Merrillville freshman sparks stunning 2nd half comeback, 70-56 sectional championship win over Crown Point
A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

Valparaiso (4A) Sectional Championship  (3-8-3) 

MERRILLVILLE (70)  Igor Ristevski 4-2-11, Lavell Cook 7-3-17, Desmone Jackson 2-2-6, Jimmy Reitz 2-0-4, Chris Harris 4-0-2, Josh Mayo 3-4-12, Greg Hill 6-2-15, David Coughlin 0-1-1, Geoff Lalic 0-0-0, Dennis Howell 0-0-0, Tristan Dawson 0-0-0.    28-14-70

FGS: 26-53, 49.1 percent (Cook 7-13, Mayo 3-10, Ristevski 4-8, Hill 6-9, Jackson 2-02, Harris 2-4, Reitz 2-4)
FTS:14-29, 48.3 percent  (Cook 3-12, Mayo 4-7, Ristevski 2-2, Hill 2-3, Jackson 2-2, Coughlin 1-2, Reitz 0-1)
TURNOVERS: 9
REBOUNDS: Desmone Jackson - 4, Geoff Lalic - 4
ASSISTS: Chris Harris - 4
STEALS: LaVell Cook - 8
3-POINT GOALS (4)  Josh Mayo 2, Greg Hill, Igor Ristevski

CROWN POINT (56)  Brian Sparks 3-0-7,  Aaron Miller 1-1-4, Chad Pruzin 7-6-20, Chris Thomas 9-0-18, Sam Henderson 0-0-0, Joel Heavner 2-1-5, Ryan Brown 1-0-2, Chachi Albrecht  0-0-0,  Mike Harris 0-0-0, Jordan Ham 0-0-0.   TOTALS: 23-8-56

FGS: 19-43, 44.1 percent (Pruzin 7-18, Thomas 9-12, Aaron Miller 1-7, Joel Heavner 2-2, Brian Sparks 3-6)
FTS:  8-14, 57.1 percent (Pruzin 6-8, Miller 1-2, Heavner 1-2, Chris Thomas 0-2)

TURNOVERS: 18
REBOUNDS: Chris Thomas - 11
ASSISTS: Chad Pruzin - 3
STEALS: Aaron Miller - 3
BLOCKED SHOTS: Chris Thomas 2
FOULED OUT: Chris THomas (4th Q - 3:38 left)
3-POINT GOALS (2) Brian Sparks, Aaron Miller.

VALPARAISO (3-8-2003) - Fooled again.

Last year at the Valparaiso Sectional, Crown Point led Merrillville 20-9 with seven minutes left in the second quarter, only to have the Pirates rally to win 64-59.

Earlier this year, the Bulldogs led 24-13 with 5:03 left in the half but it didn't matter. The Pirates rallied to win 53-43.

So it would take a lot to convince a skeptic that the Bulldogs were going to win last Saturday's Class 4A Valparaiso Sectional championship game.  Merrillville had won 27 of the last 29 games from Crown Point, going back 16 years. And even though Merrillville had eliminated the Bulldogs at the sectional level of the state tournament in each of the previous four seasons.  When Crown Point's Brian Sparks threw in a 60-foot three-point shot at the end of the first half giving Crown Point a 31-17 half-time lead, I thought for sure that the Bulldogs were finally going to beat their arch rivals and advance to the regional level of the state tournament.

I should have known better.

In a reversal of epic proportions, Merrillville fired up a trapping full court press, hit CP with waves on bench players and outscored the Bulldogs 53-25 in the second half for a come-from-behind 70-56 victory and the Valparaiso 4A sectional championship.

Junior Lavell Cook shook off a horrible 3-of-12 foul shooting night to grab eight steals and lead the Pirates' defensive assault which forced 10 third quarter Bulldog turnovers.  Pirate freshman unknown Greg Hill came off the bench to score 15 second half points and spark a lackluster Merrillville attack.

By the end of the game, the Bulldogs were down and out and the Pirates had found redemption for a 10-10 regular season.

"I just felt I was downing the team with my free throws," said Cook, who was benched by coach Jim East early in the first quarter.  "I had to come back with some defense.  He just told me that I had to move without the ball.  Number 25 (Mike Harris) was getting me out of my game.  I was rushing shots. He said, 'Just move and the game will come to you.'"

The game began coming to the purple-shirted Pirates when Hill, a 6-1 15-year-old, rose from the bench and sank a three-point shot to cut CP's 12-point lead to 33-24.  Two minutes later, Hill drove the baseline for a three-point play to make it 36-30 as Pirate rooters in the crowd of about 1,000 chanted "He's a freshman! He's a freshman!"

Crown Point, which totally dominated the second quarter, made one more run. Two free throws by Chad Pruzin and two field goals from game-leading scorer Chris Thomas mounted the Bulldog edge to 42-33 with 1:41 left in the third period.

But Merrillville, in a wild sequence, stole the ball three consecutive times and scored nine straight points to tie the game 42-42 after three periods.  During one of three Pirate driving layups, Thomas, CP's leading scorer, was called for his fourth foul. The CP center fouled out with his side trailing 53-50 and 3:38 to play. The tiring Bulldogs were not competitive after that.

"We played this team in summer league," said Cook. "We just had to run them and keep the press on.  Once we get on them, they don't have anybody but the big man (Thomas) who can bring the ball up.  Once Thomas fouled out.  We had them."

It might have been more basic than that.  Crown Point lacked manpower.  They've missed 6-4 senior Kyle Robbins (multiple concussions) since midseason and Harris played with a brace on his knee that limited his time.  The Bulldogs truthfully didn't have any way to rest Pruzin, who was subjected to double-team backcourt traps with seemingly interchangeable Pirate defenders after scoring 11 first half points.

Once CP lost ball-handling confidence, they broke in every phase of the game.

"They started missing shots from the field and from the line," said coach Jim East, who was also worn out after the roller-coaster game. "You could just see it."

"Merrillville's pretty good when they go all out," said a frustrated coach Tom Johnson, who could only shake his head at Hill, the leading scorer on Merrillville' freshman team.  Last year, it was now-sophomore Josh Mayo who jumped off the bench to make a second half impact, scoring a crucial 13 points against CP in a playoff game.

"Does anybody think Crown Point has a freshman that they can pull up an make an impact in a sectional game after playing just a few minutes of varsity ball? Two years in a row?" rhetorically asked Johnson.  "Wouldn't it be nice have that kind of talent to just pull guys up whenever you need them to?"

"Don't ever let him (Jim East) tell you he doesn't have talent. That's the story of the night.  He has the horses. They didn't play hard like that 10 times. When they play like that, they're going to win."

Crown Point started each of the first two quarters quickly. Thomas scored three consecutive baskets to give the Bulldogs a 6-0 lead before Merrillville got six points from Mayo to rally for a 14-13 edge.  Thomas, who had a three-inch height edge over any Pirate, scored three consecutive hoops in the second quarter to break a 14-14 tie.  After a layup by Chris Harris cut the Bulldog lead to 20-16, Pruzin split the Merrillville defense repeatedly, scoring eight points in a row to make it 28-16.  Right before the half, Merrillville's David Coughlin split two free throws, with the rebound going to Brian Sparks.  Sparks fired a 60-foot desperation shot that went in as the second period horn went off.  As the CP players ran to the locker room, the Bulldog cheering sectional began a celebration that seemed to last throughout the half-time break.

"We played two high emotion games," said East. "This is my 13th sectional in my 23 years here and this might be the most satisfying.  Because this team jelled at the right time.  We're not superstars.  We're not great.  We're really not.  We jut try to do what we do well."

"This is my wedding anniversary," noted East.  "My 43rd wedding anniversary.  This is a great present for my wife.  She loves the Pirates.  I don't know how much longer I can take this.  It's very tiring.  Very emotional.  Every game this week."

Merrillville came from 10 points behind to beat Valparaiso 61-58 and made up a five point fourth quarter deficit to beat Chesterton 47-46 in the semifinals.  Both of those teams had scored come-from-behind wins over the Pirates during the Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) season.
"We beat two teams that people said we shouldn't beat," said East, "and then we played a team that maybe we should beat. Sometimes it's hard to play when you're the big dog."

"We had the toughest path to the title.  All three teams were tough.  At the start of the year, people said this was one of Crown Point's best teams.  Tom Johnson had a good game plan and his kids played hard."

SECTIONAL NOTES:  Brian Sparks scored 19 points (including 13 in the last 10 minutes) and stole the ball four times to lead the Bulldogs to a 58-42 win in the sectional semifinals on Friday.  Aaron Miller scored a season-high 10 points while Chris Thomas had 21 points and 10 rebounds.  Brickie guards Matt Glover (13) and Bryan Fuller combined to score 25 for Hobart.  There were many Valparaiso players in the stands Saturday night with some cheering for CP against Merrillville.  More than the usual amount of people hung around on the Valpo floor after the game to talk about what had been a memorable game.

Brett Summers of LC was in the stands with his family.  LC had rallied from a 14-point deficit to lead eventual Gary Sectional champion East Chicago the night before only to lose when they missed three free throws in the final minute and threw away a game-clinching pass.  Summers played Little League baseball and youth league basketball with and against a lot of the Crown Point boys like Chad Pruzin and Brian Sparks.  Nobody asked him if he'd ever seen a comeback like the one Merrillville pulled off.

After the game, East had to explain who Greg Hill was and why he inserted the 6-1 forward in the second half of a sectional title game.  "I knew the kid," said East. "I knew he wouldn't be afraid.  Our freshmen were 31-7 (two teams) and they didn't lose a game with him there.  He played half the season.  We moved him up to the JV and they were 8-0 with him.  We brought him to (varsity) practice and he started right out hitting three threes in a row just like he'd been there all year."

"During the game he kept looking at me and I said, 'Stop looking at me. I'll get you in.'  He went in and he hit a three right away and gave us some offense and we went from there. . I told him just to shoot the 3 and not worry about it.  He has no conscience about shooting the basketball.  He's a natural scorer."

This is the fifth consecutive year that Merrillville has eliminated CP from the state tournament and it is the 10th straight Pirate win over the Bulldogs since a 60-49 CP win in the old Merrillville Sectional title game in 1998.

Chad Pruzin's 18 points were his second best total of his career.  Chad scored 19 in CP's 83-59 loss to Munster on Feb. 1.  The 11-11 record marks the Bulldogs' first .500 season since they were 11-11 in 1993. Merrillville will play East Chicago (18-5) at the Michigan City Regional on Saturday, March 15. Riley and Elkhart Central meet in the other regional semifinal at Michigan City.   The title game is set for Saturday night.  East Chicago used a 33-24 second half to pull away from Lowell 67-49 in the Gary Sectional title game Saturday.

Home of Boys Regional (the high school, not the water tower)

2003 CROWN POINT (11-11)
Coach Tom Johnson (6 years -  85-47)
Assistant coaches: Ray Tarnow, Pat Mills, Josh Powers and Scott Sparks

11-27-2002:  74-46 at Gavit (1-19)
11-30-2002:  86-85 Lake Central (14-8)
12-6-2002:  76-41 at Clark (5-16)
12-7-2002:  56-54 (West Lafayette) Harrison  (10-12)
12-13-2002:  59-40  at Griffith (19-4)
12-14-2002:  55-60 East Chicago (18-5)
12-20-2002:  79-68 PORTAGE (9-13)

Highland Holiday Tournament
12-27-2002:  55-68  Munster (21-2)
12-28-2002:  69-33 Kankakee Valley (3-18)
1-3-2003:  92-43 Calumet (3-17)
1-11-2003:  43-53 at MERRILLVILLE (13-10)
1-17-2003:  56-50 VALPARAISO (17-4)
1-18-2003:  46-70 at South Bend Adams (16-6)
1-25-2003:  57-59 at MICHIGAN CITY (8-14)
1-31-2003:  59-73 at CHESTERTON  (16-6)
2-1-2003:  59-83 at Munster (21-2)
2-7-2003:  51-82 LaPORTE (15-6)
2-13-2003:  54-43 at Hobart (7-14) 
2-21-2003:  37-47 GARY ROOSEVELT (21-1)
2-28-2003:  63-55 LOWELL  (11-3)

Valparaiso (4A) Sectional
3-7-2003:  58-42 Hobart (7-14)
3-8-2003:  56-70 Merrillville (13-10)

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Revised: July 10, 2004 .