Pirates out-duel Crown Point 57-46 in Boys Basketball

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
02-07-2010

MERRILLVILE (57)  Brandon Clark 3-2-10, Jeremiah Jones 2-4-9, Rico Spikes 2-2-6, Tokumbo Fashawe 2-1-5, Edward Seay 10-2-24, Jason Simpson 0-1-1, Josh Hogan 1-0-2, Vince Dorsey 0-0-0, Brandon Smith 0-0-0.  TOTALS:  20 (14-23) 57.

CROWN POINT (46)  Michael Albrecht 4-0-11, Dejan Stefanovic 3-2-8, Evan Langbehn 2-0-4, Sean Crary 4-2-10, Jared Smoot 3-7-13, Jordan Jurasevich 0-0-0, Scooter Jacobus 0-0-0, Zak Bostian 0-0-0, Billy Brown 0-0-0.  TOTALS:  16 (11-16) 46.

FREE THROWS:  MERRILLVILLE (14-23, 60.9%) Clark 2-3, Jones 4-4, Spikes 2-2, Seay 4-10, Fashawe 1-2, Simpson; CP (11-16, 68.8%) Smoot 7-10, Crary 2-2, Stefanovic 2-4.

REBOUNDS: MERRILLVILLE (24) Seay 5, Jones 5, Fashawe 4, Spikes 4, Clark 3, Simpson 2, Smith; CP (25) Jurasevich 7, Langbehn 6, Smoot 5, Crary 4, Albrecht 2, Stefanovic.

ASSISTS:  MERRILLVILLE (9) Brandon Clark 6, Rico Spikes 3; CP 7) Michael Albrecht 3, Evan Langbehn, Scooter Jacobus, Jordan Jurasevich, Jared Smoot.

3-GOALS:  MERRILLVILLE (3) Brandon Clark 2, Jeremiah Jones; CP (3) Michael Albrecht 3.

CP-Boys_vs_Merrillville_statistics_02-05-10.pdf

CROWN POINT, IN (02-05-2010)  When you score four points in the first 10 minutes, you're lucky it's a game at any time.  And when the game bogs down into endless screening violations, time outs and missed shots, it takes the interesting competitive aspect out of basketball.  Even a game between arch rivals.

This 57-46 Merrillville win, giving them a season sweep over the neighbor Bulldogs, was largely boring for a crowd of about 1,000 that expected more on a snowy Friday night.

I think we've established that Merrillville is the better team.  That was evident in a 61-55 Pirate win in Merrillville in December that was not as close as that score indicated.  The Pirates are bigger, faster and more athletic than the Bulldogs (6-10), who have just two seniors on the roster.  And this game was just a stepping stone for Merrillville (13-2, 9-2 DAC) on the way to a rematch with Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) leader Valparaiso (15-1, 11-0).

Despite a little dunk fest in the second half, it was a choppy, almost annoying game to watch.  It had to be frustrating to play in.  There were only 16 assists and four of those were handoffs on dunks.  The alternating between blown physical judgments and an obsession on technical calls made this night more mind numbing than an eight-hour Super Bowl pre-game show.  The Merrillville boys quickly disappeared into the February snowstorm to get ready for what, to them, surely was a more attractive game 24 hours later against Northwest Crossroads Conference leader Munster (15-2).

Maybe that's not totally fair.  Both teams played well defensively, especially the Pirates. who did an extensive job of switching and marking CP's leading scorer Michael (Spike) Albrecht.

"They did," said Bulldogs coach Clint Swan.  "They only lost him a couple of times.  When you only lose a guy a couple of times.  You put pressure on his shots.  I thought Spike played well.  I thought he had a good floor game.  But they defensed him well."

Albrecht was held to 11 points on just 13 shots and he never got to the foul line.  The 6-foot-1 guard averaged almost 21 points (20.9) and 17 shots over CP's first 15 games.  The other focus, when the referees allowed it to be, was the match up of Merrillville's 6-foot-8 sophomore center Edward Seay and Crown Point's 6-foot-10 junior Jared Smoot.

In a game where, again, Albrecht never went to the foul line, Smoot was called for a second questionable foul in the first 3-1/2 minutes and sat out the remainder of the first half.
While 6-foot-3 backup center Jordan Jurasevich played well as a backup for the Bulldogs, Seay had 10 points at the half and finished with 24.  Smoot scored 13 points in the second half and both players set down a couple of dunks to entertain the crowd.  But Merrillville has a lot more supporting power up front with 6-foot-3, 200-pound senior Rico Spikes and 6-foot-4, 210-pound Tokumbo Fashawe, who overpowered the smaller, slower Bulldogs.

Crown Point never led and never had control of the game.  It was 11-1 Merrillville after 4-1/2 minutes and it was 12-4 with six minutes left in the half in front of a crowd so quiet you could almost hear the snow falling outside.

Jurasevich grabbed a half dozen first half rebounds to spark somewhat of a rally that pulled CP within 20-17 at halftime.

Both sides slowed each other with half and 3/4 court pressure and the Pirates slowly pulled away after halftime as CP shot 16 of 54 (29.6%) from the floor.  Some of that was Merrillville defensive pressure, but some of it wasn't.  Albrecht was 4-of-13 from the floor and Dejan Stefanovic was 3-of-13.  Smoot, who was double-teamed most of the second half, got only nine shots and was 3-of-9.

Merrillville was 20 of 52 (38.5%) and when you consider they had six dunks, the Pirates' shooting was just as bad as CP's accuracy.  Seay was 10 of 20 for 24 points but that means the rest of the team was 10 of 32.  Some of it was hustling CP defense and again, some of it probably was not.

"I thought the first half was one of our best halves of the year," said CP coach Clint Swan, after his side went to the break down just 20-17.  "But we just couldn't generate much offense."

Swan said he thought the game was well-officiated, which was the gentlemanly thing to say.  The Seay-Smoot match up, featuring highly rated underclassmen, was entertaining and, once Smoot was allowed to stay on the floor, fairly even.

"In the first half it was a moot point," agreed Swan.  "In the second half, Smoot had his moments.  But he's got to be a little more active.  He's a little more mobile at the offensive end.  We're working with him.  We have been for a long time.  He's getting better."

The ESPN highlight of the second half was a running dunk by Jeremiah Jones over Smoot in the third quarter.  But a 15-2 run at the start of the fourth quarter put the game out of reach and left the crowd wishing there had been more of a game.  You got the impression that if there is a third meeting of CP and Merrillville, it can be close.  You also left with the feeling that could only occur if the officials lay off the moving pick violations (there were at least six) and let the boys on both sides run an offense.

BULLDOG NOTES:  The four consecutive CP losses are to East Chicago (11-2), Valparaiso (14-1), Boone Grove (11-4) and Merrillville (13-2).  This is CP's first four-game losing streak since the beginning of the 2007 season.

Jared Smoot, who played only 19 (of 32) minutes Friday against Merrillville, was coming off games where he had seven points, 15 rebounds and four blocked shots against Boone Grove and 15 points, seven rebounds and five blocks against Valparaiso.

Crown Point's players retreated into the CPHS hallway after the game on the teams' annual autograph night where little kids can get autographs from the CP players.  The odd aspect of fellow students lining up to get autographs from kids they see in the hallway every day brought smiles to everyone's face.

CP's next game is Thursday night at home (Feb. 11) against LaPorte.  The game is to be played next Thursday because of the girls' state playoffs are next Friday and Saturday nights.

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Revised: February 07, 2010 .