Boys basketball: Crown Point breaks through with win over Valparaiso
By Mike Hutton 648-3139 or mhutton@post-trib.com January 27, 2012 11:20PM
Bulldogs Bret Barclay takes a short jumper over Vikings John Mosser at Valparaiso High School on Saturday January 27, 2012. | Jim Karczewski~for Sun-Times Media
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Updated: February 29, 2012 8:09AM
VALPARAISO — This was bound to happen.
An underrated Crown Point team — with eight losses, five of them fairly close — was going to find an unsuspecting victim and send it home exasperated and frustrated.
The Bulldogs laid the proverbial wood to Valparaiso on Friday with a not-so-shocking 48-41 victory — at least, from their perspective. It was their first victory at Valparaiso’s gym since 2008.
Clint Swan, the Bulldogs coach, had been preaching to anyone that would listen that his team was getting better. He was beating that message into his team.
They finally heard him.
“This justifies that we are playing better,” Swan said.
The game was a complete ambush for the Vikings. Their junior varsity team won by 37 points. The Bulldogs varsity team played nothing like that.
They were sharp and active and quick to the ball, particularly on the offensive boards, in the first half. Braxton Rice, who finished with 16 points and seven rebounds, was a load inside for Valparaiso.
Crown Point, which started Rice (6-6), Brett Barclay (6-5) and Tom Bardeson (6-4), really bothered the Vikings with its length.
“I thought we were active around the basket and active inside,” Swan said.
Said Rice: “We wanted to take advantage of our athleticism.”
Crown Point took a seven-point lead at the end of the first quarter with the help of a 7-0 run. A free throw by Dejan Stevanovic with 20 seconds left made the score 14-7.
Crown Point upped the pressure on the Vikings in the second quarter, sprinting out to a 23-12 lead with 3:20 left in the first half after Tom Bardeson made a bucket.
Valparaiso was able to cut the lead to seven on a pair of baskets by Brett and Drew Boetel.
The first-half lead proved to be too much for the cold-shooting Vikings to overcome. Crown Point stretched its advantage to as many as 11 points in the second half.
Twice, the Vikings were able to cut the advantage to four, but they never could get it to a one-possession game.
The Bulldogs were able to make 11-of-13 free throws in the final quarter to salt away the win.
Vikings coach Joe Otis has lots of places for improvement he discuss with his team before they play Munster tonight. The team doesn’t play well from behind — they finished 14-of-54 from the field — and they’re not a great shooting team.
They have to win by controlling the tempo and playing good team defense.
“They were waiting to sneak up on someone,” Otis said of Crown Point. “They just sent a message.”
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