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2003-2004
Boys Basketball
Renegade Poll - Week 9A USA-365.com Special Report(1-28-2004) |
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Valparaiso solidified the number one spot
with a head-to-head win over LaPorte. Boone Grove established themselves with a
three-game sweep in the PCC tournament. Sectional one (EC, LC,
Highland, Lowell, Munster and West Side) and sectional three (LaPorte, MC,
Adams, Riley, Washington and Clay) have gone to the concept of having
quarterfinal games on home courts because of the distances involved. That could
be of major benefit to teams like LaPorte, which have a significant home court
advantage.
1. Valparaiso (11-2)
Valpo
went to 11-2 with a 62-40 victory over Calumet, but the big win was 64-51 over
LaPorte. 6-8 forward Brian McMillan (13.9 ppg.) scored a career-high 26 points
with 8 rebounds against LaPorte after scoring just six in LaPorte's 53-52 win
over Valpo on Dec. 19. VHS continued their amazing shooting hitting 24 of 43
(55.7%) from the floor. This is the same team that was 35 of 56 (62.5%) against
Boone Grove and 26 of 41 (63%) against Portage. Exact stats aren't published,
but I would guess that Valpo is the top FG percentage shooting team in northwest
Indiana. Valpo was 10-of-12 from the line against Calumet as Brent Kimmel (15.3
ppg.) sank four three-pointers and scored 14. Home games this week with Crown
Point (4-9) and South Central (0-11) do not figure to be roadblocks.
2. Lake Central (12-2)
Lake
Central turned back Merrillville 57-47 to stay one game ahead of Valparaiso in
the 14-game Duneland Conference season. 6-10 center Scott Van Der Meer grabbed
12 rebounds to go with 14 points and LC sank 16 of 22 from the foul line. LC is
34 of 46 (73.8) from the line in the last two games. Coach Jim Black won his
100th game at Lake Central. Only 3 games in the next three weeks Jan. 30 (at
Chesterton); Feb. 6 (at Portage) and Valparaiso (11-2) on Feb. 12. Some
mental toughness is required here as the season gets long and games stretch out.
3. LaPorte (12-3)
After
beating Merrillville and Plymouth in the same weekend, LaPorte lost 54-43 to
Valparaiso despite 22 points and 12 rebounds from 6-4 guard Jerome Vann (17.2
ppg.) and 17 points from 6-7 Kevin Dermody (13.3 ppg.). Vann was 0-for-7
from the field in the fourth quarter. There is a feeling that LaPorte will shoot
themselves into and out of a game if you let them. All three LaPorte losses have
come on the road. The Slicers need to get wing shooter Dusty Kling (13.1 ppg.)
started in every game.
4. Munster (12-1)
Munster
might be feeling the midseason blues... they nipped Bishop Noll 42-38 in a
forgettable game. The Mustangs have won six games by 10 points or less. 6-4
Dustin Bothwell is averaging 18.5 ppg. over his last four games. Munster has
defeated seven teams with winning records so the schedule, while it includes no
ranked teams, cannot in any way be called soft. The Mustangs take on arch-rival
Highland (9-3) and Crown Point (4-9) this weekend (Jan. 30-31). Munster does
have a foul line problem with just 31 of 57 (54.3%) in the last three games
including a very shaky 12 of 23 against Noll.
Andrean
continued to roll with a 56-55 win over Highland in a game that was not that
close. The 59ers led 42-29 after three quarters. 6-6 senior center David Carson
scored 21 with 10 rebounds. Carson has eight 20-point games in 12 starts. The
59ers are hot from the line as well. A strong 15 of 20 against Highland gave
them 49 of 62 (78.7 percent) in the last four games. Shooting guard
Frank Provenzano is at 19.5 ppg. over his last four games. Warm up the
scoreboard as Hammond (7-6) challenges the 59ers Friday (Jan. 30).
6. East Chicago (8-6)
Big
weekend for East Chicago, which routed Gary Roosevelt 85-65 and turned back
Crown Point 55-44. E-Twan Moore scored 20 against Roosevelt and 16 more against
CP. Tremaine Cooley added 18 against the Velt and junior guard David Connor sank
a season-best 16. Moore
was 8-of-8 from the foul line for the weekend and shooting at a rate above 80%. East
Chicago has lost four to North Central, Arlington, LC and Munster, all teams
with top-heavy winning records. The Cardinals are limited by their
physical size, but that 8-6 record is very deceptive.
7. Chesterton (10-4)
The
Trojans bounced back from a loss to Chesterton with a 66-57 win over Portage as
guard Matt Campbell (19.7 ppg.) scored 23 including 10-of-10 from the
line. Junior Josh Malone (10.6 ppg.) added 15 and Casey Martin (12.1 ppg.) also
scored 15. 6-9 center Evan Schmidt is becoming an offensive force after 11 more
last week. That's the second time Chesterton has had four players in double
figures in the last four games. Josh Malone averaged 3.1 per game last year and
Casey Martin averaged 2.0.
8. Highland (9-3)
Highland
reportedly didn't play well in a 56-55 loss to Andrean with a late rally making
the game close. The Trojans still have lost only to Andrean (9-3) by one point,
to Munster (12-1) by three and to Noll (10-6) by six. Two of those games were in
overtime. You can argue that Highland's true record is 9-1-2. Highland is
another team with major foul shooting problems. The Trojans were just 8 of 14 in
the one-point loss to Andrean and they are 68 of 121 (56.0) percent in their
last six games. Still, heading into Friday's game with arch-rival Munster
(12-1), Highland has not lost a game they shouldn't have lost.
9.) Bishop Noll (10-7)
Gary
Patterson scored 14 in the 42-38 loss to Munster (12-1) and 25 the next night in
a 69-53 win over Gavit gives him 1,536 for his career, an amazing total
considering the fact that his job for two years was to pass to former Noll, now
VU center Kenny Harris. Patterson has made 22 of his last 23 foul shots. Noll
has made 50 of their last 63 (77.6 percent) of their free throws. Guard Greg
Jones had 13 against Munster and 18 against Gavit and he was 9-of-10 from the
line.
10. Wheeler (13-3)
Wheeler
coasted over virtually defenseless Whiting 75-34 and River Forest 65-31 last
week. Games like this do not help and this Friday's game (Jan. 30) at Lake
Station (0-14) also will hurt both teams. The problem with Wheeler is not with
stars like Cordale Micou (18.1 ppg.), Steve Wilson (13.1 ppg.) and Joe Dobson
(11.7 ppg.), who scored 20 against Whiting last Friday (Jan. 23). It is the fact
that there are two winless teams and three other losing teams left on the
schedule. Coach Randy Stelter played 15 players in the Whiting game last week,
trying to turn a mismatch game into a positive in playing time for young
players. But I'm not sure how you get a team ready for a tough sectional against
Boone (8-5) and Bishop Noll (10-7) when you are forced (Whiting and Lake Station
are LAC games) to play such inferior teams.
Others to watch......
Boone's
three wins in the PCC tournament were impressive but the top-10 are strong.
There's no room for them up there. But that will change if they beat Kouts (7-5)
Friday and Merrillville (4-9) Saturday. I don't know if Boone has ever beaten
Merrillville. Boone Grove's front court of Phil Bien (10.4 ppg.) and Danny Borys
(18.5 ppg.) dominated the PCC tourney offensively and defensively. The Wolves
found wing shooters as Kyle Krol came off the bench with a career-high 15 points
in a 57-55 win over Hanover Central. Boone's backcourt five of Matt Langbehn,
Jake Pivarnik, Joe Faron, Jayce Dowdy, and Kyle Krol is not a weakness as had
been indicated earlier. With 6-3 Will
Mitchell and 6-4 John Shurr, both sophomores, this is very much a coming team.
But they're coming to Merrillville Saturday (Jan. 31) and they've never beaten
the Pirates.
Out of town......
3A No. 5 Benton Central (13-1)
The
700-kid suburban Lafayette school in northwest Indiana's Benton County has built
another powerhouse in search of their third regional title in four years. Coach
Joe Luce's Bison turned a 17-3 junior varsity team into a top-10 3A squad that
has lost only 52-46 to Class 1A No. 10 Lafayette Catholic. BC won 11 in a row to
start the year based on 6-foot-3 senior guards Brock Dawson (17.4 ppg.) and Cody
Anderson (12.4 pg.) with 6-3 senior forward Brett Butler (15.6 ppg.). BC
doesn't have much size so everybody has to rebound and Dawson (7.4) and Butler
(8.8) do a strong job in that respect. The floor leader is 5-10 junior guard
Trent Brouillette, who averages 4.2 assists per game. Dawson, who scored 24 in
the loss to Lafayette Catholic, is apparently a do-everything player who also
averages 3.9 assists. Clearly, the Bison boys aren't big up front with 6-4
junior Addison Bowman passing as the center. This sounds like a down home
Indiana pressing and shooting team that has been a bit fortunate. They have won
three games in overtime. Rematches will Jefferson and Harrison may not go well.
But BC plays in the Frankfort Sectional and Frankfort (7-7) is not having a big year. Playing 4A teams will help when they have to handle Twin Lakes (7-6), West Lafayette (7-7), Maconaquah (7-4) and 3A No. 7 Western (13-1), a team that has won 32 of 38 games but is built very much like BC.
There's no guarantee that Benton Central will get out of a good quality sectional but BC could add a lot of juice to the 3A Plymouth Regional which could include up-tempo fast-ballers like Hammond, Andrean, Gary Roosevelt and Plymouth.
BENTON
CENTRAL (13-1)
OFFENSE:
57.9, DEFENSE: 50.7
Nov. 25 (W) 55-45 Frontier
Nov. 29 (W) 62-43 Crawfordsville
Dec. 1 (W) 60-57 Lafayette
Catholic
Dec. 5 (W) 48-41 (2 OTs) Harrison
Dec. 6 (W) 68-65 (3 OTs) at Lafayette
Jefferson
Dec. 12 (W) 68-54 at Delphi
Dec. 19 (W) 65-57 West
Lafayette
Dec. 27 (W) 61-59 Columbus
East
Dec. 27 (W) 56-52 Indianapolis
Roncalli
Jan. 9 (W) 64-46 Indianapolis
Tech
Jan. 10 (W) 55-43 at Twin
Lakes
Jan. 16 (L) 46-52 Lafayette
Catholic
Jan. 23 (W) 59-58 (OT) at Tipton
Jan. 24 (W) 45-38 Rensselaer
Jan. 30 2A No. 11 Seeger
Feb. 6 at 2A No. 14 North
Montgomery
Feb. 7 McCutcheon
Feb. 14 at Tri-County
Feb. 20 Lafayette
Jefferson
Feb. 21 Sheridan
Feb. 27 at Harrison