Lowell
comes close in upset bid, but falls 48-43 to West Side in Sectional
quarterfinalsLowell
comes close in upset bid, but falls 48-43 to West Side in Sectional
quarterfinalsA USA-365.com Special Report
by Mark Smith
03-02-2008
| Team/Record | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final |
| LOWELL (9-13) | 12 | 11 | 13 | 7 | 43 |
| GARY WEST SIDE (18-4) | 15 | 9 | 17 | 7 | 48 |
Friday, February 29, 2008 - East Chicago (4A) Sectional Semifinal boys basketball in EAST CHICAGO, IN
LOWELL (43)
Ted Macis 1-0-2, Eli Macis 4-3-15, Jake Kerwin 2-2-6, Robert Cusic 6-1-15, David Weiand 1-0-2, Ben Fox 1-0-2, Joe Bell 0-1-1, Nate Miller 0-0-0. TOTALS: 15 (7-11) 43.GARY WEST SIDE (48) DeShawn Clay 4-6-16, Gerald Campbell 6-6-18, Brandon Wesby 2-0-4, Richard Woods 2-0-4, Xavier Jones 1-1-3, Alojuwon Edwards 0-2-2, Marcus Upshaw 0-0-0, Baile Barnett 0-1-1. TOTALS: 15 (16-23) 48.
FREE THROWS: LOWELL (7-11, 63.6%) Eli Macis 3-3, Kerwin 2-2, Weiand 0-2, Cusic 1-2, Bell 1-2; WEST SIDE (16-23, 69.1%) Clay 6-6, Cooper 6-8, Bennett 1-2, Jones 1-2, Edwards 2-2, Upshaw 0-3.
REBOUNDS: LOWELL (20) Kerwin 7, Weiand 5, Cusic 5, Eli Macis 2, Ted Macis; GARY WEST SIDE (30) Clay 8, Cooper 6, Woods 6, Wesby 4, Jones 4, Edwards, Fabyl.
ASSISTS: LOWELL (8) Cusic 3, Ted Macis 2, Weiand, Kerwin, Fox; GARY WEST SIDE (6) Jones 2, Cooper, Edwards, Clay, Wesby.
3-GOALS: LOWELL (6) Eli Macis 4, Robert Cusic 2; GARY WEST SIDE (4) DeShawn Clay 2.
FOULED OUT: LOWELL (1) Jake Kerwin (4th Q) 1:54 left.
| Team/Record | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final |
| MORTON (4-17) | 12 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 39 |
| LOWELL (9-12) | 15 | 8 | 17 | 11 | 51 |
Wednesday, February 27, 2008 - East Chicago (4A) Sectional Quarterfinal boys basketball in EAST CHICAGO, IN
MORTON (39) Jon Littig 7-2-16, DeAngelo Carter 4-1-10, Justin Faught 1-0-3, Roosevelt Jones 2-0-4, Phil Lopez 2-0-6, Wade Smith 0-0-0. TOTALS: 16 (3-9) 39.
LOWELL (51) Robert Cusic 4-2-10, Ted Macis 5-2-13, Eli Macis 7-2-22, David Weiand 0-1-1, Jake Kerwin 0-1-1, Ben Fox 2-0-4, Joe Bell 0-0-0. TOTALS: 18 (9-14) 51.
FREE THROWS: MORTON (3-9, 33.3%) 2-7, Carter 1-2; LOWELL (9-14, 64.2%) Ted Macis 2-2, Eli Macis 3-4, Cusic 2-2, Weiand 1-4, Kerwin 1-2.
REBOUNDS: MORTON (27) Littig 8, Jones 8, Carter 5, Lopez 4, Faught 2; LOWELL (30) Eli Macis 10, Kerwin 7, Weiand 7, Ted Macis 2, Fox 2, Bell 2.
ASSISTS: MORTON (9) Faught 5, Lopez 2, Jones, Smith; LOWELL (9) Cusic 4, Ted Macis 3, Weiand, Bell.
3-GOALS: MORTON (4) Phil Lopez 2, Justin Faught, DeAngelo Carter; LOWELL (6) Eli Macis 5, Ted Macis.
FOULED OUT: LOWELL (1) Jake Kerwin (4th Q) 0:05 left.
| Team/Record | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final |
| LAKE CENTRAL (8-13) | 9 | 12 | 9 | 14 | 44 |
| GARY WEST SIDE (17-4) | 11 | 14 | 14 | 24 | 63 |
Wednesday, February 27, 2008 - East Chicago (4A) Sectional Quarterfinal boys basketball in EAST CHICAGO, IN
LAKE CENTRAL
(44)
Kirk
Thompson
4-5-13,
Keith
Thompson
2-0-6,
Nick
Garibay
1-1-3,
Eric
Summers
6-2-14,
Zach
Felton
3-0-7,
Kyle
Kaluza
0-0-0,
Anthony
Washington
0-0-0,
Ryan
Schweitzer
0-0-0,
Kyle Scheffel
0-0-0,
Ben
Sporman
0-1-1.
TOTALS: 16
(9-17)
44.
GARY
WEST
SIDE
(63)
FREE
THROWS:
LC
(9-17,
52.9%) Kirk
Thompson
5-9, Garibay
1-2,
Summers
2-2,
Washington
0-2,
Sporman
1-2.
WEST
SIDE
(32-41,
78.0%) DeShawn
Clay
10-13,
Reggie
Clay
2-2,
Campbell
4-6,
Jones
7-10,
Bennett
2-2,
Upshaw
6-6,
Wesby
1-2.
REBOUNDS:
LC
(16)
Summers
5,
Felton
4,
Kirk
Thompson
3,
Kaluza
2,
Garibay
2;
WEST
SIDE
(16)
Jones
7,
Campbell
3,
Wesby
2,
Woods
2,
Barnett,
Edwards.
ASSISTS:
LC
(7)
Kirk
Thompson
2,
Summers
2,
Felton
2,
Kaluza
WEST
SIDE
(9)
Jones
5,
DeShawn
Clay
2,
Wesby,
Campbell.
STEALS:
LC
(3) Garibay,
Summers,
Felton;
WEST
SIDE
(8)
DeShawn
Clay
5,
Jones,
Barnett,
Wesby.
BLOCKED
SHOTS:
LC
(2)
Eric
Summers
2;
WEST
SIDE
(4)
Jones
2,
Edwards,
Campbell.
3-GOALS:
LC
(3)
Keith
Thompson
2,
Zac
Felton;
WEST
SIDE
(3)
DeShawn
Clay
2,
Marcus
Upshaw.
FOULED
OUT:
LC
(1)
Keith
Thompson
(4th
Q)
1:04
left.
EAST CHICAGO, IN (2-29-2008) - I am a believer in moral victories. Everybody can't win. To be brutally honest, without injured Keith Greer (out for the season) and David Weiand (hurt in the final minutes against West Side), Lowell would not have been competitive against defending 4A state champion East Chicago in the finals of the East Chicago Sectional.
So to go out proud, losing just 48-43 to Gary city champion West Side in the sectional semifinals Friday, was to me, like riding a strong horse into the sunset. For Lowell, which will always be mismatched in the sectional that includes EC and Gary West Side, this is as good as we can humbly expect.
Lowell had a shot. Down 45-43 and with the ball, the Devils worked for a good shot when the ball was deflected into the backcourt. Robert Cusic recovered the loose ball and worked up the sideline along the two benches. He may have anticipated one of his teammates to move, but a pass up the sidelines found no one, giving the ball back to West Side with 12 seconds to go. After West Side senior Gerald Campbell split two foul shots, Eli Macis' 25-footer was no good and the Cougars closed out a narrow win.
Again, I don't know if they beat East Chicago, which won the sectional one
championship 24 hours later with a 67-51 win over Gary West Side. But
the Lowell over West Side would have been the Devils' biggest upset in
almost 20 years.
"Hopefully we made a statement for our program," said Lowell coach Mike
Magley. "But we're not here just to look good. We came here to win. We
just didn't hit enough shots. There's a lot of guys upset in that
locker room because we didn't win."
"Our players looked past Lowell," said West Side coach John Boyd. "Nothing is given to you in the state tournament. This is Indiana. We played them before. Mike is doing a great job with them."
"We had no legs," added Boyd. "We looked worn out. Campbell made
some plays that saved us. That's what you expect from a senior.
But why couldn't we get that earlier? Why did we have to wait until
the end?"
Lowell (9-13), was able to spread the floor on offense and slow the pace and
they edged out to an 11-6 lead as senior Robert Cusic scored two field
goals. But Campbell, West Side's 6-foot-5 center, led an 11-3 run that gave
the Cougars (19-4) a three-point lead after one period. But Lowell
scored the first six points of the second quarter and the game slowed,
allowing the Devils to gain confidence.
Cougar guard DeShawn Clay sank two three-point goals to bump West Side to a 39-30 lead with 1:28 left in the third period, but the Cougar defense consistently lost senior guard Eli Macis, who sank two three-point goals to cut the lead to 41-36 after three quarters.
The Cougars' Richard Woods was fouled taking a three-point shot in the final second of the third quarter, but as the players went to the bench for the between quarter break, Woods missed three consecutive free throws to the delight of the Lowell and East Chicago fans in the building late in the evening.
The start of the fourth quarter was painful for Lowell. Since junior center Keith Greer was lost for the season in early February, Lowell became more of an outside shooting team. Against West Side, the Devils missed five three-point goals to begin the final quarter as the Cougars missed seven second half free throws to leave the 'door' open. But Lowell was an unofficial 6-of-20 from three-point range and some were not contested shots. Cusic's three-pointer cut the lead to 44-42 with 3:46 to go and that score held until a dramatic play with two minutes left. After Macis missed a three-pointer, 6-foot-6 Lowell junior David Weiand leaped in to grab a rebound, landing awkwardly and twisting an ankle.
As Weiand was helped to the bench, sophomore Joe Bell, a regular player for Lowell all year, was called off the bench to shoot two foul shots. Bell split the two free throws with 2:08 to play to cut the West Side lead to 44-43.
"Joe was put into a tough spot, but he's our best free throw shooter," said Magley, who didn't see that bad luck as costing his side. "Of all of our players, he's the best foul shooter."
Xavier Jones split two foul shots with 1:54 left to give West Side a 45-43
lead and Lowell called time out with 1:19 to go.
Macis
missed a '3' with 1:10 left. But amazingly, with a two-point lead,
West Side's Woods attempted a short jumper, missing with 40 seconds to go.
As the gym became nosier with the East Chicago fans sensing an upset of the
Cougars, their rivals, Lowell called time out with 30 seconds to play.
You really get the feeling that if Lowell had not turned the ball over at
that point that they would hold for the final shot of the game. It
appeared as if Lowell passed up a two-point shot to work for a
three-pointer, but Magley said that was not what his boys were doing.
"We just wanted to stay focused," he said. "We'll take any good shot
there. We just wanted to get into the offense and get a good shot."
The Devils did try to call time out when the ball was deflected into the
backcourt and Lowell down 45-43, but it didn't get done and the unforced
turnover killed Lowell's best chance to win in regulation time. Lowell
had so many three-point shots miss and any one of them could have changed
the way those final minutes were played.
"I think every coach gets nervous when the ball is in the air," said Magley.
"We got the shots. We just didn't make them."
Lowell lost to Gary West Side 55-45 on Jan. 31 and they have played the
Cougars in non-conference action in each of the last three seasons.
That clearly helped Lowell game plan for a sectional rival.
"We did everything we had to do to win," said Magley. "This is why we play the big boys during the regular season. When we went on that skid (Lowell lost six in a row, including West Side, Crown Point, Munster and Merrillville) we tried to tell the boys that this is what you have to do. These are the teams you have to play. In the sectional, only the strong survive."
DEVIL NOTES: Lowell junior center Keith Greer was still in a cast at the East Chicago Sectional. Greer was hurt in practice three weeks ago and knocked out for the season. Greer, a pitcher, will be back for the baseball season next month. David Weiand is a track high jumper and it was not certain how his spring participation will be affected by his injury, which had not been diagnosed by the time Lowell left East Chicago.
Eli Macis had 22 points and 10 rebounds while brother Ted Macis posted 12
points and three assists as Lowell pulled away from Morton in the 4A EC
Sectional quarterfinals.
Lowell's six seniors were Ted and Eli Macis, Ben Fox, Jake Kerwin, Nate
Miller and Robert Cusic, who played on the varsity for four years. The
Devils will be strong up front next season with Greer, who is a 6-foot-6
forward, 6-foot-3 forwards Weiand and Joe Bell and 6-foot-2 Josh Hofer.
But they will return no guard who played any significant time this year.
Lowell's last sectional title was 1993, the last year the Devils had a winning season. The Devils also played the final two months without 6-foot-1 junior forward Trevor Kersey, who was on the playoff roster but could not play. Nate Miller missed the Morton game because he was sick and out of school last Wednesday. Miller was able to play in the Devils' final game against West Side.
East Chicago (19-3) jumped to a 30-9 lead and defeated Munster 60-45 in the 4A Sectional One semifinals, ending Munster's 14-game winning streak. EC will probably play Crown Point (17-6) in the 4A Michigan City Regional semifinals Saturday, March 8 at 12:00 p.m.
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