Wildcats sectional goal ended by Wheeler, 61-45 in Boys Basketball

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
03-07-2010

HANOVER (45) Aaron Jackson 1-1-3, Luis Norman 0-6-6, Nick Bollenbacher 2-2-6, Zach Rush 2-7-12, Derek De St. Jean 5-0-10, Cam Brady 1-0-3, Ryan Mitchell 2-1-5, Billy McQuade 0-0-0.  TOTALS:  13 (17-24) 45.

WHEELER (51) Najee Bailey 5-1-11, Andrew Rudakas 11-3-25, Donnie Ketchum 0-5-5, Aleksa Kojciniovic 1-0-2, Eric Wise 1-2-4, Derek Kappas 1-1-3, Petar Todorovic 3-4-11.  TOTALS:  22 (16-25) 61.

FREE THROWS:  HANOVER (17-23, 73.9%) Norman 6-6, Bollenbacher 2-2, Jackson 1-2, Rush 7-11, Mitchell 1-2.
WHEELER (16-25, 64%) Bailey 1-3, Rudakas 3-6, Ketchum 5-8, Todorovic 4-4, Wise 2-2, Kappas 1-2.

REBOUNDS:  HANOVER (24) Rush 7, De St. Jean 7, Jackson 4, Mitchell 3, Norman 3; WHEELER (26) Rudakas 7, Ketchum 6, Kojcinovic 5, Todorovic 5, Bailey 2, Kappas.

ASSISTS:  HANOVER (8) Rush 3, Bollenbacher e, Norman, Brady; WHEELER (9) Todorovic 3, Ketchum 2, Bailey, Rudakas, Wise, Kappas.

STEALS:  HANOVER (6) Bollenbacher 2, De St. Jean 2, Jackson, Rush; WHEELER (5) Bailey, Rudakas, Ketchum, Todorovic, Kappas.

FOULED OUT:  WHEELER (1) Aaron Jackson (4th Q) 4:34 left.

3-GOALS:  WHEELER (1) Petar Todorovic; HANOVER (2) Cam Brady, Zach Rush.

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LAKE STATION, IN (03-05-2010)  At times there's the spoken thought that games played and experience don't matter in high school basketball.  If you're fast and athletic and you really try hard, sometimes that age and wisdom don't matter.  Friday night at the Class 2A Lake Station Sectional semifinals, when senior-dominated Wheeler met junior laden Hanover Central, was not one of those times.

When you get to be good, you stop needing people to pretend about your results.  In the showdown game between the up-and-coming 10th-ranked Wildcats and the 2A No. 2 defending sectional champ Bearcats, Wheeler withstood a couple of Hanover challenges early and they ran away from them, ending one of Hanover's best seasons with a 61-45 semifinal decision.

"We just ran out of gas," said HC coach Rod Bollenbacher, who saw his team pull to within 30-25 of the favored Bearcats and then bow down to the better team.  "They're strong on the perimeter.  They've got (Donnie) Ketchum and (Najee) Bailey out there.  Plus they've got Rudakas and (Petar) Todorovic and the big Serb (Aleksa Kojcinovic) so they don't get hurt inside."

"Our guards didn't get in the flow of they game.  We didn't hit our 3's.  They slowed us down even though we wanted to control the tempo.  They did a heckuva job on us."

This was a decisive win.  Led by 6-foot-5 senior Andrew Rudakas, who scored 25 points, and 6-foot-3 junior guard Najee Bailey, who harassed Hanover's guards, Wheeler outscored HC 11-1 in a five minute span of the second half.  HC was down 45-28 with 6:45 left in the game.

What Wheeler appeared to do was to dare HC to go inside where Wheeler had a distinct height advantage with the 6-foot-8 Kojcinovic and 6-foot-5 Rudakas.  Hanover's top two scorers, guards Zach Rush and Nick Bollenbacher, found themselves double-teamed whenever they were at the three-point line.  With 7:07 to go in the half, Hanover trailed only 10-8, but they had eight points and eight turnovers.

"They do a lot of on-ball screens and handoffs," said Jones, "and they get a lot of three point shots off that.  We tried to take that away front them and we did a good job in the first half.  We let down a little in the third quarter.  We knew both guards were very good players and they could shoot.  We just wanted to make it difficult for them."

That mission got accomplished.  Rush, HC's 5-foot-10 scoring leader, attacked the defense aggressively but he scored just two baskets as the taller Wheeler guards let him do nothing but drive into the big Bearcat forwards.

Hanover got Wheeler into the penalty situation foul-wise in the fourth quarter and creeped to within 55-40 with 5:03 left, but the Bearcats were 12 of 18 from the foul line in the final quarter.

Hanover may be a year away.  Wheeler (23-1), which dominated Bishop Noll Saturday night for their second consecutive Section 33 title, graduates five seniors, four of whom play significantly.  Boone Grove, which won the 2A Section 34 title Saturday night, graduates all five starters.  Hanover's three starting guards and forward Derek De St.Jean are eligible to be back for the 2011 playoffs.

But when they start that 2011 state tournament, it'll be 25 years since Hanover won the school's only boys basketball sectional title.

"We've just got to keep the program going north," said coach Bollenbacher.  "Learn from this.  And we'll be back next year."

SECTIONAL NOTES:  The site of the 2A Sectional 33 was the relatively small Lake Station gym.  The semifinals drew a crowd that was too much for the small Lake Station parking lot and there was not that much seating at floor level.  The gym is a little old and somewhat dark.  With all that said, the atmosphere was very, very good.  The semifinal drew a capacity crowd in the 1,500-seat gym.  Despite a 40-degree day outside, the gym was not overly warm, even in the balcony.

The fans of all schools stayed under control and the tourney ran smoothly.  If you didn't care who won it was as good a basketball watching experience as you could get.  Wheeler has won 16 games in a row from Hanover Central.  The Bearcats defeated HC three times in the 2000 season and have not lost to them since then.

When HC and Wheeler were both in the Porter County Conference, the two teams met at east once every year.  HC also was formerly in Wheeler's Holiday tournament.  Now, the two schools do not meet during the regular season.

Earlier this season, HC defeated Boone Grove in two overtimes to break a 19-game Boone winning streak over the Wildcats.

Wheeler coach Mike Jones realizes how crazy it sounds, but he says he'd rather play a quarterfinal sectional game than get a bye.

"I was glad to get in a game here (a win over Lake Station) before we had to play Hanover.  We got used to the floor.  I thought that was a factor tonight.  I remember when we got a bye a couple of years ago, we came in and got beat by Bishop Noll.  Kids are kids and sometimes they have too much time to think about the game."

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Revised: March 21, 2010 .