Hanover boys hold off spirited effort by Kouts, 56-51

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith
2-20-2006

Friday, 2-17-2006  boys basketball at Cedar Lake, IN

KOUTS (51)  Alex Otto 8-1-18,  Jake Birky 5-3-13, Jon Hand 2-4-10, Preston Fram 1-1-4, Brad Parks 1-0-3, Craig Van Dyke 0-3-3, Josh Otto 0-0-0, Zach Martin 0-0-0, Marty Rasala 0-0-0.   TOTALS: 17 (12-21) 51.

HANOVER CENTRAL (56)  Charlie Huffnagle 6-2-18, Mark Myszkowski 1-8-11, Eric Gross 2-4-9, Andrew DeYoung 3-2-8, Jordan Rizo 2-0-4, Matt Kozlowski 0-2-2, Joe McClymont 1-0-2, Stephen Goff 0-1-1, Michael Wendlinger 0-1-1.  TOTALS: 15 (20-35) 56.

FREE THROWS:  KOUTS (12-21, 54.7%)  Birky 3-6, VanDyke 3-4, Alex Otto 1-5, Hand 4-4, Fram 1-2.  HANOVER CENTRAL (20-35, 57.1%)     Wendlinger 1-4, Huffnagle 2-2, Goff 1-2, Rizo 0-2, Myszkowski 8-8, Gross 4-8, DeYoung 2-5, Kozlowski 2-2, McClymont 0-2. 

REBOUNDS:  KOUTS (31) Birky 8, Alex Otto 8, Van Dyke 5, Martin 2,  Parks 3, Fram 4,  Josh Otto.   HANOVER (24)  Gross 7, Wendlinger 4, Rizo 4, McClymont 3, Myszkowski 2, DeYoung 2, Goff, Huffnagle.

ASSISTS:  KOUTS (12) Fram 5, Alex Otto 4, Hand;  HANOVER (10) Myszkowski 3, Huffnagle 2, DeYoung 2, Gross 2, Kozlowski.

TURNOVERS: KOUTS (3-7-5-6) 21;  HANOVER (4-2-4-4) 14

FOULED OUT:  KOUTS (2) Alex Otto (4th Q) 2:31; Craig Van Dyke (4th Q) :38;  HANOVER (1) Michael Wendlinger (HC) 5:10 left.

CEDAR LAKE (2-17-2006) Admittedly, it was two losing teams playing, in some respects, not to lose again.  But it was a very entertaining game.  Two teams trying very hard and a crowd that was loud.  That's all you need on a February Friday night in Indiana.

Hanover, playing for the first time in the brand new HC gymnasium, kept winless Kouts from putting that first victory on the board, a roller coaster 56-51 win in front of about 750 noisy fans.

Hanover Central (6-13) led 36-26, trailed 46-40 and came back to win 56-51 against a team that clearly pulled out all the stops in an effort to avoid the schools' 18th boys basketball loss in a row.

"There was a lot of pressure on us," said coach Dave Uran.  "It was our first night on our home floor.  They haven't won game.  We responded."

Senior Hanover guard Mark Myszkowski, who was scoreless in the first three quarters, sank 8-of-8 from the foul line while scoring 11 fourth quarter points as Hanover came from behind to win.

The rally offset a strong performance by senior guard Alex Otto, who collected 19 points, eight rebounds and three assists, leading a 20-4 run by the Mustangs.

"We had a couple of turnovers out of our sophomore point guard," said Kouts coach Marty Gaff, who has won 298 games in 23 years at Porter County's southernmost school.  "We were ahead six, we should have won. Good teams close that out."

Small schools eventually follow big winning seasons with big losing ones.  Waldron was the undefeated 1A state champ (27-0) in 2004 and went winless (0-20) in 2005.
But it's a surprise that Kouts, a team that was 18-5 last year, is winless in the final week of the 2006 season.

"Craig Van Dyke was the only player who had any varsity experience last year," Gaff said.  "We didn't expect it to be like this.  The thing is, we've been in a lot of games. We've had six or seven games where we've been in this position."

An 8-0 Hanover run keyed by a three-point shot from Charlie Huffnagle made it 52-49 Hanover with 58 seconds to go.  Two free throws by Kouts guard Jon Hand and a traveling call on Stephen Goff gave Kouts the ball with a chance to go ahead.  But two missed shots and four more free throws from Myszkowski closed out the win for the home team.

"Marty's team played hard," said Uran.  "They have LaCrosse and River Forest left.  I think they'll win one."

CAT NOTES:  Hanover sophomore Andrew DeYoung, who scored the first varsity basket in the new gym (a 3-point shot) was listed at 6-foot-2 last November but he appears to be taller now.  In the long run, that's a good thing.  Right now, he's having trouble on offense.

"It might be bothering his shot," said coach Dave Uran.  "Because his release point (on his shot) is off.  Last year at the junior varsity, he was a 90% foul shooter.  He hit every thing from the perimeter.  Now, he's having problems.  His line of sight is off.  He's grown 3 1/2 inches since the start of last year."

Kouts high school is fairly stable from an enrollment standpoint.  The IHSAA listed Kouts as having 256 students in 1996 and they had an official 205 this year.  Hanover had 472 students in 1996 and they expect to be approaching 700 this fall.  So the Kouts people weren't surprised at the new construction at the Cedar Lake school.

"This is a very nice facility," said Marty Gaff of the new HC athletic structures.  "With this fieldhouse this is great area for them.  I'm sure they're getting that St. John  overflow.  It looks like they're going to be 3A soon."

Mark Myszkowski can be seen in animated conversations with his coach during games.  It frustrates Uran sometimes, but he doesn't mind.

"He's going to be a helluva coach some day," Uran says.  "That's why we butt heads all the time.  He always has his ideas of what we should do."

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Revised: February 21, 2006 .