LC Boys hold off 4th Qtr Bulldog rally to beat CP 86-85
A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

Saturday, Nov. 30, 2002  (CP home opener)

LAKE CENTRAL (86)  Gary Ruvoli 5-3-13,  Kevin Parkinson 0-0-0,  Adam Summers 6-6-21, Adam Dobrzeniecki 6-3-15, Max Lyons 2-0-4, Justin Doffin 0-1-1, Brett Summers 3-2-10, Krste Krstevski 2-2-6, Adam Diekman 5-5-16.  Kyle Blackman 0-0-0.   TOTALS:  29-22-86.

FTS: 22-30, 73.3 percent
TURNOVERS: 23
REBOUNDS: Adam Summer 6, Adam Diekman 6
ASSISTS: Adam Diekman 5
STEALS: Adam Summers 3
FOULED OUT: NONE
3-POINT GOALS (6)  Brett Summers (2), Adam Summers (3), Adam Diekman

CROWN POINT (85)  Brian Sparks 3-5-12, Aaron Miller 2-2-7, Chad Pruzin 5-3-17, Chris Thomas 9-10-32, Kyle Robbins 0-0-0, Kyle Ernest 1-0-2, Jimmy Little 2-0-4, Joel Heavner 3-4-10, Chachi Albrecht 0-1-1, Jordan Ham 0-0-0, Mike Harris 0-0-0.   TOTALS: 25-25-85

FTS: 25-35, 71.4 percent
TURNOVERS: 14
REBOUNDS: Chris Thomas 9
ASSISTS: Chad Pruzin 5
STEALS: Brian Sparks 4
FOULED OUT: Brian Sparks, 3:29 left - 4th Q;  Joel Heavner  1:01 left - 4th Q
3-POINT GOALS (10) Chris Thomas (4), Chad Pruzin (4), Brian Sparks, Aaron Miller

CROWN POINT (11-30-2002)  "Here's a quote you can put in the newspaper," said Crown Point coach Tom Johnson after his team's 86-85 loss to nonconference rival Lake Central.  "When you score 85 points," he smiled. "You should win. That should be enough."

"That's what we used to call a turkey shootout," said present Lake Central and former Crown Point coach Jim Black, whose team survived a 33-point Crown Point fourth quarter in front of a noisy crowd of about 1,200. 

"It's close enough to Thanksgiving I guess it's even appropriate for that.  Geez, (Chris) Thomas and (Chad) Pruzin. What big shots they hit."

Both teams' defensive sensibilities might have started the new week a little bruised but this Saturday night match-up was as entertaining a game as there's been in the old CP gym in many years.  Lake Central passed and shot beautifully all night long, fighting off a major league Bulldog rally at the end on CP's home floor.

"Our guys did just enough," said Black. "We hit two of the last four free throws."

Johnson added, "In my seven years here, we've only given up more than 80 points one other time (against South Bend Adams in 1999). And you could see this coming in practice. For the last two weeks."

Lake Central led 82-77 with less than a minute to play but the visitors let the 6-foot-7 Thomas dribble the ball up the floor and rise up for his fourth three-point goal of the game to make it 82-80 with 44 seconds to play.

Sophomore Brett Summers hit two foul shots with 41 seconds left but Thomas, much more of a perimeter threat this season (after averaging 16 ppg last year), drove the lane for a layup to make it 84-82 with 33 second to play.

Chad Pruzin fouled little-used Justin Doffin, who could only split two foul shots. Pruzin then hit an impossible fade-away game-tying three-point shot from the left corner with 16 seconds to go after Thomas passed up an open shot from the top of key.

Pruzin went for a steal and fouled senior Gary Ruvoli with 11 seconds to play. Whether strategy or an accident, it was something CP, which is very prolific from three-point range, can afford to do. Ruvoli made only one of two foul shots but even if he'd have made them both, CP still had the chance to win. Thomas missed a 20-foot shot with about five seconds left to win. As he went to grab the rebound, he was undercut and knocked down by an LC player. No foul was called and the game ended.

Johnson was immediately very upset with the no-call at the end but he chose not to talk about it publicly afterwards, giving everybody who played some credit.

"He (Black) has got a good club," said Johnson. "They're always tough kids.  Obviously Chris Thomas had a great offensive game for us but the tide turned when Joel Heavner (10 points, 5 rebounds)  came in and did the job for us. I was pleased with the way our bench players stepped up. I thought Mike Harris played very well. Jimmy Little came in and gave us some very good minutes when we had some other guys (Heavner and Brian Sparks fouled out while 6-foot-4 Kyle Robbins was injured early in the game and did not return) on the bench.

A key play in the game came when 6-foot-3 senior Brian Sparks, who scored 14, drew his second offensive foul of the game and his fifth personal foul with 3:23 left and the Bulldogs behind by two points.  Sparks drove the baseline and scored on a flying lay-up but the offensive foul not only disqualified the CP guard from the rest of the game, it wiped out the tying basket.

"Lake Central's always very good at taking the charge," said Johnson. "We talked about that in practice. We can't get in a dribble too deep.  It happened to Brian twice and it happened to Chad once.  Would I have liked him to pull up on the last one. Yeah. Sure. And I think Brian would tell you the same."

Pruzin scored 10 of his 17 in the fourth quarter and Thomas scored 10 of his 32 in the final eight minutes. With two senior starters on the bench for the final 3:23, the other two CP senior veterans kept rallying the team.

"I'll be quite honest," said Johnson. "I wouldn't expect any less out of them.  Chad's a four-year starter and Chris has really played well the past two years.  We expect them to hit shots.  The thing that was  disappointing tonight was that we didn't get the basketball stopped on defense.  I dread watching this tape. God knows how many times we let them drive from baseline to baseline.  We like that when we do it but we can't allow it."

Lake Central appeared to beat Crown Point at CP's game, rushing the ball up the floor and using three-point accuracy and a lot of motion to open up the foul lane.

"I've got different players now," said Black. "Our basic things are still all the same it's just that we can do them at a different pace. We've got a lot of rangy kids who can shoot. Last year we just had to walk it up because of the capabilities of our players. This year, we're still looking for half court opportunities, they just come a lot faster."

"I've always liked the up-tempo game. It's something we can continue to do as a program. It makes the game a little more fun."

"He is right", said Johnson. "For the last three years they've been pushing the ball up the floor. The group that he has right now plays at a much quicker pace. They run a numbered sideline break similar to ours. And he's running the same half court offense. But they push it up the floor so much quicker it looks different. They're very difficult to guard.

LC used an 11-3 run to take an early second quarter 17-10 lead. The Indians got 11 first half points from 6-5 senior guard Adam Summers, nine from six-foot Adam Diekman and eight more from Summers' 6-5 sophomore brother Brett Summers. Crown Point started the third quarter with a 12-5  run to close the lead to 46-44 on a three-pointer from Thomas, with 5:02 to go in the third quarter. But the 6-foot-2 senior Ruvoli, who scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half, scored three third quarter baskets to sparks an 11-2 run for a 57-46 lead with 3:45 to go in the game.

Adam Summers caused major problems shooting over the smaller Crown Point guards. Johnson even switched the mobile 6-7 Thomas onto the LC scoring threat without much success. LC' s 6-foot-6 center Adam Dobrzenicki had a tough time keeping up with Thomas (32 points, 9 rebounds) but he won't be the last one to have that problem.

Both teams shot well from the foul line in a point-filled, foul- filled (a total of 48) show that didn't end with anybody looking for a ticket refund.

"Gary is our leader as far as taking care of the ball and providing defense and court leadership," said Black. "He's not one-dimensional. We just need seasoning. To come in here against a veteran ballclub like Crown Point and compete, much less win, is a big plus for us. I think it shows that maybe we're going to mature faster than we thought."

If this was a regional championship game, it would've been an all-time classic. Here's hoping they meet again in four months.

DOG NOTES:  It was a very emotional game but there isn't a lot of hostility between Crown Point and Lake Central boys basketball. The Summers brothers are baseball products of the powerful Dyer Little League and they've competed against Chad Pruzin and Brian Sparks for many years.  Crown Point Little League managers Jack Pettit and Dave Hanaway were on hand and Brian Summers, Brett and Adam's father and a long time youth baseball manager in Dyer, was also on hand.

In recent years, this match up has occurred on a Tuesday or a Saturday but the two teams will probably play on Fridays starting  next year when LC joins the Duneland Athletic Conference.  Adam Summers' had an incredible statistical game with 21 points, six rebounds, and three steals. Adam Diekman scored 16 with six rebounds and five assists. Both Summers' brothers scored career high point totals.  Brett's 10 were a career high for him in his second varsity game. Ruvoli scored only four points in LC's 75-41 season-opening win over Lowell before scoring 13 against CP.

Joel Heavner's 10 points were his career high as was the 32 by Chris Thomas, who clearly could develop into a mid-level Division I college player. Thomas had less than 20 three-point goals last season.

CP might've won had 6-foot-4 senior Kyle Robbins been able to play the second half but after a second quarter collision with LC's 6-foot-7, 255-pound backup center Kevin Parkinson, Robbins sat on the bench the rest of the night.

"Kyle may have a concussion," reported Johnson.  "He wanted to go back in but Trent Trump, our trainer, has a simple rule. If you black out, that's it (for the night). So, I wasn't going to put him back in a game where we could jeopardize him."

With the new double round-robin schedule next year, Crown Point will actually play Lake Central twice.  The two are no longer sectional rivals but the neighborhood games should be very popular.

"We're just five miles away from each other," said Black. "I coached here in the 80s and they always had great crowds here and they still do. It's wonderful to have a community that gets behind them here like they do."

Crown Point beat Gavit 74-46 in the season opener on Nov. 25. The Bulldogs had four players score in double figures led by Chris Thomas, who had 20 and sophomore Jordan Ham, who came off the bench for a career-high 12.

CP's next foe Clark (1-0) will enter the game coming off a 43-24 win over Whiting last week. The Bulldogs host Harrison on Saturday night Dec. 6. The Raiders have defeated Attica 74-42 and lost to powerful rival Jefferson 77-66. Harrison (1-1) will play Hamilton Southeastern on Friday, Dec. 5 before coming up I-65 to Crown Point the next night.

For the Record: 2003 CROWN POINT (1-1)

DAC Games in CAPS
Start times are JV starting times
11-27 - 74-46  at Gavit (0-1)
11-30 - 86-85 Lake Central (2-0)
12-6 (S) at Clark (1-0) 6 p.m.
12-7 (S) Harrison  (1-1)  6 p.m.
12-13 (F) at Griffith (6 p.m.)
12-14 (S) East Chicago (6 p.m.)
12-20 (F) PORTAGE (6 p.m.)

1-3-2003 (F) Calumet (6 p.m.)
1-11-2003 (S) at MERRILLVILLE (6 p.m.)
1-17-2003 (F) VALPARAISO (6 p.m.)
1-18-2003 (S) at South Bend Adams (6 p.m.)
1-25-2003 (S) at MICHIGAN CITY (6 p.m.)
1-31-2003 (F) at CHESTERTON  (6 p.m.)
2-1-2003 (S) at Munster (6 p.m.)
2-7-2003 (F) LaPORTE (6 p.m.)
2-13-2003 (Th) at Hobart (6 p.m.)
2-21-2003 (F) GARY ROOSEVELT (6 p.m.)
2-28-2003 (F) LOWELL  (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.)