Wildcats fall to unbeaten Noll 65-59 in Sectional Semifinal

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
03-06-2011

BISHOP NOLL (65) Adonis Filer 6-2-14, Milos Kostic 6-2-15, John Dodson 3-4-10, Ronnye Beamon 3-0-8, Jose Rosario 4-0-8, Larry Crisler 4-0-8, John Bock 1-0-2, Ray Tucker 0-0-0. TOTALS: 27 (8-11) 65.

HANOVER (59) Derek De St. Jean 4-0-8, Cam Brady 4-0-10, Max Johnson 4-0-11, Zach Rush 4-4-15, Nick Bollenbacher 5-1-14, Jeremy Pedersoli 0-0-0, Evan Garthus 0-0-0. TOTALS: 21 (5-11) 59.

FREE THROWS: NOLL (8-14, 57.1%) Filer 2-3, Kostic 2-4, Dodson 4-7; HANOVER (4-11, 36.3%) Bollenbacher 1-4, Rush 4-7.

REBOUNDS: NOLL (29) Kostic 11, Dodson 6, Beamon 4, Crisler 4, Filer 4; HANOVER (22) De St. Jean 8, Rush 4, Bollenbacher 3, Brady 3, Johnson 3, Garthus.

ASSISTS: NOLL (14) Filer 6, Dodson 5, Kostic 3, Tucker; HANOVER (12) Rush 5, Johnson 3, Bollenbacher 2, Brady, Garthus.

STEALS: NOLL (5) Kostic 3, Filer 2; HANOVER (8) Bollenbacher 2, Johnson, Rush.

3-GOALS: NOLL (3) Ronnye Beamon 2, Milos Kostic; HANOVER (12) Zach Rush 4, Nick Bollenbacher 3, Max Johnson 3, Cam Brady 2.

HANOVER (58) Derek De St. Jean 5-0-10, Cam Brady 3-3-10, Nick Bollenbacher 7-6-21, Zach Rush 2-1-5, Jeremy Pedersoli 0-0-0, Evan Garthus 0-0-0, Jake Ortiz 0-0-0, Dan Kubiak 0-0-0. TOTALS: 22 (11-14) 58.

WHEELER (42) Mitch Stevenson 3-0-6, Nigel Mims 4-2-11, Najee Bailey 6-2-15, Matt Hurst 2-0-6, Kevin Barnes 1-2-4, Ryan Hensen 0-0-0, Christina Sikorski 0-0-0, Kenny Collins 0-0-0. TOTALS: 16 (6-10) 42.

FREE THROWS: HANOVER (11-14, 78.5%) Brady 3-4, Bollenbacher 6-7, Johnson 1-2, Rush 1-1; WHEELER (6-10, 60%) Mims 2-3, Bailey 2-5, Barnes 2-2.

ASSISTS: HANOVER (16) Rush 8, Brady 3, Johnson 2, Pedersoli 2, Bollenbacher; WHEELER (7) Bailey 2, Stevenson, Mims, Hurst, Barnes, Collins.

REBOUNDS: HANOVER (23) Johnson 13, De St. Jean 6, Brady 3, Rush; WHEELER (25) Mims 10, Bailey 5, Sikorski 4, Hensen 3, Barnes 2, Stevenson.

STEALS: HANOVER (10) Rush 5, Bollenbacher 2, De St. Jean, Brady, Pedersoli; WHEELER (4) Bailey 4.

UNION TOWNSHIP, IN (03-05-2011) This game was a little more exciting than it needed to be. In a rare bend of on and off-court drama, Hanover gave everything they had and almost a little more before losing 65-59 to undefeated Bishop Noll in a memorable Class 2A Sectional 33 semifinal.

Playing as a 2A school for the final time for the immediate future, Hanover cut a 12-point lead to three in the final minutes in front of a standing room only crowd in the tiny Wheeler gymnasium.

The Wildcats (12-10), who have not won a sectional title in 25 years and have never defeated an unbeaten team in the post-season in the entire history of the school, sank 12 three-point shots in front of a gym packed largely with Bishop Noll supporters.

Noll (22-0), with three potential Division I players in senior guard Adonis Filer, junior forward Ronnye Beamon and 6-foot-8 sophomore center Milos Kostic, had to go 6-for-6 from the foul line in the final two minutes to put away the Wildcats.

Meanwhile, on the HC bench, fourth year coach Rod Bollenbacher, who had heart surgery last October, felt chest pains and had to sit down and be quiet while his team was reaching for what certainly would have been the biggest basketball upset in the history of the Cedar Lake school.

"We gave it everything we had," said coach Rod Bollenbacher, who was okay after the game. Noll led 25-12 with 6:25 left in the second quarter when the HC coach called a time out.

"I told them that we took their first punch and that we could come back," he reported. "We wanted to pack it in (close to the basket) and make them shoot from the outside. We went on an 11-0 run and got back in the game."

"They've got some shooters," said Noll coach Drew Trost, who wasn't thrilled with Hanover's 12 of 20 shooting from three-point range.

"I don't think we had a hand in their face on all 12 of them," he said. "We dominated the first quarter, but we didn't finish They have some shooters and we told (Noll's players) that if we didn't get out on their shooters that this was going to be a close game."

"We're 21-0 (now 23-0), so obviously we've been doing some things right. But we certainly didn't execute our game plan."

In the second half, Hanover stayed in the game with the corner shooting of sophomore Max Johnson, who scored eight in the fourth quarter. As the sellout crowd realized that heavily-favored Noll was not going to win easily, the Lake Station, River Forest and Wheeler representatives began to cheer for Hanover. During a fourth quarter time out, a couple of dozen Wheeler students made a point of running over to the Hanover cheering section to join in rooting against Noll, a rival of Wheeler's in the Greater South Shore Conference.

Hanover was within 51-47, 56-52 and finally 63-59 on a three-point corner shot by Johnson.

After Filer missed a three-pointer, HC's Rush got the ball into the front court and tried to lean in on a three-point shot to draw a foul. There was contact, but not much and Noll got the rebound with a four point lead and 45 seconds to play. Hanover 's starting five played the vast majority of the game and scored all 59 of the team's points.

"I told them that we were going to win or lose with them," said coach Bollenbacher. "We wanted to pack it in and make them shoot outside. We did want to close out (stay up on) Filer. You do have to give credit to Bishop Noll. We'd do everything right and they'd make a shot fall or get a steal."

Bollenbacher ended his fourth year as coach and graduated his first real class of players, seniors Luis Norman (who missed most of the season), Zach Rush and Derek De St Jean.

"We developed them all ourselves. All home-grown. They gave me 110% all the time."

Bollenbacher took a significant risk this year coming back to coach after heart surgery in late October.

"Yeah but I love these guys and I didn't want to let them down. We had tons of adversity this year with injuries and everything else. We just talked about trust and believing and I just think that worked for us during the adversity. Zach rushed never backed down from anybody for four years and it's a shame he had the ACL (he played with a torn ACL all year). I don't think I've ever had a kid with more heart."
 
SECTIONAL NOTES: Second-ranked Bishop Noll won the Wheeler Sectional Saturday night with 50-28 romp over an out-manned Lake Station team. It was the second victory by Noll over Lake Station by more than 20 points this year.

Hanover Central lost to Wheeler 61-45 in Sectional 33 last year and Wheeler went on to win the state title. Could Noll do the same?

"Noll is longer," said Hanover coach Rod Bollenbacher. "And faster. Wheeler shot the ball better."

Bollenbacher had double bypass surgery on Oct. 22 of last year, but he showed up for the season opening game on Thanksgiving weekend. He did not think his problems at the game last Friday was any kind of relapse.

"I think I just pounded my chest when they missed that shot down there," said the fourth year coach, who takes blood pressure medicine once a day. He reported that the pain was on the other side of his chest.

It has already been announced that Hanover Central will be a Class 3A school in 2012. It has not yet been decided whether they will play in Sectional 17 with the Gary and Hammond schools or in Sectional 18 with Andrean, Griffith and Kankakee Valley. The school that will replace Hanover in 2A Sectional 33 will be 1A power Bowman Academy.

Hanover returns all but two seniors (Zach Rush and Derek De St. Jean) on the playoff roster, but that is deceiving. DeSt. Jean, at 6-foot-5, is the only Hanover player with any size in the program.

Moving up to Class 3A, the Wildcats will start running into true post players in sectional play and they must develop one of their own. It had been such as long time since Hanover defeated Wheeler.

"It was 1998," said Hanover Central coach Rod Bollenbacher.

That's the last time that Hanover Central defeated Wheeler in boys basketball. But it was not close. On opening night of the 2011 Indiana State Basketball Tournament, Hanover rolled over the host Bearcats 58-44. Hanover Central, leading 6-5, scored the final 14 points of the first quarter to take a 20-5 lead. Guards Zach Rush, Nick Bollenbacher and Max Johnson shredded the Wheeler defense and got lay ups against a dispirited Wheeler squad that clearly was playing inexperienced JV players.

Wheeler 6-foot-4 senior Nigel Mims rallied the Bearcats (14-8) with eight points in the second quarter and Wheeler trailed just 20-10 with 6:43 left in the half. But with Hanover playing patiently, passing well and spreading the Bearcat defense, the Wildcats pulled away and Johnson's lay up off a final minute stall gave HC a 34-21 lead at halftime.

Wheeler was without four varsity players, including senior guard Carl Campbell, who was their floor leader. At least three of the four were dropped from the team due to an off-the-court incident.

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Revised: March 10, 2011 .