Trojans' second quarter run leads to impressive 73-59 win over Crown Point Bulldogs
A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

Friday, Jan. 31, 2003 (in Chesterton);  Attendance: 1,200

CROWN POINT (59)  Brian Sparks 3-1-10, Aaron Miller 1-0-3, Chad Pruzin 2-3-8, Chris Thomas 9-7-26,  Joel Heavner 0-0-0, Chachi Albrecht  3-0-7,  Mike Harris 0-0-0, Jimmy Little 0-0-0,  Jordan Ham 0-0-0, Kyle Ernest 1-0-3, Sam Henderson 1-0-2.   TOTALS: 20-11-59.

FGS: 20-60, (Thomas 9-20, Sparks 3-10, Albrecht 3-10)
FTS: 11-17, 64.7 percent  (Thomas 7-12, Pruzin 3-3, Sparks 1-2)
TURNOVERS: 8
REBOUNDS: Kyle Robbins - 9
ASSISTS: Chad Pruzin - 6
STEALS: Aaron Miller - 4
FOULED OUT: none
3-POINT GOALS (8) Brian Sparks 3, Chris Thomas, Aaron Miller, Chad Pruzin, Chachi Albrecht, Kyle Ernest.

CHESTERTON (73)  Matt Campbell 4-11-20, Mike Yagelski 7-5-19, Eric Babcock 2-0-4, Matt Maple 1-0-3, Matt Wilder 1-0-3, Kyle Burkholder 2-1-6, Tom Radtke 6-6-18, Casey Martin 0-0-0, Josh Malone 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 28-23-73

FGS: 28-56, 50.0 percent  (Yagelski 8-17, Radtke 5-8, Maple 2-6)
FTS: 23-28, 82.6 percent  (Campbell 10-12, Radtke 6-7, Yagelski 5-5, Maple 1-1)
TURNOVERS: 15
REBOUNDS: Tom Radtke - 21
ASSISTS: Matt Campbell - 7
3-POINT GOALS (4)  Matt Campbell, Matt Maple, Matt Wilder, Kyle Burkholder

CROWN POINT  (1-31-2003) - "That second quarter was about as good as it gets," said Chesterton coach Tom Pellar.  "I can't tell you how proud I was. This (CP) is a quality team. And we had a 20-point lead at half-time."

"We've got five weeks to work on things," said Crown Point coach Tom Johnson.  "We've got five weeks to get it done. We just want to be the best team we can be in the first week of March."

That was the aftermath of an impressive Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) win for the Trojans, 73-59 over CP in front of 1,200 fan in the big, bight Chesterton gym.

With a lot of the same players who got beat in Crown Point last season, the Trojans raced to a 24-point lead Friday and held off a CP rally to jump up into the race for the DAC title.  The Bulldogs made a strong second half comeback but they didn't match up in too many areas, something they have to face the rest of the year.

The box score doesn't lie. Chesterton shot 50 percent from the floor, 82 percent from the foul line and 6-9 center Tom Radtke grabbed an unofficial 21 rebounds, a school-record total.

Crown Point seemed to be reeling. They lost 6-4 center Kyle Robbins for the season after the latest in a series of concussions. The Bulldogs (8-7), who lost their third game in a row after beating rival Valparaiso, also had 6-3 three-year starter Brian Sparks miss part of the game with a shoulder problem.

But CP should regroup and rebound.  The story here is the Trojans, who are off to one of the best starts in school history.  Chesterton completed an undefeated (7-0) month of January. With Merrillville's surprising upset loss 74-62 at Portage, the Trojans are in a three-way tie for first place with two games left, including Merrillville's game with Chesterton on Feb, 7.

The three-pronged attack that has sustained Chesterton all season blessed them again on this night.  Radtke (12.3 ppg.) had 18 points and 21 rebounds, Junior guard Matt Campbell (17.2 ppg.) scored 20, including 10 of 12 from the line. And 6-5 senior Mike Yagelski (12.2 ppg.) was active and energetic, not to mention productive (19 points).

Crown Point led 18-14 before the home team got rolling in the new 5,000-seat Chesterton gym. Radtke and Yagelski scored inside to tie the game before Kyle Burkholder came off the bench to hit a three point shot for a 21-19 lead.  Campbell, a shifty, change-of-direction dribbler, then scored the Trojans' next seven points before Radtke grabbed two offensive rebounds and followed in his own miss to make it 31-19.  A three-point play by the 6-9 senior and another fast break layup by Campbell completed a 22-1 run over five minutes.

"Offensively.  Defensively.  Everything you teach in practice," said Pellar, a longtime freshman coach for Jim East at Merrillville, "we did in that second quarter."

Crown Point did rebound. Trailing 50-26, the Bulldogs ran off 12 points in a row late in the third quarter capped by three foul shots from senior guard Chad Pruzin, cutting the lead to 50-38.   It appeared that CP might come all the way back, when three point shots from Pruzin and Sparks cut the lead to 59-52 with 3:06 left.  But Campbell sank two free throws and Eric Babcock scored on a press break layup, starting an 8-0 Chesterton run.

Late in the game, Yagelski went in for a dunk and missed it. The ball rebounded high in the air to Radtke and the 6-9 Trojan pivot slam dunked it to the delight of the crowd.

"We had the Harlem Globetrotters here (in Chesterton) last weekend," joked Pellar. "They said they wanted to try something like that."

"The 28-6 quarter run," said Johnson.  "Jimmy Little gave us some minutes. Aaron (Miller), Mike (Harris) and Chachi (Albrecht) Mike (Harris) played hard.  We are going to have to be a bit of a different team now (with the 6-4 Robbins) and quite frankly, we're still trying to figure it out."

"We're going to try some different things. I'm not down. Everybody wants to say what's going on? We haven't played well at times and we've got some bad breaks.  We were finally getting where we wanted to be but then we lose Kyle."

" I told them that I was really proud of the way we battled back. We ran out of gas at the end. We've played a lot of difficult teams here and we haven't done that well. This was a 12-2 team on the road.  Chris (Thomas) played really well but some of our kids were unsure of themselves early. "
We've got to play Brian at the four spot (power forward) and that's a lot to ask.  The best thing about this group is that they're with me.   We're going back to work and  I think we'll be okay."

NOTES:  Chesterton's only losses are 55-44 to Valparaiso and 57-55 to Munster.

Pellar said that Matt Campbell was largely a JV player last year.  "His role is different now. We had Michael Claudio last year," he reminded, "and Matt had a different role.  He had a very good AAU summer season and he just has gained a lot of confidence.  He did all of the things that a coach wants a player to do over the summer."

Pellar thought Radtke's rebound total was a record.  "I think the record was 20 and he broke it. Matt Nover (1988) may have had the record."  Pellar was the freshman coach at Merrillville and he coached Brett Fedak and Jamel Williams.  I taught there (at Merrillville) for 16 years."

Kyle Robbins, who missed four games in December because of a series of concussions, has been shut down for the year.

"I'm out for the season," he said.  "It's the concussions.  I guess its the right thing to do.  It doesn't feel like it.  I'll be at all the games."

2003 CROWN POINT (8-7, 2-3)
Coach Tom Johnson (6 years -  85-47)
Assistant coaches: Ray Tarnow, Pat Mills, Josh Powers and Scott Sparks
DAC Games in CAPS  -    Start times are JV starting times
11-27-2002:  74-46  at Gavit (0-15)
11-30-2002:  86-85 Lake Central (9-5)
12-6-2002:  76-41 at Clark (4-9)
12-7-2002:  56-54 (West Lafayette) Harrison  (8-6)
12-13-2002:  59-40  at Griffith (14-1)
12-14-2002:  55-60 East Chicago (11-5)
12-20-2002:  79-68 PORTAGE (5-9)

Highland Holiday Tournament
12-27-2002:  55-68  Munster (15-1)
12-28-2002:  69-33 Kankakee Valley (2-11)

1-3-2003:  92-43 Calumet (2-13)
1-11-2003:  43-53 at MERRILLVILLE (8-7)
1-17-2003:  56-50 VALPARAISO (11-3)
1-18-2003:  46-70 at South Bend Adams (11-3)
1-25-2003:  57-59 at MICHIGAN CITY (3-9)
1-31-2003:  59-73 at CHESTERTON  (12-2)

2-1-2003:  (S) at Munster (15-1)  6 p.m.
2-7-2003:  (F) LaPORTE (9-5) 6 p.m.
2-13-2003:  (Th) at Hobart (5-8) 6 p.m.
2-21-2003:  (F) GARY ROOSEVELT (13-1) 6 p.m.
2-28-2003:  (F) LOWELL  (7-7)  6 p.m.

Valparaiso (4A) Sectional
3-4-2003:  (Tu) quarterfinals (6 p.m.)
3-7-2003:  (F) semifinals (6 p.m.)
3-8-2003:  (S) championship (6 p.m.)

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Revised: July 10, 2004 .