Friday, 12-12-2003  at Crown Point

LAKE CENTRAL (60)  Brett Summers 4-0-12, Krste Krsevski 5-1-11, Scott VanDeMeer 7-2-16, Dave Hoffmaster 2-0-5, Kevin Parkinsn 1-0-2,  Adam Short 1-0-3, Jon Maida 3-2-10. Jovan Alvanja 0-1-1.   TOTALS: 23-6-60

FREE THROWS: 6-12, 50 percent - DeJesus 1-2, Schultz 2-2, Stage 2-2, Polgar 2-6.
TURNOVERS: 16
ASSISTS: Dave Hoffmaster - 4
STEALS: Brett Summers - 5
REBOUNDS: Scott VanDeMeer - 9
FOULED OUT: None
3-POINT GOALS (8) Brett Summers 4, Jon Maida 2, Dave Hoffmaster, Adam Short

CROWN POINT (62)  Aaron Miller 3-0-8, Jordan Ham 3-0-9, Brian Maloney 2-0-4, Seth Henderson 1-1-3, Sam Henderson 5-1-15, Mark Patrick 1-0-3, Chachi Albrecht 5-1-15, Ryan Brown 0-2-2.    TOTALS: 20-5-59

FTS: 5-10, 50.0% percent - Ryan Brown 2-4, Seth Henderson 1-1, Sam Henderson 1-2, Mark Patrick 0-1, Chachi Albrecht 1-2.
REBOUNDS: Aaron Miller - 9
TURNOVERS - 18
ASSISTS: Miller, Smitth 3.
FOULED OUT: none
3-POINT GOALS (14) Chachi Albrecht 4, Sam Henderson 4, Jordan Ham 3, Aaron Miller 2, Mark Patrick.

CROWN POINT (12-12-2003) - When a heavy underdog barely misses a major upset, they always go through somewhat of a five-step withdrawal. First they chastise everyone who 'Didn't think they had a chance.' Then they guarantee you that they aren't satisfied with the narrow defeat. Then they insist that it doesn't come down to one play.

When a heavy favorite rallies and survives on the road, they always preach the virtues of never giving up and shower praise on the noble challenger.

But in the new Duneland Athletic Conference, there is another reality. Crown Point coach Tom Johnson saw his team lead by 15 points at home Friday night before losing to undefeated Lake Central on a three-point shot with one second left by LC's 6-5 guard Brett Summers. 

"You've got to get over it," he said, 20 minutes after the frantic Friday night finish. "We've got Valparaiso Tuesday. They've got East Chicago tomorrow. Then we've got Michigan City Friday. You can't hold onto a loss too long. You can't hold onto a win. You have to go back to work."

LC's Jim Black added, "You emphasize the good points and try to correct what you can. Some things you can't correct. You can't correct a kid hitting that shot. You can say, 'Well, we should have done this.' Sometimes he just throws it in."

'That shot' could be defined in two ways.

With Crown Point, a 30-point loser to LaPorte seven days earlier, leading by nine in the final seconds of the third quarter, Summers launched a 45-foot shot that was good all the way, cutting the lead to 50-44 after three quarters.

With the crowd of about 1,200 in an uproar, it was the first time all night you thought Lake Central would win. Then in the final 30 seconds, after Brian Maloney scored on a perfect lob pass over LC's 6-10 Scott VanDeMeer with a 59-57 lead with 10 seconds to play in the game, Summers, who was scoreless before the half court shot, threw in another one.

LC pushed the ball up the left side of the floor in front of both benches. Junior guard Dave Hoffmaster kicked the ball back to Summers, who toed the three-point line in front of the LC bench and hit the winning shot with one-second left.

The shot denied CP a victory that they had earned. Using their quick-advance offense and scrambling, swarm-the-post defense, the Bulldogs had caught LC on a poor shooting night and built a 15-point lead on the foundation of 14 three-point baskets. The game clearly turned on Summers' half court shot, which not only cut the lead, it was the first of the LC baseball star's four second half three-point shots. Without those 12 points, Crown Point easily pulls off their biggest upset in several years.

"In a game like this," said Johnson, "you can point to a thousand things. I know you have some guys in the locker room who are saying to themselves, 'If I didn't get called for traveling or if I didn't turn the ball over, we'd have won.'  I've never believed in that pointing to one play as the one that lost a game."

"If we'd have won, they'd be saying they let a kid have four uncontested three-pointers out of that corner and that's what beat them."

Crown Point utilized an almost totally perimeter offense against the LC front line, which included Van DeMeer and 6-8 Kevin Parkinson, flaring the corners and reversing the ball for open distance shots. The Bulldogs were unofficially 20 of 46 (43.4 percent) from the field, no problem if 14 of the field goals earn a bonus point.

Consecutive three-point shots by football star Aaron Miller boosted CP to an early 13-5 lead and back-to-back three-pointers by Jordan Ham pushed the lead to 27-13 with 1:40 left in the half.

Lake Central could not get the ball to VanDeMeer and didn't have much patience trying. Double-figure scorers Summers and Krste Krstevski couldn't get shots to go in. The pair had just 12 points combined after three quarters and another three-pointer by Ham, another in the seemingly endless line of quality distance shooters, gave CP their biggest lead at 45-30 with 2:50 left in the third quarter.

"You've got to give them (CP) a lot of credit," said Black. "They had some great helping defense and they denied up the post. A lot of the problems we had, they caused. But the lesson is that you never give up. Even in the darkest hour when you're down 15 and you can't find the ocean with a flashlight. Each play that went against us never quite broke our back.

Lake Central did attack CP's long range shooting with a half court trap led by Summers, Krstevski and junior varsity player Jon Maida, who scored 10 and was a physical presence n the floor. Miller, who gained almost 1,000 yards as a football wide receiver, had his career best game with eight points, nine rebounds, three assists and three steals. Sam Henderson, the outside shooter of the CP's 6-2 twin juniors, hit a career high 15 and 5-11 Chachi Albrecht scored 12 of his 15 in the second half. But it wasn't enough because Summers hit the big shots at the end of each of the last two quarters. The first one was luck, the second one was not.

"He just saw an opening," Brett said of point guard Dave Hoffmaster. "And I just followed him. He kicked it out to me and I just pulled up and shot it.

"I've got to see the film, but other than let him (Summers) catch it, I thought we did a pretty good job. You talk about Summers' shot beating us, he's not going to shoot that badly for three quarters again. We're not going to shoot that well for three quarters."

Summers agreed, "They were on fire. I don't think they missed a '3' in the third quarter. I give them all the props in the world for how they played. We couldn't get a break."

"You thought we were going to get blown out," said Johnson. "I told the kids we're the only ones in the building who didn't think we were going to get blown. Did I think we could get blown out? Yes. But did I think we had a chance to keep it close? I really thought we could."

BULLDOGS NOTES:  "Maybe Crown Point won't win this conference," said Black. "But they may decide it because they have the ability to beat anybody on any given night.

Crown Point, a team which isn't going get a lot of free throws, made just five of 10. Lake Central, was six of 11 but was 0-for-3 in the fourth quarter.

Brett Summers is familiar with many of the Crown Point varsity players. "Pretty much every one of them," he said. "I played with them in AAU. Albrecht, Ham. Mark Patrick." The CP student section heckled Summers, calling out his name and picking on him for airballs. But the former Dyer Little League star, had the final word.

"You've got to keep shooting," he said. "Sometimes the shots aren't going in, but all shooters just have to keep shooting. It's not that easy, but you have to do it. When a team sticks together, anything's possible."

CROWN POINT (2-2)
Coach Tom Johnson (8th year)

Nov. 26:  W, 56-50 Gavit  (1-5)
Nov. 29:  W, 62-40 Griffith  (3-2)
Dec. 5:  L, 48-78 at LaPORTE (4-1)
Dec. 12: L, 59-60 LAKE CENTRAL (5-0)
Dec. 16: L, 53-56 VALPARAISO (5-1)
Dec. 19 (F) at MICHIGAN CITY (1-4) 7:30 pm
Jan. 2 (S) at MERRILLVILLE (1-5) 7:30 pm
Jan. 6 (Tu) at PORTAGE (3-1) 7:30 pm
Jan. 9   (F) CHESTERTON (4-1) 7:30 pm
Jan. 16 (F) at LAKE CENTRAL (5-0) 7:30 pm
Jan. 17 (S) South Bend Adams (6-0) 7:00 pm
Jan. 23 (F) MICHIGAN CITY (1-4) 7:30 pm
Jan. 24 (S) at East Chicago (4-2) 7:30 pm
Jan. 30 (F) at VALPARAISO (5-1) 7:30 pm
Jan. 31 (S) Munster (5-1) 8:00 pm
Feb. 6 (F) MERRILLVILLE (1-5) 7:30 pm
Feb. 12 (TH) LaPORTE (4-1) 7:30 pm
Feb. 20 (F) PORTAGE (3-1) 7:30 pm
Feb. 21 (S) at Lowell (5-0) 7:30 pm
Feb. 27 (F) at CHESTERTON (4-1) 7:30 pm

PORTAGE (4A) SECTIONAL
March 3 (Tu)  quarterfinals - 6 p.m.
March 6 (F) semifinals - 6 p.m.
March 7 (S) champinship

MICHIGAN CITY (4A) REGIONAL
March 14 (S) semifinals - 11 a.m.
March 14 (S) championship - 8 p.m.

Lafayette (4A) Semistate
March 21 (S) one game champisnhip (TBA)

State (4A) Champisnhip
March 28 (S) 7:15 p.m.
at the Conseco Fieldhouse - Indianapolis

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Revised: July 10, 2004 .