Dogs deliver knockout vs. Pirates
By John O’Malley Post-Tribune correspondent February 3, 2012 11:18PM
Crown Point's Braxton Rice goes to the basket in the first quarter with Merrillville Jelani Pruitt defending in the first quarter Friday evening at Crown Point High School. | Jeffrey D. Nicholls~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: March 5, 2012 8:09AM
CROWN POINT — It was “White Out” night with Crown Point’s student section sporting white shirts. The way the host Bulldogs played for the first three quarters, this game might have been more appropriately called Knockout night.
Crown Point’s defense, particularly their length, caused the cold-shooting Pirates all kinds of problems most of the game.
Coach Clint Swan’s team (6-9, 4-7) built a 21-point lead (43-22) in the third period before holding off a furious Merrillville comeback to emerge with a 64-52 victory over the rival Pirates in a Duneland Conference game Friday night.
The Pirates (8-7, 6-5) shot 20.8 percent from the floor in the first half — and only 23.3 percent for the game.
Despite their shooting woes, the Pirates battled back in the fourth quarter to cut a 15-point CP lead down to only five points (55-50) after a three-point play by B.J. Jenkins with 2:49 left.
“We told the guys before the game that they needed to have a close game mentality,” Swan said. “We knew a run was coming. We wanted to be prepared for that.”
For about a three-minute span — starting with six minutes left — Swan couldn’t have liked what he witnessed as his Bulldogs nearly gave up all of that 21-point third-period lead.
“I felt like in last three minutes we really got back to our bread and butter and went back to attacking the basket,” Swan said. “For about three minutes there, though, I thought our guys were playing more not to lose than to win.”
Tommy Bardeson scored a game-high 19 points to lead Crown Point. Bardeson, who made all 10 of his free throws, went 6-for-6 from stripe in the final two minutes. He also had six rebounds, five assists and two steals.
Bret Barclay scored 15 points, had a game-high 10 rebounds and also made a couple of steals with a blocked shot. Braxton Rice was also in double figures for CP with 11 points.
Merrillville head coach T.J. Lux would like the real Pirates to stand up — preferably as soon as possible.
“We were nowhere near the team we’re capable of being,” he said. “Their length bothered us a lot, so give Crown Point credit for that. They played good defense, but we were quick to shoot the ball. We didn’t pass the ball well. We’d be completely open at times and not execute. Tonight, we saw the two different teams that we are.
“The goal for us is to figure out which team we are, but we have to figure it our pretty quick, because there’s not a lot of time left.”
Lux said his halftime talk — Merrillville trailed 32-17 — was really about the team’s effort, execution and lack of communication on the floor.
“We looked very bad for 2 1/2 quarters,” Lux said. “I told them they better get it in gear. We struggled shooting the ball. It’s tough to beat anyone when you’re shooting the ball like that.” Jenkins, who missed his first eight shots, finished 2 of 15 shooting, but scored eight of his 12 points during the Pirates’ fourth-quarter comeback attempt.
Zoran Talley led Merrillville with 16 points, while Jelani Pruitt had 14 and eight rebounds.
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