Lowell falls 49-39 to Gary West Side in boys basketball

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
12-26-2009

GARY WEST SIDE (49)  Jimmy Dunham 2-1-6, Nigel Mims 6-2-14, Admiral Salaam 2-0-4, Michael Fabiyi 4-3-12, Jonathan Black 0-1-1, William Crawford 0-2-2, Jovan Pullen 2-0-4, Marquis Wells 1-3-6, Evory Seals 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 17 (12-24) 49.

LOWELL (39)  Joe Bell 2-10-14, Austin Richie 6-4-19, Ray Skamay 2-0-4, Kyle Richwalski 1-0-2, David Stang 0-0-0, Cole Midgett 0-0-0, Austin Magley 0-0-0, Matt Hilbrich 0-0-0, Jason Parker 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 11 (14-20) 39.

FREE THROWS:  West Side (12-24, 50%) Dunham 1-2, Black 1-2, Mims 2-6, Fabiyi 3-7, Crawford 2-3,Wells 3-4. LOWELL (14-20, 70%) Bell 10-13, Richie 4-4, Richwalski 0-2, Parker 0-1.

REBOUNDS:  WEST SIDE (33) Mims 10, Wells 6, Fabiyi 5, Black 5, Pullen 4, Dunham 3. LOWELL (23) Bell 7, Skamay 4, Stang 3, Richie 2, Richwalski 3, Magley 2, Hilbrich. Austgen.

ASSISTS:  WEST SIDE (5) Dunham 3, Wells 2; LOWELL (7) Parker 2, Richie 2, Skamay, Hilbrich, Richwalski.

STEALS:  WEST SIDE (8) Wells 3, Fabiyi 2, Black 2, Mims; LOWELL (7) Skamay 2, Bell, Richie, Magley, Richwalski, Parker.

3-GOALS:  WEST SIDE (3) Jimmy Dunham, Michael Fabiyi, Marquis Wells; LOWELL (3) Austin Richie 3.

LOWELL, IN (12-23-2009)  The final game before Christmas had a little bit for everyone.  Gary West Side and new coach Winston Garland needed a win after a not-totally-unexpected slow start.  Lowell has not defeated Gary West Side since this series began five years ago, but the 49-39 game last week was an indication that the gap between the two schools has narrowed.

But Lowell (2-4) wasn't happy with this game because they had a chance to win on a night when icy roads kept the crowd down to a precious few.  The Devils struggled so much on offense in the first half, a couple of second half runs could not maKe up the gap.

"Obviously," said coach Mike Magley, "(Leading scorer Austin) Richie's going to get as many touches as possible.  The other guys have to be able to knock down their shots.  They have to look for their shot.  Not just any shot.  Their shot."

Lowell, which scored just 11 field goals against West Side, is clearly looking for the best five-man group.  The Devils are effective with Joe Bell and four guards but they're not going to beat good teams with an all-guard lineup.  Centers David Stang and Kyle Richwalski both have been in the starting lineup for the Devils, but neither are scorers as of yet and Lowell will probably end up with only one of them starting.

"We were happy that we went toe-to-toe with them," said Magley.  "We've got to take care of small things.  Check outs.  Things like that.  You're going to have different lineups in different games.  We're still looking for the best five.  We've got the parts.  We just are still working on getting those parts to fit.  I still think we can be a pretty good team."

"The effort is there.   We have mental lapses.  Like I'm saying, everybody needs to get better."

West Side, with 6-foot-4 junior forwards Jonathan Black and Nigel Mims controlling the boards out rebounded the taller Red Devils 33-23, but Lowell just had no place to go other than Richie and Bell.

"Our guys know him from summer ball," said new West Side coach Winston Garland.  "We went to a double team on him to make sure he didn't beat us.  We did do a good job rebounding against a taller team.  We did what we had to do to win.  Our big guys are young, too.  But they're starting to come around."

Lowell's best stretch of the game came in the third quarter after Michael Fabiyi's breakaway lay up had given West Side a 27-16 lead.  Three free throws from Bell and two three-point baskets by Richie cut the lead to 29-25.  The Cougars expanded the lead to 38-28 with 6:21 left in the game on baskets by Jimmy Dunham and Nims, who scored seven of this 14 in the fourth quarter.

Four points from Bell and a basket by Ray Skamay cut the lead to 40-34 with 2:36 left, but the Cougars didn't let Richie, who averages 18 points per game, get an open shot near the end.

"We're still figuring it out," mulled the Red Devils coach.  "The schedule that we have.  Quick turnarounds.  Two practices to get ready for a team.  One practice.  "Do I want to settle on one center?  It depends.  The games are beneficial to us.  We've had chances to get wins.  They had a chance to blow us out when they were up 11 or 12.  We did a nice job coming back."

"We got back to single digits and then a free throw here a (rebounding) check out there.  A made shot.  We'd have come back.  The little things took away our opportunity."

DEVIL NOTES:  This was the seventh consecutive victory for Gary West Side, the 2002 Class 4A state champion, over Lowell since the two schools began to play during the 2004 season.

The Cougars did not expect a fast start this season after the departure of former coach John Boyd.  They had no returning starters from last season.  Three players transferred from Gary West Side to Michigan City to play for Boyd this year.  All state guard Xavier Jones is playing his senior year at Wayne high school, a school of 2300 in Huber Heights, a north suburb of Dayton, Ohio.

Jones scored 18 points on Dec. 22 for Wayne (4-0) in a 60-56 victory over Springfield.  The 6-foot-3 guard is playing with two Division I juniors in 6-foot-5 Markus Crider and 5-foot-11-foot guard Travis Trice in the Greater Western Ohio Conference.

Lowell players clearly hesitate passing the ball inside to post players David Stang and Kyle Richwalski.  The problem is, the lack of even entering the ball into the post makes the rest of Lowell's players easier to defense.  The two 6-foot-8 players, both new to the varsity, have had trouble handling the passes and clearly have not yet caught up with the speed of the varsity game.  But in a sectional that has no player taller than 6-foot-6 (Class 4A, Sectional 1 with Munster, West Side and East Chicago) the Devils need to play the big boys to hope to have an advantage in March.

"We just need to get the right five guys and incorporate them into games," said Mike Magley.  "I still have high hopes for this group.  It gets back to doing the little things to be successful."

West Side coach Winston Garland said he hopes there isn't an ice storm the next time he comes to Lowell.

"But I like coming here," he said.  "It's really beautiful.  I haven't been here since the renovation (in 2004).  It's really big.  We were treated well.  First class."

2010 LOWELL (2-4)
Coach Mike Magley, 67-108 (9th year) 10-10 (2007), 9-13 (2008), 9-15 (2009)
Dec. 8 (L) 67-82 at Gavit
Dec. 12 (L) 57-86 at Bishop Noll (7-0)
Dec. 15 (W) 55-53 Calumet
Dec. 18 (L) 37-42 Hobart
Dec. 22 (W) 52-40 North Newton
Dec. 23 (L) 39-49 Gary West Side (3-4)

Jan. 5 (Tues) at Hammond
Jan. 9 (Sat) Highland
Jan. 14 (Thurs) at Griffith
Jan. 15 (Fri) at Hanover Central
Jan. 19 (Tues) Lake Central
Jan. 23 (Sat.) at Kankakee Valley
Jan. 29 (Fri) Munster
Jan. 30 (Sat.) at Merrillville
Feb. 2 (Tues) at Hebron
Feb. 5 (Fri) at Andrean
Feb. 11 (Thurs) at Boone Grove
Feb. 20 (Sat.) Crown Point
Feb. 23 (Tues) Wheeler
Feb. 26 (Sat.) at Morton

Munster (4A) Sectional
March 1 (Tues) quarterfinals
March 4 (F) semifinals
March 5 (S) finals

Valparaiso (4A) Regional
March 12 (S) semifinals (a.m.)
March 12 (S) regional final game (p.m.)