Bulldogs hold off Trojans for 51-48 win and sweep of CP-Chesterton girls-boys double-header

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith
1-7-2006

Friday, 1-6-2006  boys basketball at Crown Point, IN - double header game #2

CHESTERTON (48)  AJ Jones 1-2-4, Curt Bradford 6-0-14, Zack Novak 5-4-15, Adam Nallenweg 1-1-3, Adam Hutnick 3-0-7, Mark Babcock 1-2-5, Jack Haupt 0-0-0, Chase Saylor 0-0-0, Alex Mennen 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 17 (9-10) 48.

CROWN POINT (51)  Danny Bouchee  4-1-10, Stephen Albrecht 4-4-12, Zach Cecich 4-4-12,  Aleks Alvanja 3-0-6, Ben Derks 0-2-2, Keith Dean 0-6-6, Kyle Hanaway 0-1-1, Nick Zolfo 0-0-0, Michael Kvachkoff 0-0-0, Andy Krumwied 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 15 (18-25, 72%) 51.

FREE THROWS:  Chesterton (9-10, 90%)  Jones 2-2, Novak 4-5, Nallenweg 1-1, Babcock 2-2.
CROWN POINT (18-25, 72%) Bouchee 1-2, Derks 2-2, Albrecht 4-6, Alvanja 0-1, Cecich 4-6, Dean 6-6,
Hanaway 1-2.

3-GOALS:  Chesterton (5) Curt Bradford 2, Zack Novak, Adam Hutnick, Mark Babcock.
CROWN POINT (3)  Stephen Albrecht 2, Danny Bouchee.

FOULED OUT:  Curt Bradford (C) 4th Q - :04 left.

CROWN POINT (1-6-2006) - With three or four sophomores in the starting lineup and only one returning player with any experience, Crown Point is not supposed to to finish with a winning record this season.  But at the midway point of the 20-game IHSAA season, the Bulldogs do indeed have a winning record.  Just barely.

CP survived an eight-point fourth quarter scoring output and two potential game-tying shots in the final 20 seconds to improve to 6-4 on the season with a 51-48 win over Chesterton, giving Crown Point a sweep in the school's first boys-girls basketball double-header Friday night.

Crown Point was lucky to win.  Chesterton had nine unsuccessful possessions in a row with the score at 43-42.  But Crown Point's schedule is not questionable.  You are what you are.  A 6-4 record is not great, but it is a winning record.  And, playing a Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) schedule, the rebuilt Bulldogs head for Lake Central next weekend with a mark of 6-4.

Just because Crown Point was fortunate to win does not mean they didn't deserve the victory.  The pivotal match was between two sophomores.  Chesterton's 6-foot-5, 210-point scoring leader Zack Novak and Crown Point's 6-3, 235-pound football tight end Zach Cecich.  All night long it appeared that the Trojans and coach Tom Peller would be able to take advantage of what appeared to be a mismatch.  Novak (18 ppg.) a sure Division I college player in 2008, scored 15 and grabbed nine rebounds.  But Cecich and CP's changing defenses gave the bulldogs a chance to win.

"I thought the first half was the key for us.  We came out and played as well as we have all season," said Busick, who spent the previous seven years over near the Ohio state line building a consistent 3A power at Bellmont high school. "And what I'm most excited about tonight was the play of Zach Cecich.  We've been talking to all of our players about playing fundamentally sound defense.  Tonight, some of the things Zach did, guarding a very tough player, Zach Novak had that stretch there in the second half where he scored seven points in a row.  But our Zach did a great job on him defending an inside-outside player."

Novak had all 15 points after three quarters, but all scoring went south in the final period as the two evenly matched squads battled down the stretch in front of about 800 fans including both schools' girls teams.

Both teams used 30-40 seconds per possession, playing carefully.  Reserve guard A.J. Jones sank two free throws to give the Trojans (5-5, 4-3 DAC) a 46-45 lead with 1:33 to play.  But 6-foot-6 Aleks Alvanja scored on an offensive rebound to put CP ahead 47-46 with 59 seconds to go.  Then, Novak took the ball on the left wing outside the three-point line and spun around to face Cecich.  As Novak's teammates gave him room, Cecich backed off Novak, giving him a flat-footed three-point shot if he wanted it.  Novak tried a head fake and a quick move and was called for traveling.

Ben Derks hit two free throws with 37 seconds left to give the Bulldogs a 49-46 lead.  The Trojans countered with Adam Hutnick scoring with 25 seconds left to make it 49-48.  CP senior Keith Dean, who was 6-of-6 in free throws for the night, sank two more after being fouled to make it 51-48.  Curt Bradford, who was 20 of his first 47 on three-point goals this year, missed a game-tying shot for Chesterton and CP's Stephen Albrecht was fouled immediately.  Albrecht missed both free throws, allowing Chesterton one more chance and Novak got an open 25-foot shot, but he missed it and CP escaped with the win.

Peller acknowledged that the game might have been lost at the end of the third quarter.  In a span of about four minutes, Chesterton had nine consecutive possessions where they failed to score.

"We should have won," he agreed.  "We feel that way.  We had decent shots.  But sometimes the ball goes in and sometimes it doesn't. We had the guys we wanted with shots at the end.  We're 5-5.  We're doing all right.  We've lost to some good teams."

A record of 6-4 feels a lot better than 5-5 even though it really isn't.

"I don't even focus on the record so much at this point," said Busick, who stated during the preseason that he would try not to do that even if the record was not on the sunny side of the street.  "We just want to improve each game.  I saw a lot of things in this game that indicate we are doing that.  We are very unselfish passing the basketball."

"Now, with that said, you either get better or get worse," added Busick.  There's no in-between.  At the midway point we are a better team but its going to be tough.  Teams are scouting us better now.  No one knew us at the start.  They know some of the things we're doing.  Chesterton is a very good team and they're going to be scary good when they get their big man (Evan Schmidt) back."

That means that a win over Chesterton in February will be a much tougher task than a win at the start of January was.
   
DOG NOTES:  Crown Point coach Shaun Busick has coached at places which schedule boys/girls double-headers, so he had a thought on CP's first attempt at the concept.

"I enjoyed it.  The fans got their money's worth.  Four teams that were battling very hard.  Obviously, its sweeter because we got two wins.  I was impressed with our girls win tonight.  They really went cold and then they caught fire when they needed to.  I think we doubled our crowd and there was somewhat of a tournament atmosphere (varsity game following varsity game).  I liked our varsity girls behind the bench cheering for us.  The boys were disappointed that they had to leave (go into the locker room) early and they missed the dramatic ending.  If we have to do the double round-robin, let's do more of this."

Chesterton coach Tom Peller says that 7-foot junior Evan Schmidt will play this season.

"He's on a five-week rehab," Peller explained.  "I think he'll be at full strength for the sectional."  

No one has seen Schmidt, 6-7 junior Tom Saylor and 6-5 Zack Novak together in a varsity game this year with guards Adam Hutnick and Curt Bradford.  

"He'd give us some presence inside that we need," added Peller.

Busick knows that raw talent gives way to adjustments in the DAC and 4A Sectional play which could have teams like CP facing teams like Chesterton three times.  

"It's interesting," he says. "It causes your team to make adjustments.  What's this all about?  The kids learning.  And what better life lesson to learn than to make adjustments.  We've got to improve our defense, our ball-handling and/or rebounding.  Our overall team performance has to improve.  We have a tendency to individualize and man-to-man we're one of the weaker teams in the DAC.  We've got to play as a team if we want to win."