Red Devils rally to beat Highland 75-70 in boys basketball

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
01-09-2012

HIGHLAND (70) Nick Hardrict 2-2-6, Justin Thiele 5-2-13, Brandon Reyes 9-0-21, Jordan Minch 7-6-22, Brendan Jameyfield 1-0-2, Michael Anderson 1-4-6, Michael Berg 0-0-0, Nick Jones 0-0-0. TOTALS: 25 (14-15) 70.

LOWELL (75) Danny DeBoer 6-2-15, Nick Willison 3-2-11, Nick Kijurna 3-2-8, Kyle Richwalski 3-2-8, Zach Van Hook 8-5-22, Austin Magley 0-7-7, Aaron Hamm 1-0-2. TOTALS: 24 (20-30) 75.

FREE THROWS: HIGHLAND (14-15, 93.3%) Anderson 4-4, Minch 6-6, Theile 2-2, Hardrict 2-3; LOWELL (20-30, 66.6%) Magley 7-12, Van Hook 5-7, Kijurna 2-3, Richwalski 2-4, DeBoer 2-2, Willison 2-2.

REBOUNDS: HIGHLAND (21) Anderson 8, Minch 4, Theile 3, Hardrict 2, Jameyfield 2, Berg, Reyes; LOWELL (19) DeBoer 5, Kijurna 4, Magley 3, Richwalski 3, Van Hook 2, Willison, Hamm.

ASSISTS: HIGHLAND (13) Hardrict 4, Elish 3, Berg 2, Minch 2, Reyes, Jameyfield; LOWELL (11) Magley 4, DeBoer 3, Willison 2, Van Hook, Kijurna.

FOULED OUT: HIGHLAND (2) Brandon Reyes (4th Q) :07 left, Mike Anderson (4th Q) 1:00 left; LOWELL (1) Danny DeBoer (4th Q) 1:14 left.

3-GOALS: HIGHLAND (6) Brandon Reyes 3, Jordan Minch 2, Justin Thiele; LOWELL (7) Zach Van Hook 3, Nick Willison 3, Danny DeBoer.

LOWELL, IN (01-07-2012) Highland had won seven of nine and Lowell's Red Devils had lost seven of their last eight heading into Saturday night's Northwest Crossroads Conference game. Saturday night's home game was a turning point for the 2012 season. This date, the first of the New Year by calendar, looked like the fork in the road between Lowell being simply not very good and simply 'not very good yet.'

Facing an all-senior starting lineup that had Highland off to the Trojans' best start in six years, the Devils pushed the ball, made plays and hustled up just enough second half defense to start the second half of the season on a very positive note, a 75-70 victory over the visitors from Highland.

"We had an identity crisis for the first four games," said coach Nate Richie, whose team had lost three by 10 points or less. "You know how it is. A young team has to find its way to win. That's what we did tonight. We found a way to win."

Highland had a very good first quarter, the Trojans (7-3), starting a lineup of five seniors, led 14-3 after four minutes with 6-foot-2 senior guard Brandon Reyes scoring 10 in the first quarter and 6-foot-2 left-handed baseball star Jordan Minch adding nine.

Lowell rallied as they got the ball to 6-foot-4 sophomore shooter Zach Van Hook, who sank three three-point shots in the opening period. The Devils love to play up-tempo and take the first available open shot so when Highland obliged, Lowell rallied to take a 42-40 halftime lead in front of a crowd of about 250-300 noisy fans.

Zach Van Hook scored 19 first half points, but finished with 24 after getting special defensive attention after the half. Center Kyle Richwalski was held to just eight points and three rebounds, but others picked up the slack. Danny DeBoer scored 10 of his 15 after halftime and Nick Kijurna scored a big basket to put the Devils ahead 70-66 with 1:10 to play in the game.

Lowell shot an eye-opening 24 of 39 (61.5%) from the floor to overcome 15 turnovers and just 20 of 30 from the foul line. The game and the season so far was epitomized by senior guard Austin Magley. Early in the game, Magley was getting over run by Reyes committing four early turnovers. Nick Willison scored nine of his 11 points in the first half to rescue his teammate.

But in the fourth period with everyone tiring, Magley handled the ball almost flawlessly, sinking 7-of-10 fourth quarter free throws to ice the victory. How do you do that turnaround?

"You don't remember what happened," Austin said later. "You don't think about it. You just keep playing. We practice free throws at the end of practice when everybody's tired. My legs were about the same as they were then."

Lowell's 3-7 wasn't what they'd hoped for, but with a nine-day break after the holidays, the schedule created a chance for a second start to the 20-game regular season.

"We get to start the New Year off with a win," Magley said. "It's in the conference. It's a big win for us."

Tied at 61-61, the Devils got the ball inside to 6-foot-9 Kyle Richwalski for a lay up and a two-point lead. Van Hook's two free throws made it 65-61 before Highland countered with a three-point shot from Minch.

"We hit shots and that brought energy to our defense," said Richie. "But we had energy. That's what is going to make us better."

This game was an upset in name only. At the start of the year, some of us thought Lowell was a better team than Highland. But I also thought Lowell was better than Hobart and Hebron, two teams that topped the Devils in the first half of the year.

"We had a seven-point lead in the fourth quarter at Hebron," recalled Richie. "We lost a two-point game at Hobart. We were up on Morton in the fourth quarter and lost. We've lost games we should have won."

DEVIL NOTES: Before Saturday night's game, no one had scored more than 66 points (Merrillville) on Highland. Lowell has eight home games and 12 road games again this season. The Devils are 2-2 at home.

Austin Magley played the game with a bandage over one eye, from an elbow that got him during practice the week before the game.

"We went at it hard in practice this week," said coach Nate Richie. "We had effort. We had energy and we carried it over to the game tonight. That's the first time this year that's happened."

Guard Nick Willison did save the day for Lowell in the early going because Magley and Willison are the only two true lead guards the Devils have. If one is ineffective, the other has to carry the load.  In 19 minutes in the upset of Highland, the 5-foot-7 guard scored 11 points with two assists and just two turnovers.

"The more confidence he gets in himself," said Richie, "the better we are. He has the ability to knock shots down and handle the basketball and he gives us three shooters on the floor. With Van Hook, DeBoer and Nick, we have three shooters and that makes us pretty hard to defense."

Lowell hosts Gary's Lighthouse Academy on Tuesday night, Jan. 17 and, while this is obviously the Devils first meeting with the first-year program, there won't be much fear of the unknown here. Lighthouse Academy, a Class 1A school, was 1-8 at the start of January averaging less than 30 points a game.