Nonconference - Friday, 2-20-2004  at Crown Point

PORTAGE (53)  Milt Rivera 3-5-14, Anthony Leal 3-2-8, Buster Battreal 3-0-7, Justin Ortiz 1-2-5, Kyle Autrey 3-3-9, Steve Wright 4-0-8, Jake Bryan 1-0-2.  TOTALS: 18-12-53.

FREE THROWS: 12-18, 66.7% percent - Rivera 5-6, Leal 2-2, Autrey 3-3, Ortiz 2-3, Wright 0-3.
ASSISTS: Justin Ortiz - 3
STEALS: Buster Battreal - 3
REBOUNDS: Kyle Autrey - 5
FOULED OUT: None
3-POINT GOALS (5) Rivera 3, Battreal, Ortiz

CROWN POINT (48)  Aaron Miller 3-0-7,  Mark Patrick 3-0-8,  Chachi Albrecht 2-2-7, Brian Maloney 1-0-2, Kyle Ernest 1-0-2, Ryan Brown 3-0-6, Seth Henderson 0-0-0, Sam Henderson 6-0-16, Jordan Ham 0-0-0.   TOTALS: 19-2-48.

FTS: 2-5, 40.0 % percent - Aaron Miller 0-1, Chachi Albrecht 2-3, Ryan Brown 0-1
REBOUNDS: Sam Henderson -4
ASSISTS: Kyle Ernest,  Chachi Albrecht - 3
STEALS: Sam Henderson - 3
FOULED OUT: none
3-POINT GOALS (8) Sam Henderson 4,  Mark Patrick 2, Aaron Miller, Chachi Albrecht

CROWN POINT (2-20-2004) - There are two ways to look at Crown Point's rally from a 19-point deficit to give a Portage a close game before losing 53-48. You can ask how they came back against a team that beat them by 25 points in January and led them 30-11 with 2:30 left in the first half.

Or you can ask how, against a sub. 500 team that beat them by 25 points, could they possibly be behind by 19 on their home floor after just 14 minutes?.

"We were down 30-11," said a disappointed CP coach Tom Johnson afterwards. "We were not ready to play. I saw it coming all week. You can't do that in this league against anybody. Portage is a good team. I watched Portage play Munster (18-1) three nights ago and Milt Rivera had a shot at the 'elbow'  to win the game with three seconds left. People tell us that we're better than our record. Well, they can certainly say that they are better than their record."

Portage (9-9) raced out to a 16-7 lead and then used an 11-0 run to make it 30-11 late in the first half, forcing a  Crown Point time out. The Indians juniors Justin Ortiz and Rivera plus swingman Buster Battreal seemed quicker and their passing found forwards Steve Vaught and Kyle Autrey inside for layups. Add a couple of three-point shots by three-sport star Milt Rivera and the Bulldogs were in a hole from which they could not escape. For the second time this season, Portage appeared to be the more skilled team.

"We play like a one (point guard) a '1-1/2' and a '2,'" said Portage coach Steve Bartos. "We've got a lot of guys who can do a lot of things. The blessing can be a little bit of a curse when it comes to rebounding. But Buster got some rebounds tonight to get some easy baskets. There's a lot of things you can do on the floor that don't involve scoring."

Crown Point (4-14) made the game close before the half. After the Indians concentration slipped and they took some questionable passes and shots, CP scored the final 13 points of the first half to make it 30-24 at the break, Junior Sam Henderson scored eight points on three baskets during the three-minute run.

The Bulldogs slowed Portage by bumping and obstructing the faster opposition. CP's screening and picking created open shots for some of the Bulldogs eight three-point goals. While Bartos called for fouls during the game, he commended Tom Johnson's strategy afterwards.

"You can't simulate what they do," he said later. "Some guys get upset about it but the screen is the greatest play in basketball. They are the best screening and cutting team we're going to play. They also got physical with us and it affected us. You do what you have to do. Our goal was to make them put the ball on the floor (before shooting). He is as good as it gets when it comes to game plans. His team is as prepared as any we will play. There's no easy game in our sectional but his team is one you don't want to play."

The third quarter saw just 12 total points as both defenses dug in. CP scored just 15 points in the first 16 minutes of the second half and trailed 50-39 before three three-point shots by Mark Patrick and Chachi Albrecht close the gap to four, 52-48 with 12 seconds to play.

The Bulldogs' effort was commendable but the deficit was too large.

"We outscored them 37-23 over the last 2-1/2 quarters," said Johnson. "But sometimes the ball's not going to go in. There's not much you can do about that."

"We came back and we played well.  But it was too late because of that start. We can't do that because we've had trouble scoring points. This was different from the LaPorte game (another close loss) because we just did not practice well all week and this was a game we should have been eager to play. They beat us by 26 before. We should have been eager to get back at them on our floor. I'm disappointed that this is the 18th game of the year and we were not ready to play ball. It's time for us to stop using inexperience as an excuse. We're 18 games deep. These guys have played a full season. We're capable of doing some things but not like this."

DOG NOTES:  Coach Tom Johnson does not like to hear that his team or any team was not ready to play because they're inexperienced and don't know how to be ready every night.

"When you think about it," Johnson said, "there's 365 days of the year. We maybe have about eight weeks a year off. With workouts, weights. Open gyms. Practices that we go through. These 20 nights are what you live for. Nights like tonight are what you do all that for. There's no excuse for not being ready."

Portage is a relatively small team with no one taller than 6-foot-4 but that will not be the case next year. The Indians have two 6-foot-7 players on the junior varsity, sophomore Matt Kasper and his freshman brother Nate Kasper.

"The Casper brothers," said coach Steve Bartos. "They could be all right in a year or two. They need to put on some weight and work on their footwork. But that's something we don't usually get at Portage."

Crown Point honored seniors Aaron Miller and Kyle Ernest before the final home game of the season. Ernest took an elbow in the face and needed to go to the trainer's room during the game. Kyle returned and went back into the game.

"He's okay' said Johnson. "He might need four or five stitches."

CP had 109 three-point baskets after 18 games, one of the top totals in northwest Indiana. The Bulldogs made 133 three-point baskets in 22 games last season. The state tournament draw comes out Monday (Feb. 23) at 7 p.m. The game was played in front of a slim crowd, maybe 500 in the 3,800-seat CP gym on a cold, rainy night.

CROWN POINT (4-14, 1-12)
Coach Tom Johnson (8th year)

Nov. 26:  W, 56-50 Gavit  (8-10)
Nov. 29:  W, 62-40 Griffith  (9-9)
Dec. 5:  L, 48-78 at LaPORTE (16-4)
Dec. 12: L, 59-60 LAKE CENTRAL (15-4)
Dec. 16: L, 53-56 Valparaiso (17-2)
Dec. 19: L, 46-55 MICHIGAN CITY (2-16)
Jan. 2: L, 32-51 MERRILLVILLE (8-10)
Jan. 6: L, 42-68 at PORTAGE (9-9)
Jan. 9:  L, 51-53 CHESTERTON (13-6)
Jan. 16: L, 56-67 at LAKE CENTRAL (15-4)
Jan. 17:  W, 54-49 South Bend Adams (13-7)
Jan. 23:  W, 56-39 MICHIGAN CITY (2-8)
Jan. 24:  L, 44-58 at East Chicago (10-9)
Jan. 30:  L, 52-62 at VALPARAISO (17-2)
Jan. 31:  L, 38-66 Munster (18-1) 
Feb. 6:  L, 43-51 MERRILLVILLE (8-10)
Feb. 12:  L, 57-68 LaPORTE (16-4)
Feb. 20:  L, 48-53 PORTAGE (9-9)
Feb. 21:  (S) at Lowell (8-11)
Feb. 27 (F) at CHESTERTON (9-3) 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

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Revised: February 21, 2004 .