Lowell
explodes for 28 4th-quarter points to tie, but falls to Grifith in OT, 61-59Lowell
explodes for 28 4th-quarter points to tie, but falls to Grifith in OT, 61-59A USA-365.com Special Report
by Mark Smith
01-13-2008
| Team/Record | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | OT | Final |
| LOWELL (5-5, 1-2 NWCC) | 5 | 16 | 4 | 28 | 6 | 59 |
| GRIFFITH (5-6,2-2 NWCC) | 6 | 12 | 15 | 20 | 8 | 61 |
Friday, January 11, 2008 - Northwest Crossroads Conference boys basketball at GRIFFITH, IN
LOWELL (59) Robert Cusic 4-2-11, Ted Macis 1-4-6, Eli Macis 3-0-8, David Weiand 2-2-6, Jake Kerwin 0-4-4, Keith Greer 5-2-13, Nate Miller 2-2-7, Joe Bell 1-0-3, Ben Fox 0-0-0, Josh Hofer 0-0-0. TOTALS: 18 (16-21) 59.
GRIFFITH (61) Jacob Evanich 2-2-6, Doug Ashenbaugh 4-5-13, Peter Sepulveda 4-5-14, Brian Brilmyer 4-0-8, Jacob Fitzsimmons 2-10-14, Greg Joyce 1-1-3, Jackson Buzea 0-1-1, Mark McBounds 0-2-2, Kyle Terpstra 0-0-0. TOTALS: 17 (26-37) 61.
FREE THROWS: LOWELL (16-21, 76.1%) Ted Macis 4-4, Cusic 2-2, Weiand 2-2, Kerwin 4-6, Greer 2-4, Miller 2-3; GRIFFITH (26-37, 70.3%) Fitzsimmons 10-12, Evanich 2-2, Ashenbaugh 5-8, Sepulveda 5-6, McBounds 2-6, Buzea 1-2, Joyce 1-1.
REBOUNDS: LOWELL (18) Greer 5, Kerwin 3, Weiand 3, Cusic 2, Ted Macis 2, Eli Macis 3; GRIFFITH (24) Ashenbaugh 6, McBounds 5, Brilmyer 5, Fitzsimmons 4, Evanich 2, Sepulveda, Joyce.
ASSISTS: LOWELL (10) Cusic 5, Weiand 2, Eli Macis 2, Miller;
GRIFFITH (7) McBounds 2, Joyce, Brilmyer, Evanich, Ashenbaugh, Sepulveda.
3-GOALS: LOWELL (7) Eli Macis 2, Ted Macis, Keith Greer, Joe Bell, Nate Miller, Robert Cusic; GRIFFITH (1) Peter Sepulveda.
FOULED OUT: LOWELL (2) David Weiand (4th Q) :04 left; Eli Macis (OT) 1:53 left.
GRIFFITH (01-11-2008)
If you didn't care who won, this was one of the reasons Hoosiers drive
through cold, wet streets to somebody else's hometown on January Friday
nights.
As small and as quiet as this game began, bacame big and loud as it ended as
Griffith survived a dramatic Lowell rally and a spectacular game-tying shot
by Eli Macis to win in overtime 61-59 in perhaps the best game yet in the
inaugural season of the Northwest Crossroads Conference.
Lowell rallied from a 10-point fourth quarter deficit to tie the game on Macis' perfect 30-foot shot and the Devils led by four in overtime before key turnovers and Panther foul shots turned the tide.
"I'd have rather held that lead in the fourth quarter," said Griffith's third year coach Justin Fronek. "But a lot of times a last second shot can demoralize a team and then they took a four-point lead in overtime. They scored seven in a row. I give our team a lot of credit the way we came back."
In overtime, Robert Cusic's baseline drive gave Lowell a 53-51 lead and
Keith Greer's offensive rebound made it 55-51. Lowell had the ball
with the four point edge but sophomore guard Jacob Evanich slapped a pass
loose, stole the ball and fed a fast break pass to fellow sophomore Peter
Sepulveda for a three-point play that put Griffith back in the game at 55-54
with 1:53 left.
Magley agreed that if Lowell (5-5) scored on that possession, the Devils
would have headed home on the happy bus.
"That was just a matter of execution," he said. "That was just a case of squaring up to the basket and making hard cuts."
Lowell built the lead to 59-56 on two foul shot by Ted Macis with 1:07 to go, but 6-foot-6 Brian Brilmyer scored to make it 59-58. The Panthers fouled Mike Miller who missed the front end of a 1-and-1 free throw chance and Griffith went ahead when football star Doug Ashenbaugh cut to the basket and got fouled. Ashenbaugh, who was 3-of-6 from the line in regulation, dropped two foul shots in to give the home team the lead 60-59 with 21 seconds left.
Greer lost the ball out of bounds with nine seconds left, and after Lowell
fouled Griffith lead guard Mark McBounds, the Panther guard split his two
foul shots. Ted Macis did get a shot at a game-winning three-pointer,
but it did not fall and the Griffith student section rushed the floor to hug
their stars after the two-hour battle.
"This was good for us after we lost Tuesday night at Hebron," said Fronek,
who watched his team break a four-game losing streak. "We just didn't
seem to care as much as they did. I have to take some of the blame for
that, but tonight? I told them that I would have been okay with losing
by a point tonight because the effort was there. We've got some very tough
games coming up and we needed this."
You sat through half-time thinking that Lowell, which led 21-18, should have had a double digit lead. The Devils made only four first half field goals and lived on 12-of-16 from the line. Magley didn't think his team was tentative in the first half.
"I don't think we passed up shots," he said. "I just think we weren't hitting and when you aren't making shots, you try to move in and get a better shot. They packed it in on us and made us shoot from outside. That's been our problem the last few games. We've played good enough defense to win."
"We just had players who didn't see the openings," added Magley. "They just had to see it and do it. Our turnovers came when we just looked to pass (around the zone) and didn't attack and draw the defense in before we made the pass."
Griffith used a 1-3-1 defense and later a 2-3 after half-time to confuse Lowell and that's when they went to the 35-25 edge. But it isn't accurate to say that Griffith smoked the Lowell defense. The Panthers drew early fouls on Lowell in the third quarter and got into the penalty. The result was 20-of-27 from the foul line for the Panthers after half-time.
"The bottom line was," said Magley, "we outscored them from the field, but
they beat us from the line."
DEVIL NOTES: Griffith coach Justin Fronek knows that
fancy dribbling guard Mark McBounds can be a little wild, but he lets him do
his thing.
"It bothered me a little more last year," said Fronek of his crossover, jump pass point guard who sometimes gets hung up in mid air when he should just maintain the dribble.
"But I don't want to inhibit him and take away his creativity. I'm lucky enough to have him for two more years and he's extremely talented. He does do some things that are a little crazy, but he does so many good things out there. He was a big factor in tonight's game and I don't think he scored a basket."
Robert Cusic had five assists for Lowell, all in the second half.
"I really thought we'd have a better record right now," Cusic said at the halfway mark of the season. "We haven't played as well as we can and we haven't scored the last couple of games."
Lowell's 28 fourth quarter points were more than they totaled in the first three periods combined.
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