonio McNeal 4-4-12, Royal Donald 0-0-0, Cade McDonald 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 16-7-39.

CROWN POINT (49)  Aleks Alavanja 6-3-15, Danny Bouchee 3-2-9, Keith Dean 3-1-7, Kyle Hanaway 3-0-6, Zach Cecich 2-0-4, Ben Derks 0-2-2, Stephen Albrecht 1-0-2, Andy Krumwied 2-0-4, Michael Kvachkoff 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 20-8-49.

FREE THROWS:  GAVIT (7-15, .466)  Hubbard 2-3, Donald 0-2, Riddle 0-2, McNeal 4-6, Taufi 1-2;  CP (8-11, .727)  Bouchee 2-4, Derks 2-2, Alavanja 3-3, Dean 1-2.

REBOUNDS:  GAVIT (14)  Sanders 5, McNeal 5, Hubbard 2, Riddle, Taifu;  CP (27) Dean 9, Alavanja 8, Cecich 4, Krumweid 4, Derks 2, Hanaway 2, Bouchee.

ASSISTS:  GAVIT (6) McNeal 3, Hubbard 2, Bravo;  CP (12) Bouchee 3, Derks 3, Hanaway 3, Alavanja, Albrecht, Krumwied.

TURNOVERS:  GAVIT (9), CROWN POINT (18).

3-GOALS:  GAVIT (0);  CROWN POINT (1) Danny Bouchee.

CROWN POINT (12-27-2005) - You have to be very careful here not to be deceived by games against lesser competition.  But in the early going, this all-new Crown Point team, despite some illness, looks pretty good more often than not.  Another 'pretty good ' effort came Tuesday night in a holiday nonconference game, won by the Bulldogs over Gavit 49-39.

Now Gavit is 2-6.  Only one of the four teams Crown Point has defeated so far (Morton) presently has a winning record.

"How many rebounds did we get?" asked Bulldogs coach Shaun Busick.  "Thirty?  30-14.  What was the assist turnover ratio?  Pretty good. It was a low possession game. That's not too bad."

Crown Point knows that 49 points against a rebuilding 3A school isn't great.  Eighteen turnovers is too many against a Gavit team that rarely pressed full court.  Busick is clearly still researching what he's got every night.  The new coach rolled out the four sophomore starting lineup as he has all year, but it was a different group with Ben Derks and Kyle Hanaway at guards, Aleks Alavanja and Zach Cecich up front, this time with senior Michael Kvachkoff.  That team jumped to an 8-0 lead but it would also be fair to say that Danny Bouchee, Keith Dean and Andy Krumwied, coming off the bench, were crucial in the victory.  From night to night, it's hard to tell who the Bulldogs' five best players are.

"There's a lot of things involved in that," the new coach said.  "I honestly don't think about keeping them (the sophomores) together. There's a lot of chemistry there and sometimes that helps.  But the great thing about them is the seniors and how they've blended in.  Or, I should say how the sophomores have blended in with the juniors and seniors.  That's really the way it should go.  The one thing I'm proud of is that we're unselfish.  I'm proud of that.  That should really help us as a basketball program down the line."

"It wasn't pretty tonight but I'll take it.  Like I said at the start of the year.  I'll take an ugly win over a pretty loss."

The Bulldogs were in a position they will rarely find themselves the rest of the season.  A home midweek nonconference game where it is assumed they would win.  That's what produced the early leads of 8-0 and 14-7.  CP utilized some 2-3 zone defense to challenge Gavit's outside shooting. The Gladiators did not make a three-point basket all night in a dozen tries.  Alavanja, a 6-foot-6 'small' forward, was very active with 11 points and seven rebounds in the first half alone.

In the second half, Gavit coach Gary Meyer brought 6-4 power forward Sam Riddle off the bench and the combination of Riddle and guards Antonio McNeal and Hudson Hubbard, plus some 1-3-1 halfcourt defense pulled the Gladiators to within 25-23 and 30-27.  But Krumwied, a 6-foot-5 junior center, came off the bench to grab four rebounds and four points and provide the physical strength CP needed to handle the powerfully built Gavit front line.

"He played very well tonight," said Busick.  "He gave us exactly what we needed.  Keith (Dean) played very well.  Nine rebounds.  You wouldn't expect that from him.  He did a great job tonight.  We got a lot of help off the bench.  We switched defenses a lot tonight and we want to continue to be a team that keeps people off balance."

Busick has also slowed CP's offense.  When the opposition is making a run, CP has shown they'll go to a 'weave' attack, with three players moving laterally and exchanging possessions on the perimeter, looking for a quick pass to a teammate cutting to the basket.  Late in the Gavit game, the Bulldogs went to a four corner delay attack with players in the four corners of the offensive end of the floor and a quick ball-handler like Dean, Bouchee or Stephan Albrecht playing keep away and looking for a quick dash to the hoop.

"That's a part of our offense," Busick explained after the game. "Sometimes we're going to run that.  When we're healthy, we have a team where different guys are stepping up.

"We haven't become a great practice team yet.  We have to win every practice.  How can you win a practice?  Do all you can do.  Until we become a great practice team we won't pull off that big upset we're looking for."

Obviously, a win Friday at arch-rival Merrillville (4-1) would be one of those 'big upsets.'  The Pirates have defeated CP 12 consecutive times and have lost only twice to the Bulldogs in 18 years.

"Now, we've got to get mentally ready for a very good Merrillville team," Busick said.  "I had eight tickets to see Purdue play but then I found out that Merrillville plays Munster Wednesday so that's where I'll be." 

BULLDOG NOTES:  Some speak of how the Lake Athletic Conference (LAC) is just as good as the Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC), but you can't prove that by Crown Point.  Crown Point, which has never won an undisputed DAC title, is 13-0 against LAC member Gavit over the last 13 years and 9-0 against LAC member Griffith in the last nine seasons. The Bulldogs were 5-1 in nonconference games last year inside a 13-9 season where they were 7-7 in the DAC.  Right now, CP is 3-0 against the LAC and 1-3 against the DAC.

CP has not played perennial LAC power Andrean in recent history, but Munster, which was dropped from the CP schedule this year so the Bulldogs could add natural rival Boone Grove, is 7-6 against the Bulldogs in the last 12 years.  The truth is that CP, a mid-level DAC team in recent years, has had their way with most LAC foes.

The crowd for a mid-week holiday season nonconference game was very small, maybe 200 friends of the program.  Crown Point had to play a makeup game three days before Christmas against Griffith and, along with the Merrillville contest Friday, CP didn't really get a Christmas break from basketball.

"I'd like to play one game," said Busick.  "But I really would rather not play this many times over the holidays."

CP leading scorer Danny Bouchee is clearly not 100% after contacting mononucleosis earlier this month.  Bouchee played about 15 minutes Tuesday, but he was near exhaustion running the four corners attack at the end of the game.

"Stephen Albrecht has been very sick," added Busick, explaining why the 6-foot-2 sophomore had lost his starting position for the night.  "He hasn't been at practice all week."

Sophomore Kyle Hanaway was the starter and he handled himself well with six points, three assists, two rebounds and a steal in about 18 minutes of action.  The Bulldogs regularly use five sophomores on the varsity and have 6-foot-7 soph Jacob Burkholder performing basically on the junior varsity for now.  CP can afford to give Burkholder the full JV experience with 6-6 forwards Michael Kvachkoff and Aleks Alavanja plus 6-3 power players Zach Cecich and Andy Krumwied contributing as they have at the varsity level.