Lowell wins credibility, but falls to Bishop Noll, 47-42

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
12-10-2006

Friday, 12-08-2006 at Lowell, IN - Lake Athletic Conference (Black Division) boys basketball  

BISHOP NOLL (47)  Jason Chorba 7-2-20, Steve Radloff  2-0-4, Andre Lockett  2-0-4,  Eric Schooler 1-2-4, Joe Ullrich 4-2-10, Jorge Lopez 0-0-0, Antoine French 1-3-5, Jake Pelletier 0-0-0.  TOTALS:  17 (9-11) 47.

LOWELL (42) Robert Cusic 4-0-9, Josh Kuiper 1-0-2, Eli Macis 2-0-4, Mike Weiand 5-4-16, Aaron Corns 3-0-6, Ted Macis 1-1-3, Nate Korth 1-0-2, Jake Kerwin 0-0-0.  TOTALS:  17 (5-10) 42.

FREE THROWS:  NOLL (9-11, 81.8%) Noll 2-3, Schooler 2-2, Ullrich 2-2, French 3-4;  LOWELL (5-10, 50%) Weiand 4-6, Corns 0-2, Ted Macis 1-2.

REBOUNDS:  NOLL (25) Chorba 8, French 4, Schooler 4, Ullrich 3, Radliff 2, Lockett 2, Lopez,  Pelletier;  LOWELL (19) Weiand 8, Eli Macis 6, Corns 4, Kuiper.

ASSISTS:  NOLL (9) Pelletier 3, Chorba 2, Lockett 2, Ulrich, Schooler;    LOWELL (11) Cusic 5, Kuiper 3, Eli Macis 2, Corns.

STEALS:  Noll (8)  Pelletier 3, Chorba 3, Schooler, French.  LOWELL (6) Weiand 3, Korth, Corns, Kuiper.

3-GOALS:  NOLL (4) Jason Chorba 4; LOWELL (3) Mike Weiand 2, Robert Cusic.

FOULED OUT:  None.

Lowell coach Mike Magley (above, left) keeps an eye on Red Devil senior 6-foot-3 "big" men Michael Weiand and Aaron Corns (above, right).
Bishop Noll's Jason Chorba, a 6-4 forward, #23, led all scorers with 20 points in the Warriors' 47-42 win over the Lowell Red Devils, 12-8-06. (All photos by Mark Smith.)
Lowell's 6-foot-4 senior forward Mike Weiand #32 jumps ball against the Warriors' 6-foot-8 center Steve Radloff.  Weiand led the Red Devils with 16 points, 12-8-06.
High School basketball games offer students a chance to "dress up" for key match-ups.  Wearing their funny costumes in the stands are Lowell football players Eric Roadruck, Danny Remboski and Jeff Barker, 12-8-06.  (All photos by Mark Smith.)

LOWELL, IN (12-08-2006)  - I don't know if Lowell had to win Friday night's game with Bishop Noll.  But they had to keep it close.  The Red Devils had won their first three games, but all that good will would have gone out the window if Lowell had been blown out by 20 points the first time they faced a good team.  That didn't happen.  Lowell executed a game plan built to handle the faster Lake Athletic Conference and sectional teams they will see and were ahead of Noll 41-39 with 3:09 to play.  But back-to-back driving lay ups by Joe Ullrich put the Warriors ahead and Noll escaped Lowell with a 47-42 victory.

Lowell, which had jumped to a 3-0 start for the first time in four years, had slowed the pace on a Noll squad that came in averaging 72.6 points per game, was down 43-41 when senior Nate Korth missed a layup and a short shot by Noll leading scorer Jason Chroba made it 45-41 with 1:30 left and started the Warriors (3-1) on their way home with a victory.

"We did what we had to do," said Mike Magley.  "We just couldn't hit the shot we needed and then we had to do some things we didn't want to do."

Once Lowell fell behind, they had to chase Noll and that wasn't in the game plan.  All night long, Lowell had executed 8-10 passes per possession while the warriors rushed the ball up the floor and shot quickly.  Chorba, a 6-foot-4 forward who has a 30-point game already, scored 12 of his 20 in the first half as the Warriors built a 20-16 lead.

But Lowell started the second half with 11 consecutive points.  Back-to-back three-point shots by Robert Cusic and Mike Weiand gave the Devils a 27-20 lead in front of about 1,500 fans.  After a Noll time out, the Warriors scored seven in a row to tie the game as 6-foot-4 junior center Antoine Finch came off the bench to add a basket and a free throw.  Cusic, who had five assists, scored on a difficult spinning baseline shot to make it 41-39 with 3:09 to play.  But Ullrich, a junior guard, hit virtually the same shot at the other end to tie it up.

Lowell did not score a basket the rest of the way.  Korth, Weiand and Cusic all had field goal attempts in the late going, but it wasn't Lowell's night to come out on top.

"If we got the opportunity to push it up the floor, we were gong to do that," said Magley of the game plan, which is somewhat counter to what Lowell normally does. "But we had to be smart enough to realize is it a good opportunity or not?  Some teams, it plays right into their hands.  I thought we used good judgement on when to use our transition to get good looks.  I was happy again with the way the kids came out to play.  They believed in themselves and they believed that what we were trying to do was right."

"This was a tough place to play,' said Noll coach Drew Trost.  "There was good crowd here tonight.  We were lucky to get out with a win."

Truthfully, you learned two things from this game.  One, that Noll's 2A sectional rivals Wheeler and Boone Grove, are going to have to adopt Lowell's patient 40-seconds-per possession game plan to attack the Warriors.  The addition of Locket and the increased confidence level for Chorba have pushed their up-tempo capabilities beyond those of the other two schools they'll see in the 2A Boone Grove Sectional.  Two, Lowell has a chance in the LAC tournament and a chance to be above .500 for the regular season.  The first three teams the Devils beat have top-heavy losing records already.  This was the test, and even though Lowell didn't beat Noll, they passed the credibility barrier.

"Now," cautions Magley, "we have be ready to go in the tournament (against Andrean and then either Noll or Calumet), or we'll be 3-3."

DEVIL NOTES:  There was a moment of silence before the start of the game for Lowell student Dean Frigo, a football player who was killed in an automobile accident on Nov. 30.

Noll beat Lowell 65-46 last season.  The Warriors have now won eight in a row from Lowell since a 50-45 Red Devil overtime victory on Dec. 19, 1998.  Even before Calumet upset Munster 66-62 Friday night, Noll coach Drew Trost was looking forward to the first round Noll-Calumet matchup.

"We'll try to run with them," said Trost.  "We both might break 100." 

Calumet defeated Munster 66-62 Friday night, but Munster played without star guard Michael Bizoukas, who has a leg injury.

Lowell coach Mike Magley would not say anything about the fact that winless Andrean got a home game against his Devils in the first round of the LAC tourney.  If it seems like Noll, which defeated Andrean 65-48 on Dec. 1, is coming from nowhere, some of them are.  Junior guard Andre Lockett, who had four points Friday and adds a lot of speed off the bench, is a transfer from TF South high school in Lansing.

Lowell's Mike Weiand has scored at least 16 points in every game so far.  The Devils will face Andrean at Andrean Tuesday night to begin the 16-team LAC tournament.  Whether they win or lose, they will host a game Thursday night.  It will either be a consolation game or a quarterfinal.  It will either be against Bishop Noll or Calumet.  The junior varsity games on both nights will begin at 6:00 p.m.  The finals of the LAC tournament will be held at Calumet high school next Saturday (12-16-2006).

When the Northwest Crossroads conference begins in 2007, there will be no league championship tournament.  One reason is there will only be seven teams in the new league.  Morton is expected to join in 2009, but that has not been approved.  There is no good format for a seven team tournament.

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Revised: December 18, 2006 .