Hanover Wildcats fall on road to Kouts, 69-62

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
02-19-2011

HANOVER (62) Zach Rush 6-3-18, Nick Bollenbacher 6-1-15, Max Johnson 5-0-12, Derek De St. Jean 6-3-15, Dan Kubiak 1-0-2, Cam Brady 0-0-0, Jeremy Pedersoli 0-0-0, Evan Garthus 0-0-0. TOTALS: 24 (7-14) 62.

KOUTS (69) Conor Van Dyke 8-0-16, Matt Brady 3-6-12, Andy Lovall 7-1-17, Matt Mogart 2-0-4, Matt Stewart 1-0-2, Nick Taylor 2-2-7, Andrew Birky 1-0-2, Stephen Keller 2-4-9. TOTALS: 26 (13-18) 69.

FREE THROWS: HANOVER (7-14, 50%) Rush 3-4, Bollenbacher 1-5, Johnson 0-1, De St Jean 3-4; KOUTS (13-18, 72.2%) Brady 6-6, Lovall 1-2, Stewart 0-1, Taylor 2-5, Keller 4-4.

REBOUNDS: HANOVER (22) De St Jean 10, Bollenbacher 4, Johnson 4, Pedersoli 2, Rush, Brady; KOUTS (27) Lovall 8, Van Dyke 7, Mogart 5, Stewart 5, Brady, Keller.

ASSISTS: HANOVER (9) Bollenbacher 4, Rush 3, Brady, Johnson; KOUTS (12) Van Dyke 4, Brady 3, Taylor 2, Birky, Keller, Lovall.

STEALS: HANOVER (9) Rush 3, Johnson 2, De St.Jean 2, Brady, Bollenbacher; KOUTS (4) Taylor 2, Lovall, Mogart.

FOULED OUT: KOUTS (1) Conor Van Dyke (4th Q) 1:14 left.

3-GOALS: HANOVER (7) Zach Rush 3, Nick Bollenbacher 2, Max Johnson 2; KOUTS (2) Andy Lovall 2.

KOUTS, IN (02-18-2011) When Hanover Central played Kouts in the championship game of the Porter County Conference (PC) tournament, it was their third game in four nights. They lost. When Hanover traveled to the south end of Porter County to face Kouts last Friday, it was again their third game in four nights. Same result. Kouts led all the way and held off multiple rallies for a 69-62 win, the Mustangs 17th win against two losses.

Hanover earned the respect of Kouts, but the didn't earn any wins against the team ranked number one in this week's Class 1A smallest school state poll.

"That's a very good team," said Kouts coach Marty Gaff. "They had some injury problems earlier, but they're playing pretty well. We knew this would be a tough, competitive game."

It was. But Hanover Central (10-9) looked tired. Maybe it was the three games in four nights. Maybe it's because they've got players playing hurt and they use largely just six players. But the reasons won't matter once the sectional starts. You wonder if they've given all they have to give. You also wonder how, if they couldn't defeat Class 1A No. 1 Kouts, how would they beat sectional rival Class 2A No. 3 Bishop Noll (19-0)?

The problem isn't that Hanover didn't play well against the top-ranked small school. The problem actually is that they did. The Wildcats, who lost 67-50 to Kouts in the PCC tournament championship game in January, were better this time. As everybody does, Kouts double-teamed HC guards Zach Rush and Nick Bollenbacher as they tried to get loose off screens. But when 6-foot-5 senior Derek De St. Jean and guard Max Johnson started to hit from the field, Hanover closed a 42-28 second half gap to 48-43 with 6:11 to play.

Kouts guards looked a bit slow and the Mustangs totaled 18 turnovers for the night. An encouraging sign, except that Kouts isn't Bishop Noll, the team HC must defeat in the Class 2A Wheeler Sectional next week.

"We just got tired at the end," said Hanover coach Rod Bollenbacher. "We knew playing here, you're spotting them about 10 free throws to begin with. They shot more free throws than we did. It is what it is."

"Their length hurt us the most. Not only that, but they're long in the transition. It was a frustrating night. You can't ask the kids for anything else. Third game in four nights."

Kouts' size was obvious as the Mustangs held off multiple Hanover rallies in front of 1,000 fans on 'Hall of Fame' night at Kouts. 6-foot-5 Conor Van Dyke scored 12 of his 16 points in the first half as the Mustangs built leads of 16-9 and 22-12 with the help of 6-foot-7 senior Matt Morgart and 6-foot-7 freshman Matt Stewart.

HC, which will play in 2A Sectional 33 for the final time (they must move up to Class 3A in 2012) got 60 of 62 points from the starting five, which has just one player taller than 6-foot-1.

"I didn't think we played that bad defensively," said Gaff. "We had a couple of streaks where we let them get to the basket defensively and there was a streak where they hit those threes."

Trailing 25-18, Hanover got started when Nick Bollenbacher hit a three-point basket. After Kouts' 6-foot-5 senior Conor Van Dyke scored, Zach Rush sank back-to-back three-pointers to tie the game at 27-27. Kouts then went on a 15-1 run to take that 42-28 lead.

"We know we can get some baskets if we run the floor on these guys," said Van Dyke, who played his final home game. "So we just wanted to push the ball up. We wanted to get solid shots. A lay up or a wide open three. We wanted to make them work."

"They're a good team. We knew we had to play. They're coming in thinking they could knock off number one and we know they're going to give us their best shot."

Hanover did think they could beat Kouts and they had four players score in double figures. But De St. Jean is more of a forward, a face-the-basket player. HC's lacks a low post scorer, which means they shoot jump shots. On the road, you don't get many foul shots that way.

Trailing 48-43, Hanover missed five shots in a row while the Mustangs built a 54-43 lead. Baskets by De St. Jean, Rush and Max Johnson close the gap to 57-50 with 2:40 to go and a Rush free throw made the score 59-53 with 1:20 to play. But Kouts junior Matt Bradley was 6-for-6 from the line in the final 2-1/2 minutes.

Van Dyke, who is more of a big guard than anything else, fouled out in the final two minutes, but he was difficult matchup for Nick Bollenbacher, who is five inches shorter. Still, Rush, who is playing with a large black knee brace, got through the three-game stretch in good condition. Nick Bollenbacher, who has a leg problem, also survived the game. Once the Wildcats go beyond sixth man Jeremy Pedersoli on the bench, however, they just don't have a lot of boys who have any size or varsity experience, now that 6-foot-3 senior Luis Norman is out for the year.

"It's been a rough year," said Bollenbacher looking ahead to the sectional. "Hopefully we can draw one of the lesser teams like Lake Station or Wheeler. We'd like another shot at Lake Station. We definitely need a bye. Hopefully, we'll be playing (at the sectional) Friday night.

Nick Bollenbacher, who scored 10 of his 15 points in the first half, suggested there's no way to get out of a five-team sectional without defeating the favorite.

"We want Bishop Noll in the first or second game," he said. "You've got to beat them anyway. Might as well play them right away."

CAT NOTES: Kouts won for the 10th game in a row. The Mustangs won their first seven and then lost to Morgan Township and North Judson. Kouts' new gym (opened two years ago) seats 1,200 and it was near capacity Friday night.

"I love this place," said junior Nick Bollenbacher. "It's tough, but it's loud. I love it here. The band is awesome."

They honored all-time greats from their school including girls stars Becky Gesse and Eric Martin plus statistician Keith Nuest, who is considered the premier Porter County basketball historian. The crowd was so large that both the school and the church next door ran out of parking.

There is a balcony in the new Kouts gym with room for about 900 more seats, but there are no plans to purchase the extra bleachers. The gym has touches of Chesterton and Washington Township's relatively new gyms.

Kouts old gym is down the hall, much the same way Hanover Central's old gym is down the hall from the new gym they opened five years ago.

Hanover lost 57-50 to sectional rival Lake Station on Jan. 11 and they face section rival River Forest to close the season (Feb. 25) this Friday night.

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Revised: March 07, 2011 .