Hanover Central boys beat Hebron 76-62; Lady Cats fall to Lady Hawks 46-43 in boys/girls double-header

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
12-06-2008

Friday, 12-05-2008 -  Girls / Boys basketball double-header, Porter County Conference (PCC) at CEDAR LAKE, IN

HEBRON (46):  Alyssa Sheets 2-1-5, Kara Cunningham 1-0-3,  Stacy Blank 2-2-8, Rebah Seidler 2-2-6, Kristin St. Germain 2-0-4, Kelli  Matheny 2-1-5, Molly Marshall 5-5-15, Julie Huettner 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 16 (11-17) 46.

HANOVER CENTRAL (43):  Danielle Graham 5-1-11, Jordan Kramer 3-6-15, Abby Schweitzer 4-7-15, Courtney Pattison 1-0-2, Lindsay Martinez 0-0-0, Kayla Higginbotham 0-0-0, Kayla Garthus 0-0-0, Sammy Huffinagle 0-0-0, Ashley Hahn 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 13 (14-20) 43.

FREE THROWS:  HEBRON (11-17, 64.7%)  Sheets 1-2, Blank 2-2, Seidler 2-3, Matheny 1-2, Marshall 5-8. HANOVER (14-24, 58.3%) Schweitzer 7-7, Graham 1-7, Kramer 6-8, Garthus 0-2.

REBOUNDS:  HEBRON (29)  Marshall 16, Seidler 5, Sheets 3, Huettner 3, St. Germain 2;  HANOVER (26) Schweitzer 9, Graham 4, Pattison 4, Kramer 4, Martinez 2, Garthus 2, Higginbotham.

ASSISTS:  HEBRON (8)  Marshall 5, Huettner, Blank, Cunningham;  HANOVER (5) Kramer 4, Pattison.

STEALS:  HEBRON (11) Marshall 8, Seidler 2, St. Germain;  HANOVER (6) Pattison 2, Kramer 2, Graham, Higginbotham.

TURNOVERS:  HEBRON (6-4-4-2) 16;  HANOVER (3-4-3-5) 15

3-GOALS:  HEBRON (3) Stacy Blank 2, Kara Cunningham;  HANOVER (3) Jordan Kramer 3.

Friday, 12-05-2008 -  Girls / Boys basketball double-header, Porter County Conference (PCC) at CEDAR LAKE, IN

HEBRON (62):  Justin Brindley 4-0-8, JD Ziegler 4-2-10, Matt Scrum 2-0-4, Jay Patz 1-0-2, Brad Treba 0-2-2, Doug Ortiz 6-2-16, Matt McJunkin 7-0-16, Dennis Koen 1-2-4,Doug Brueckman 0-0-0, Cody Artuso  0-0-0, Trevor Lewin 0-0-0, David Heath 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 25 (8-14) 62.

HANOVER (76):  Jordan Rizo 4-6-15, Nick Bollenbacher 3-3-10, Zach Rush 8-9-26, Tim Kubiak 2-2-6, Jerrod Howard 1-1-3, Kevin Mantel 3-2-8,  Lewis Norman 0-2-2, Ryan Longoria 1-0-3, Derek DeSt. Jean 1-1-3, Adam Rush 0-0-0, Andy Cripe 0-0-0. TOTALS: 23 (27-46) 76.

FREE THROWS:  HEBRON (8-14, 57.1%) Ziegler 2-2, Ortiz 2-3, Koen 2-2, Artuso 0-1,  Brindley 0-1, McJunkin 0-3, Treba 2-2.  HANOVER (27-46, 58.6%)  Zach Rush 9-16, Howard 1-2, Rizo 6-8, Bollenbacher 3-8, Mantel 2-4, Kubiak 2-2, Norman 2-2, Longoria 1-2, DeSt. Jean 1-2. 

REBOUNDS:  HEBRON (38) Koen 7, McJunkin 5,  Ortiz 5, Patz 4, Ziegler 3, Brindley 3, Artuso 2,  Shrum 2, Treba 2, Brueckman 2.  HANOVER (45) Rizo 11, Howard 10, Mantel 9, Zach Rush 7, Kubiak 4, Bollenbacher, Norman, Cripe , De St. Jean.

STEALS:  HEBRON (17)  Brindley 4, McJunkin 4, Patz, Brueckman, Artuso, Ortiz 2, Shrum,  Zieger,  Koen, Treba;  HANOVER (13) Zach Rush 4, Bollenbacher 3, Longoria 2, Howard 2, Rizo, Kubiak.

ASSISTS: HEBRON (10) Brindley 3, McJunkin 3, Heath 2, Patz, Lewin; HANOVER (10) Zach Rush 3, Rizo 2, Kubiak 2, Bollenbacher 2, Longoria .

FOULED OUT:  HEBRON (1) Matt Shrum (4th Q) 6:17 left.

3-GOALS: HEBRON (3) Doug Ortiz 2, Matt McJunkin; HANOVER (3) Zach Rush, Jordan Rizo, Nick Bollenbacher.

CEDAR LAKE, IN (12-05-2008) - These Porter County Conference Homecoming double-headers are one of the little known gems of Indiana high school basketball.  Schools that do not play varsity football have their Homecoming dance in conjunction with a boys/girls basketball double-header with the announcement of the Homecoming king and queen between games.

Even though Friday's Hebron-Hanover Central twin bill was an early season event, matching two winless boys teams in the nightcap on an 18-degree night, a near capacity crowd found the Hanover central gym for almost four hours of spirited fun.  Maybe a little too much 'fun' for the head coaches.  Even the ones who won.

Hebron made up a nine-point halftime deficit to beat the Lady Cats 46-43 before the Hawks' boys almost made up a 22-point first quarter deficit before Hanover held on to win 76-62.

Hebron (4-3, 3-0 PCC) is surprising because they've stormed into first place on the wings of three league victories by four points or less.  In Friday's first game, Stacy Blank tied the game 43-43 with a three-point shot with 1:41 left in the game.  After an HC turnover, Kelli Matheny scored against the Hanover trapping defense with 17 seconds to play to give the Hawks the lead.

Molly Marshall, a 5-foot-10 senior, who scored seven of her 15 points in the fourth quarter, stole the ball on each of HC's final two possessions to deliver a major victory for the Hawks, who share the PCC lead with Kouts (5-0, 1-0 PCC).

"This was just like the Boone Grove game," said Hebron coach Courtney Hale of the 44-41 win on Nov. 22 where the Hawks trailed Boone 37-30 after three quarters.  "We shot ourselves in the foot in the first half.  But at the end we executed perfectly.  I'm really happy.  I think they're finally understanding what I'm saying."

Seniors Blank and Marshall combined for 12 fourth quarter points and they moved the ball almost flawlessly against a Hanover defense that had held them to 28 points through three periods.

The Lady Cats (3-3, 0-1 PCC) got 15 points and nine rebounds from 5-foot-9 junior Abby Schweitzer, 15 points and four rebounds from Jordan Kramer and 11 points from Danielle Graham, but the Lady Cats were 14 of 24 from the foul line.

Hanover's boys, stung by an 88-84 double-overtime loss to Calumet three nights earlier, raced to a 28-6 lead over Hebron, but watched the Hawks slowly gain ground until the score was 63-57 with two minutes to play.

"There's no way we should be 0-3,"  said sophomore guard Zach Rush before the game.  "Munster (4-0) is the only team we should have lost to.  We had Crown Point in the first quarter and we had Calumet beat."

Rush did something about it with 15 first quarter points as the home team built up a seemingly insurmountable lead, peaking at 36-14 with 4:20 left before halftime.  But, as they did losing a 13-point fourth quarter lead against Calumet, HC (1-3, 1-0 PCC) morphed from the Boston Celtics into the Chicago Bulls for two periods.  As Hanover's foul shooting (27 of 46) and ball-handling (31 turnovers) deserted then, Hebron charged back behind seniors JD Ziegler and David Ortiz.

"I think we got tired," said HC coach Rod Bollenbacher, who was more relieved than happy to finally get the team's first win.  "We started to force some shots.  They had great ball movement in the first quarter and the start of the second quarter to get that lead.  But late in the game you've got to take care of the ball and hit free throws.  I was very surprised at how many free throws we missed tonight.  And we were standing around and we gave them offensive rebounds."

Hanover is a team that doesn't have its combinations together.  They have three very skilled guards in sophomores Zach Rush and Lewis Norman and freshman Nick Bollenbacher, who scored 35 in the 88-84 double overtime loss to Calumet.

Senior guards Chris Mantel and Ryan Longoria can also play the wing but the three younger guards are pretty much lead guards who haven't played together a lot.  It's a long term blessing to have guards who can beat a defender off the dribble and score or distribute the ball, but the Wildcats are going to have to define what roles the guards are playing depending on who's on the floor at that moment.

"There's going to be some sleepless nights," said the coach about figuring out who should play what minutes.  "It was good that Lewis got on the board and Ryan (Ryan Longoria) got in and got some points.  The two games he's played in he hasn't turned the ball over.  Lewis doesn't know how good he can be."

"I keep telling him that he just needs time and confidence and he's going to be a heckuva player.  Rush in the beginning was great.  He was getting rebounds and creating mismatches.  I kept telling him to 'let the game come to him'.  We've got to bottle that for four quarters.  How do you do that?"

"We've got to get the team approach where one night it can be Nick and one night it can be Zach.  Then Jordan.  We had some good things happen.  Tim Kubiak made a couple of blocks, which stopped their momentum late in the game.  That really helped.  Howard always busts his tail out there.  He's working hard."

HC led 49-33 midway through the third quarter when the Hawks' 6-foot-3 junior Doug Ortiz sank two three-pointers to start a 9-3 run.  Zach Rush and Lewis Norman were 6-of-6 from the line to boost the lead to 62-51, but Ortiz and 6-foot-4 senior JD Ziegler combined for 11 fourth quarter points and when Justin Brindley stole the ball and scored with 2:03 left, the home team led only 63-57.

But the freshman Bollenbacher split two free throws and blocked a shot, but the 6-foot-7 Kubiak led to a fast break where Rush fed Rizo for the 66-57 basket.  Bollenbacher, who had 10 steals against Calumet, scored on a steal and layup before another fast break from Rush to Rizo score made it 70-57 in the final minute.

"We had to win this game," said Rizo, who was also relieved to get that first win.  "We have that killer mentality in the beginning but then we forget it.  I don't know what it is.  We have to just calm down sometimes."

CAT NOTES:  Junior Hanover Central forward Aaron Jackson says he'll be back before the Porter Country Conference (PCC) tournament.  The 6-foot-4 veteran might have been a starter this season had he not torn an ACL in a volleyball accident.  Jackson's long term development is crucial to Hanover because starting forwards Jordan Rizo, Tim Kubiak and Jerrod Howard are all seniors and 6-foot-4 sophomore Derek De St Jean is the only other big forward on the present varsity.

"We need Aaron," said coach Rod Bollenbacher.  "We're getting out-rebounded in the second half and he could really help us there.  He's got a soft shot.  He can really shoot that mid-range jumper."

Hanover baseball and basketball star Jordan Rizo was named the Homecoming king with 'queen' Jodie Vukobratovich between games Friday night.  During the traditional reading of the king and queen candidates' resumes, it was noted that Rizo would attend Ball State University.  Jordan says that's not necessarily true.

"I have been accepted (academically) at Ball State," he explained.  "I don't know if I'm going there yet."

Rizo is the top returning scorer in the Porter County Conference (PCC), but at 6-foot-3, he is not the caliber of basketball player to play at BSU.  The senior may have the ability to play baseball there, however.  Former Hanover Central baseball teammate Andrew DeYoung just arrived at Ball State on a baseball scholarship so the school is certainly aware of Rizo, the starting first baseman for Hanover Central baseball coach Jim Nohos.

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