Wildcats edge Hawks 59-58 at Hanover in Boys Basketball

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
12-05-2010

HEBRON (58) Cody Artuso 8-1-17, Jay Patz 6-1-13, Matt McJunkin 2-3-8, Damon Wallace 7-1-18, Trey Biggs 0-2-2, Tyler Crouch 0-0-0, Trevor Lewin 0-0-0. TOTALS: 23 (9-14) 58.

HANOVER (59) Derek De St. Jean 7-2-16, Cam Brady 1-0-2, Dan Kubiak 1-1-4, Max Johnson 2-0-4, Nick Bollenbacher 7-13-29, Jeremy Pedersoli 1-2-4, Jake Ortiz 0-0-0, Spencer Anderson 0-0-0. TOTALS: 19 (19-24) 59.

FREE THROWS: HEBRON (9-16, 56.2%) Artuso 1-2, Patz 1-3, McJunkin 3-4, Wallace 2-5, Biggs 2-2. HANOVER (19-24, 79.1%) De St. Jean 2-2, Bollenbacher 13-14, Kubiak 1-2, Pedersoli 2-6.

REBOUNDS: HEBRON (31) Artuso 8, McJunkin 7, Patz 7, Crouch 5, Wallace 4; HANOVER (14) De St. Jean 4, Johnson 4,. Bollenbacher 5, Brady, Pedersoli.

ASSISTS: HEBRON (15) McJunkin 6, Crouch 4, Wallace 2, Patz 2, Artuso; HANOVER (11) Bollenbacher 6, Johnson 4, Pedersoli.

STEALS: HEBRON (6) Wallace 3, Artuso, Patz, Biggs; HANOVER (9) Bollenbacher 5, Johnson 2, De St. Jean, Pedersoli.

BLOCKED SHOTS: HEBRON (3) Artuso 3; HANOVER (1) De St. Jean.

3-GOALS: HEBRON (3) Damon Wallace 2, Matt McJunkin; HANOVER (2) Nick Bollenbacher 2.

FOULED OUT: HEBRON (1) Tyler Crouch (4th Q) 0:23 left; HANOVER (1) Max Johnson (4th Q) 0:07 left.

CEDAR LAKE, IN (12-03-2010)  I know some people who won't bother with Porter County Conference games because there aren't any Division I players or high-flying slam dunkers. But nobody in the near full house of young and old with banners and painted faces asked for their money back after Saturday's Hanover Central-Hebron Homecoming double-header.

The essence of a home basketball game often is how much the visiting team brings to the court and Hebron didn't come empty-handed. With guard Tyler Crouch passing out for assists and 6-foot-6 junior Cody Artuso scoring five field goals, the Hawks (0-3) built a 17-point lead in the first minute of the second quarter.

Trailing 22-5, Hanover got some inside play from 6-foot-5 senior Derek De St. Jean to turn the tide. When HC junior Nick Bollenbacher hit a 25-foot shot at the halftime horn, the lead was down to 22-18. The second half was a roller coaster with neither side building more than a five-point lead in front of a festive Homecoming double-header crowd of about 1,500.

Hebron and new coach John Steinhilber took the defeat hard. The Hawks have had three losing seasons in a row and they'd hoped to break out this season.

"I have to give them a lot of credit," Steinhilber said of Hanover. "We let them slow us down. When we picked up the pace, we went through them. I think we played harder than Hebron teams have for awhile (Steinhilber coached at South Central last year), but we're still learning how to win. How to close out games."

There was no one moment where Hanover won. Bollenbacher, a 5-foot-11 guard, hit pairs of foul shots with 1:04 left, 37 seconds to go, and seven second to play. Damon Wallace led Hebron with 18 points and he fired in a 20-foot shot at the buzzer to create the one-point final margin. Bollenbacher hit 10 of 10 foul shots in the fourth quarter it keep his side in front.

"I was shooting about 50%," Bollenbacher said of his first four free throw games. "That's horrible. I'm the point guard I can't be shooting that."

De St. Jean said his team had to find a way to slow down the fast breaking Hawks.

"We knew they were a fast team and they'd try to run on un," he said. "We had to talk more on the press and get lower. We knew they would punch us and we'd have to punch 'em back. Well, it was 22-5 and that's a pretty good punch."

"We took it and we came back and hit 'em in the face. It was a physical game. It was a good game. Especially on Homecoming."

De St. Jean could be seen encouraging the home stands to out cheer the Hebron student cheering section that came west from Porter County for the game.

"This is one of the most intense games I've played in," said the tall senior who was named Homecoming 'king' between games of the double-header. "This week I got accepted into college. At Wabash. It's my senior year. I'm the only senior playing right now. To be king? That's the triple crown. Pun intended. I had a good week."

Hanover only has three seniors and two of them (Luis Norman and Zach Rush) are not playing at this time. The Wildcats dressed just eight players for the Hebron game and there were only three juniors, not counting Bollenbacher. The son of Hanover coach Rod Bollenbacher is aware that he has gone from being one of the varsity's youngest players last year to being one of the oldest ones this season.

"It sounds weird to even say that," he admits. "Seems like yesterday I was the little freshman dribbling the ball around."

This victory over Hebron isn't an earth-shaker. HC will probably see the Hawks in January at the Porter County Conference (PCC) tournament when much more will be on the line. What you take away from this is that this is the second time this year that Hanover has rallied from a 17-point deficit (they were actually 18 points behind against Lowell on Nov. 25) ) to win. They, at least, know how to stay calm when the ship seems to be sinking.

"I'm trying to keep emotions inside and not let the anger getting out on me," said Bollenbacher. "If I get crazy they all start to get crazy. I just want everyone to be under control and it starts with me because I have the ball and I'm trying to be a captain."

Every team needs captains and kings.

CAT NOTES: The first game of the double-header Friday saw Hanover coast and struggle at the same time. Hebron (1-6) does not have the players they had on the original pre-season roster due to injury and other departures and the only team they have defeated so far is Washington Township (0-6). Hanover won 52-32 as sophomore guard Blayr Poston scored 11 and freshman forward Kristin Roper added 10.

The Lady Cats (3-3), who have lost to 4A Lowell (5-1), 4A Highland (4-4) and 3A Calumet (5-2), all teams that are not in HC's 2A enrollment class. It's hard to tell if they are improving when they face a team as shorthanded as Hebron.

"It was a game, said coach Doug Nelson, after the win over Hebron. "Nobody got hurt. And everybody got to play. That about says it all."

With Washington Township next on the schedule Friday, HC seems certain to improve to 2-0 in the Porter County Conference. Basketball players Derek De St Jean and Becky Fortner were selected as the Homecoming king and queen between games Friday night.

Lowell coaching legend and former LaCrosse coach and athletic director Steve Leonard has come out of retirement (again) and is a varsity assistant to John Steinhilber with Hebron.
Mike DeFries, former Hebron boys coach, is now the assistant coach to Stephanie (Nelson) Schulte.

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Revised: December 05, 2010 .