Bulldogs held to just 10 second half points, fall 53-44 on road to Lake Central

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith
1-14-2006

Friday, 1-13-2006 boys basketball Duneland Athletic Conference game at St. John, IN

CROWN POINT (44)  Keith Dean 3-0-7, Stephen Albrecht 2-7-12, Danny Bouchee 2-2-7, Zach Cecich 3-0-6, Kyle Hanaway 3-1-7,  Ben Derks 1-0-3, Andy Krumwied 1-0-2, Aleks Alavanja 0-0-0, Michael Kvachkoff 0-0-0.  TOTALS:
15 (10-14) 44.

LAKE CENTRAL (53)  Evan Lavery 4-1-9, Adam Short 9-3-25, Zach Fuhrman 5-3-13, Eric Summers 1-2-4, John Cabrerra 1-0-2, Joe Wingis 0-0-0, Nikola Katic 0-0-0, Eric Wagner 0-0-0, Ryan Schweitzer 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 20 (9-12) 53.

FREE THROWS:  CP (10-14, 71.4%) Albrecht 7-7, Bouchee 2-4, Hanaway 1-1, Krumwied 0-2.  LC (9-12, 75%) Short 3-5, Fuhrman 3-4, Summers 2-2, Lavery 1-1.

TURNOVERS:  CP (3-0-6-3) 12;   LC (4-1-2-3) 10.

3-GOALS:  CP (4) Keith Dean, Stephen Albrecht, Ben Derks, Danny Bouchee;  LC (4) Adam Short 4.

ST. JOHN (1-13-2006) - This was one of those games where, when it was over, you weren't exactly sure what happened to turn it around.  Crown Point led by eight points late in the second quarter and by six at the half.  But Lake Central scored 18 of the last 24 points of the game over the final 11 minutes, winning 53-44.  The bulldogs scored just 10 pints in the second half.  Some of it was good LC defense.  Some of it was a road game for a team dominated by sophomores.

Some of it was unexplainable.

"I thought that for a half we played some of our best ball of the year," said CP's new coach Shaun Busick.  "But we have a tendency to individualize at times and we don't have any one player who's that good.  I've said before that player-for-player as individuals, we aren't that good a team.  When we play together, we're pretty good.  We have to play together as a team."

Lake Central (4-8, 4-4 DAC) needed this game badly.  They have played an especially difficult schedule, but 3-8 was 3-8.

"It's a Duneland win and its puts us to 4-4 in the Duneland which is huge," coach Dave Milausnic said.  "Crown Point has improved a lot since the last time we played them.  It's nice that we could find a way to come back and win and get some confidence."

Led by 10 first half points from 6-2 sophomore Stephen Albrecht and some spirited off the bench rebounding by 6-5 junior Andy Krumwied, Crown Point (6-5, 3-5 DAC) mounted a 13-3 run late in the  second quarter to take a 32-24 lead just 2:16 before halftime.  The Bulldogs held leads of 36-33 and 38-35 with 3:06 left in the third period.

But CP could not get an open shot on the perimeter and the Bulldogs have not yet developed a consistent post offense.  The well ran very dry during a four point third quarter during which Crown Point was held without a field goal for the final 6:31.  LC was not prolific, but they got their offense in gear with 6-3 senior Adam Short scoring five points and 6-7 freshman Eric Summers adding four points, three rebounds and a blocked shot.

Lake Central is better than their 4-8 record.  Losses have come to Merrillville, East Chicago, Munster and Valparaiso, all teams with top-heavy winning records.  LC has to pick up the newspapers and read how great other teams are when they know they could beat them.

"It's not frustrating from the standpoint of what other team's records are," said Milausnic.  "Its frustrating from the point of view that we could have won some other games.  We dug our own hole.  Had we won two or three other games everybody would be saying 'Look out for Lake Central.'  But the fact of the matter is, we didn't.  It's just more of worrying about ourselves.  We have a second chance to play some of these teams and we've got to make the most of it."

The score froze at 43-40 for almost 3 1/2 minutes before junior guard Evan Lavery hit a short jump shot with 3:35 to go in the game.  LC played carefully, limiting the number of possessions and Crown Point committed nine second half turnovers.  After Danny Bouchee sank two foul shots to make it 45-42 with 3:13 left, LC scored seven in a row as the clock ran down.  Short sank three out of four from the foul line to clinch the game in the final 90 seconds.

"Coach really stresses defense," said Adam Short later.  "We work about 90% of the time on defense.  We've worked very hard.  We're young.  We expected this (a sub-.500 start) somewhat, but hopefully we can pick it up as the time comes."

Crown Point could not get an open shot and scored just three second half field goals.  It was a good effort but there was no visible continuity.  Though the Bulldogs refuse to use this as an excuse, CP occasionally looks like a team full of boys who either had never played together before this year or had never played varsity basketball before this year.  Only time can cure that problem.

"Defensively we weren't very good," said Busick, who thought his team took a step back in this game. "Even in the first half, we we adequate.  But in the second half we lost the team concept offensively and defensively.  Too many guys are trying to do things on their own."

"Our big focus this week will be team play.  Tonight, Lake Central got the best of us.  They were the better team.  Definitely better for 16 minutes."

CP/LC NOTES:  The crowd at Lake Central was around 1,500, a very good total for two teams that are having rebuilding seasons.  With the LC-CP girls game scheduled for the next (Saturday) night, many girls players were in the stands.

"I loved the crowd," said LC coach Dave Milausnic.  "I told the guys before the game that I was jealous because this was the type of night where you want to grab a uniform and go play yourself.  Our AAU players (youth league LC players) were here and there were a lot of soccer people here because we were honoring the two (LC had two soccer teams in the state finals last fall) soccer teams.  It was fun."

CP junior Danny Bouchee says he is still not 100% healthy from his battle with mononucleosis back in early December.

"I lost 26 pounds," he said. "I'm pretty much okay now." 

Lake Central was not smart on defense in the first half, according to their coach.

"I thought we were helping out on penetration that was not penetration," explained LC coach Dave Milausnic.  "That's why we gave up open shots.  In the second half we just stayed out on the shooters a little more.  In rebounds, in the first half, we weren't just going to get them in the first half.  We were looking at each other a little bit."