Duneland Conference - Friday, 1-2-2004  at Merrillville

CROWN POINT (32)  Aaron Miller 3-5-11, Mark Patrick 1-0-2, Chachi Albrecht 4-0-8, Brian Maloney 0-0-0, Kyle Ernest 1-0-2, Ryan Brown 2-0-4, Seth Henderson 0-0-0, Sam Henderson 2-0-5, Jordan Ham 0-0-0, Mike Smith 0-0-0.    TOTALS: 13-5-32
FTS: 5-14, 35.7 percent - Miller 5-7, Brown 0-2, Patrick 0-2, Ernest 0-1, Seth Henderson 0-2.
REBOUNDS: Brian Maloney - 4
ASSISTS: Aaron Miller - 2
STEALS: Aaron Miller - 3
FOULED OUT: Brian Maloney (4th Q) 1:45 left.
3-POINT GOALS (1) Sam Henderson.

MERRILLVILLE (51)  Greg Hill 3-4-10, Aaron Marcus 3-3-9, LaVell Cook 3-0-6, Tristan Dawson 3-6-13, Josh Mayo 2-0-4, Jimmy Reitz 2-0-4, Dwayne Momon 1-0-2, Dennis Howell 1-0-2, Bojan Jovanovic 0-1-1, Curtis Wyatt 0-0-0.   TOTALS: 18-14-51.
FREE THROWS: 14-19, 73.6 percent - Greg Hill 4-7, Aaron Marcus 3-4, Jovanovic 1-2,  Tristan Dawson 6-6.
ASSISTS: Tristan Dawson -  2
STEALS: Greg Hill - 2
REBOUNDS: Aaron Marcus, Greg Hill - 8
FOULED OUT: none
3-POINT GOALS (1) Tristan Dawson.

MERRILLVILLE (1-2-2004) -  The good thing about the outcome of Friday's 51-32 Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) victory for Merrillville over Crown Point is that, well, there's a long way to go in the season.

Neither side looked good. Injured Merrillville scoring leaders Josh Mayo and LaVell Cook returned to the lineup, but it will be awhile before they return to the form which made both all area players. The Pirates won by 19 but they turned the ball over 20 times in a game where they never trailed. Shot-making was clearly a bit of a problem.

Crown Point just isn't ready for prime time right now. CP gave it their best effort of the season. The junior-dominated Bulldogs hustled for 32 minutes and held the quicker Pirates to just 18 field goals. But shot-making was more than a bit of a problem for Crown Point. Three-point shots, lay-ups, putbacks, free throws all met the same fate.

The Bulldogs shot less than 30 percent from the field and had 19 points with five minutes left in the game.   Good Merrillville defense was a part of that but not all of it.

"We've just got to make a few shots," said CP coach Tom Johnson. "I don't mean to be short with you but there's not a lot more to say than that."

"We worked a lot on our offense in the last two weeks during the (holiday) break. With the exception of the LaPorte game, we've played pretty good defense all season. We had some guys who were getting some scoring and we have others who are capable of scoring. But this is still their first time through the DAC, except for a couple of guys."

Merrillville led 5-0 in the opening minute and 9-2 on Cook's 12-footer with 3:42 left in the first quarter. A basket by Miller and Sam Henderson's three-point shot cut the lead to 9-7 before a follow shot by the 6-3 senior Cook and and driving lay-up from the 5-8 junior guard Mayo made it 13-7 at the quarter.

The second quarter was rough as the Pirates went scoreless the first 4:19 of the period.  Merrillville's shooting opened the door and baskets from CP's Henderson and Miller cut the lead to 13-11 with 4:21 left in the half. But the Pirates, who have lost only to winning teams (Highland, Munster, Andrean, Chesterton, LaPorte and Lake Central), opened a four-point lead after Seth Henderson missed two potential game-tying free throws. An assist and a steal by 5-8 junior Tristan Dawson off the bench made it 19-13 after a passionately but poorly played first half.

The Pirate defense never switched out of a basic man-to-man scheme that simply matched up CP's shooters with quicker players. It's the way Merrillville always confronts Crown Point and a large reason the Pirates have won 29 of the last 31 from CP.

The Bulldogs went scoreless for the first 3:42 of the second half while Merrillville squeezed off three baskets. CP had unusual success attacking the Pirates ballhandlers but the home team dragged the lead out to 30-19 in the final minute of the third period.

"I don't want to say it would have changed the outcome," prefaced Johnson. "But if we'd have just been able to make a couple of shots in the third period, the final score might have been different."

Merrillville sank 14 of 19 free throws in the final period to make the final score more vivid than it deserved to be. But Crown Point did not execute their offense well enough to beat any DAC team, much less defending 4A regional champion Merrillville.

"I still really like this team," said Johnson, "but this is still the first time for them going through all this. The few guys we have who have experience are still being put in positions they are not accustomed to."

One of those players, senior Aaron Miller, led the Bulldogs with 13 points. The football all-area star forced some shots, but he was the only player who consistently attacked the Pirates when the game was still close. The scary part of this game was that Crown Point played as hard as they possibly could and still scored just 31 points. Coaches like to say that defense wins championships but basketball is an offensive game. You must have a strong offense to win against top competition, like CP sees in the DAC. And strangely enough, this is a CP team that sank 14 three-point baskets against Lake Central and led powerful Valparaiso (7-2) by 15 points in the third quarter. Perhaps they are too inexperienced to be consistent at anything.

"Some of our guys are being asked to be scorers for the first time," said Johnson. "It takes time. I'll be honest, it was tough to get a read on where we are supposed to be because there were so many variables and unknowns coming in. I think we've played extremely well at times against some good clubs. We didn't finish a couple of those games. We all want to win. There's always that bottom line. But it's still early in the season."

DOG NOTES:  CP coach Tom Johnson said that he didn't want to shuffle players between the junior varsity and varsity in an effort to break the Bulldogs' losing streak.

"No," he said, "we don't have anybody down there who's going to make a big difference. "We've got to get the job done with the players we have here."

The most promising Bulldog JV player is easily Kyle's Ernest's younger brother Matt, a 5-10 ball-handling freshman point guard who beat Lake Central with a last second shot. But the Bulldog varsity has at least eight players whose natural position appears to be guard or wing. CP is getting outrebounded regularly and there doesn't appear to anyone on the JV who can help that situation.

"I had a team in 1999-2000,' said Johnson, "that was 2-10 and finished about 7-14. I'm not comparing this team to that one. I actually think this is a better team. But this team is facing a much tougher schedule."

Merrillville's LaVell Cook (14.5 in 2003), in his first game of the 2004 season, started both halves but he played about 25 minutes, scoring six points. Veteran Pirate coach Jim East assured that Cook performed much better in practice and needs only game time to work back into form.

Josh Mayo (16.3 ppg.), who broke a toe two weeks ago, didn't practice with the team until the morning before the game, when he was cleared to play. Mayo was not as quick as he usually is but 5-8 junior Tristan Dawson picked up the slack with 13 points including 6-of-6 from the line. The Pirates still have great potential. Junior Aaron Marcus, a 6-4 forward, scored nine and grabbed eight rebounds and Dwayne Momom, a 6-5 junior, has yet to seriously contribute but looks like he can.  Junior football star Jimmy Reitz, a 6-4 forward, is bigger and stronger than he was in past years and Greg Hill (11.9 ppg.) is a proven scorer. Merrillville could finish the season with a .500 record and still be  a major threat to win the Chesterton Sectional.

CROWN POINT (2-5, 0-5)
Coach Tom Johnson (8th year)

Nov. 26:  W, 56-50 Gavit  (1-7)
Nov. 29:  W, 62-40 Griffith  (5-4)
Dec. 5:  L, 48-78 at LaPORTE (9-1)
Dec. 12: L, 59-60 LAKE CENTRAL (7-1)
Dec. 16: L, 53-56 Valparaiso (6-2)
Dec. 19: L, 46-55 MICHIGAN CITY (2-6)
Jan. 2: L, 32-51 MERRILLVILLE (2-6)
Jan. 6 (Tu) at PORTAGE (3-3) 7:30 pm
Jan. 9   (F) CHESTERTON (6-2) 7:30 pm
Jan. 16 (F) at LAKE CENTRAL (7-1) 7:30 pm
Jan. 17 (S) South Bend Adams (8-2) 7:00 pm
Jan. 23 (F) MICHIGAN CITY (2-5) 7:30 pm
Jan. 24 (S) at East Chicago (5-3) 7:30 pm
Jan. 30 (F) at VALPARAISO (7-2) 7:30 pm
Jan. 31 (S) Munster (7-1) 8:00 pm
Feb. 6 (F) MERRILLVILLE (2-6) 7:30 pm
Feb. 12 (TH) LaPORTE (9-1) 7:30 pm
Feb. 20 (F) PORTAGE (3-3) 7:30 pm
Feb. 21 (S) at Lowell (5-1) 7:30 pm
Feb. 27 (F) at CHESTERTON (6-2) 7:30 pm

PORTAGE (4A) SECTIONAL
March 3 (Tu)  quarterfinals - 6 p.m.
March 6 (F) semifinals - 6 p.m.
March 7 (S) championship

MICHIGAN CITY (4A) REGIONAL
March 14 (S) semifinals - 11 a.m.
March 14 (S) championship - 8 p.m.

Lafayette (4A) Semistate
March 21 (S) one game championship (TBA)

State (4A) Championship
March 28 (S) 7:15 p.m.
at the Conseco Fieldhouse - Indianapolis

Copyright © 2004 USA-365.com and Meyer Multimedia Services, a division of Meyer Broadcasting Corp.  All rights reserved.
Revised: July 10, 2004 .