Hot shooting propels Bulldogs to 63-42 Sectional Championship over Chesterton, advance to 1st Regional since 2008

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
03-08-2015

Team /Record	1	2	3	4	Final
CHESTERTON (17-9)	15	6	11	19	42
CROWN POINT (18-8)	22	19	14	8	63

Saturday, March 7, 2015 - Class 4A, Sectional 2 Championship game at MERRILLVILLE, Ind.

Chesterton senior Chris Palombizio (5) looks to grab a rebound in front of CP's Nick Jeffirs in the first half of Saturday's sectional championship game. (All photos by Mark Smith)

The CP student section watches Grant Gelon shoot a three-point shot against Chesterton. Gelon was 7-of-10 from 3-point range against Portage in the sectional semifinals.

CP senior Josh Berquist (25) looks to move the ball against Chesterton. Berquist played 84 minutes at guard in the sectional games and committed just five turnovers.

CP's Thayne Bukowski guards an inbounds pass against Chesterton in the sectional championship game last Saturday. The Bulldogs defeated three Duneland Conference teams to win the school's first sectional title since 2008.

Sasha Stefanovic (15) holds the ball in the fourth quarter against Chesterton. Stefanovic scored 21 points in 27 minutes against the Trojans in a 63-42 victory.

The Crown Point student section salutes the Bulldogs as they leave the floor with a 41-21 lead in the sectional championship game against Chesterton. CP earned the eighth sectional title in school history with a 63-42 win last Saturday.

Chesterton's Niles Dilosa fouls CP's Grant Gelon in front of the CP student sectional last Saturday at Chesterton. Gelon hit nine three-point baskets in three sectional games to give him a total of 96 in 26 games this season.

The Crown Point defense kept all eyes on Chesterton's Chris Palombizio (5) Saturday. The Trojan senior scored 18 points, but CP won 63-42.

CP's Grant Gelon (with the net in his mouth), Blake Bonin and Thayne Bukowski (with his mouthpiece) smile for the cameras after the Bulldogs won the sectional championship last Saturday.

Coach Clint Swan and assistant coach Mike Holobawski watch the action as the Bulldogs pulled away from Chesterton in Saturday's 4A Sectional 2 title game.

CP junior Blake Bonin has possession of Crown Point's first sectional championship basketball trophy after Saturday's game. The Bulldogs had a police escort back to the CP square after the game and CP folks came out of their houses to salute the bus on its way back to Crown Point high school late Saturday night. (All photos by Mark Smith)

Copyright © 2015 USA-365.com and Meyer Multimedia Services, a division of Meyer Broadcasting Corp.  All rights reserved. Revised: March 11, 2015 .

CROWN POINT (63) Blake Bonin 3-0-8, Sasha Stefanovic 7-4-21, Josh Berquist 3-2-10, Nick Jeffirs 4-4-12, Grant Gelon 2-0-6, Noah Morales 0-0-0, Thayne Bukowski 1-1-3, Kenny Decker 1-0-3, Andrew Kenneally 0-0-0, John Sakaleros 0-0-0, Tommy Sanborn 0-0-0, Dominic Tomich 0-0-0. TOTALS: 21 (11-18) 63.

CHESTERTON (42) Jacob Weber 2-1-5, Chris Palombizio 6-3-18, Niles Dilosa 2-2-6, Ky Palombizio 1-0-2, Rhyss Lewis 4-0-8, Antwan Beesk 1-0-3, Jack Mullen 0-0-0, Jon Andershock 0-0-0. Ray Yagelski 0-0-0, TOTALS: 16 (6-10) 42.

FREE THROWS: CROWN POINT (11-18, 61.1%) Berquist 2-3, Jeffirs 4-9, Bonin 0-1, Stefanovic 4-4, Bukowski 1-1; CHESTERTON (6-10, 60%) Chris Palombizio 3-4, Dilosa 2-2, Weber 1-2, Yagelski 0-2.

REBOUNDS: CROWN POINT (29) Jeffirs 14, Gelon 4, Stefanvic 4, Bukowski 2, Morales 2, Berquist 2, Bonin; CHESTERTON (20) Chris Palombizio 5, Dilosa 5, Lewis 4, Mullen 3, Andershock 2, Beeks.

ASSISTS: CROWN POINT (14) Bonin 6, Stefanovic 3, Jeffirs 3, Bukowski, Berquist; CHESTERTON (4) Weber, Lewis, Dilosa, Chris Palombizio.

3-GOALS: CROWN POINT (10 of 20) Sasha Stefanovic 3, Josh Berquist 2, Grant Gelon 2, Blake Bonin 2, Kenny Decker; CHESTERTON (4 of 22) Chris Palombizio 3, Antwan Beeks.

CROWN POINT (79) Blake Bonin 3-7-15, Sasha Stefanovic 2-2-7, Josh Berquist 2-5-11, Nick Jeffirs 3-8-14, Grant Gelon 7-3-24, Noah Morales 0-5-5, Thayne Bukowski 1-1-3, Kenny Decker 0-0-0, Andrew Kenneally 0-0-0. TOTALS: 18 (31-41) 79.

PORTAGE (72) Tim Bryant 6-3-15, Shamari Lewis 2-0-4, Jordan Collazo 10-12-36, Canaan Cooper 5-1-13, Tyler McCann 2-0-4, Nate Cherry 0-0-0, Kevin Jenkins 0-0-0, Zach Rudd 0-0-0. TOTALS: 25 (16-24) 79.

FREE THROWS: CROWN POINT (31-41, 75.6%) Berquist 5-8, Jeffirs 8-11, Bonin 7-8, Morales 5-6, Stefanovic 2-2, Gelon 3-4, Bukowski 1-2; PORTAGE (16-24, 66.7%) Collazo 12-14, Bryant 3-4, Lewis 0-4, Cooper 1-2.

REBOUNDS: CROWN POINT (15) Jeffirs 5, Stefanovic 3, Berquist 2, Morales 2, Bukowski, Decker, Bukowski. PORTAGE (27) McCann 9, Bryant 8, Collazo 5, Lewis 2, Cooper 2, Cherry.

ASSISTS: CROWN POINT (15) Bonin 4, Stefanovic 3, Berquist 3, Morales 2, Bukowski, Jeffirs, Gelon; PORTAGE (8) Bryant 4, Collazo 2, McCann 2.

FOULED OUT: CP (1) Sasha Stefanovic (4th Q) 2:16 left; PORTAGE (2) Tyler McCann (4th Q) :37 left, Tim Bryant (4th Q) :02 left.

3-GOALS: CP (12-19, 63.2%) Grant Gelon 7, Blake Bonin 2, Josh Berquist 2, Sasha Stefanovic; PORTAGE (6-20, 40%) Jordan Collazo 4, Canaan Cooper 2.

MP3 Audio Archives, Portage vs. CP, 03-06-2015

CROWN POINT (37) Blake Bonin 8-0-23, Sasha Stefanovic 1-3-6, Josh Berquist 1-1-3, Nick Jeffirs 2-1-5, Grant Gelon 0-0-0, Noah Morales 0-0-0, Thayne Bukowski 0-0-0, Andrew Kenneally 0-0-0, TOTALS: 12 (5-12) 37.

VALPO (35) Drew Paul 2-2-6, Steve Helm 2-8-13, Conner Ten Hove 3-3-9, Evan Walls 1-0-3, Jay Bisacky 1-0-2, Brandon Nicholas 1-0-2, Cole Wolfe 0-0-0. TOTALS: 10 (13-14) 35.

FREE THROWS: CROWN POINT (5-12, 41.7%) Berquist 1-2, Jeffirs 1-2, Bonin 0-1, Stefanovic 3-6, Gelon 0-1; VALPO (13-14, 92.9%) Helm 8-8, Ten Hove 3-3, Paul 2-2, Wolfe 0-1.

REBOUNDS: CROWN POINT (19) Jeffirs 7, Stefanovic 6, Bonin 2, Berquist 2, Morales , Bukowski. VALPO (16) Nicholas 4, Ten Hove 4, Helm 2, Paul 2, Wolfe 2, Wallas, Bisacky.

ASSISTS: CP (8) Stefanovic 2, Berquist 2, Stefanovic 2, Jeffirs, Bukowski; VALPO (4) Walls, Helm, Paul, TenHove.

3-GOALS: CP (8-17, 47,1%) Blake Bonin 7, Sasha Stefanovic. VALPO (2-15, 13.3 %) Evan Walls, Steve Helm.

MP3 Audio Archives, Valparaiso vs. CP, 03-03-2015

MERRILLVILLE (03-07-2015) When you have a premier shooting team, you must never know when it's all going to come together. For Crown Point's Bulldogs, in the ClaSS 4A Sectional 2 championship game in Merrillville, it all came together Saturday night.

For the second consecutive night, CP hit eight three-point shots in the first half and built a 20-point lead. This time, in the most significant game of the season, Crown Point held their big lead all the way, running away from rival Chesterton 63-42 to win the school's eighth sectional boys basketball championship.

The Bulldogs', the top distance shooting team in Northwest Indiana, were 10 of 20 from three point range. CP limited Chesterton to 16 of 53 shooting (31%) and committed just nine turnovers to give the Trojans, who beat CP 72-60 in January, no chance to do it again.

"We maximized every possession in the first half," said ninth year coach Clint Swan, who is taking his team to the regional for the second time. "We got something in of every possession. Sasha had a great game at both ends of the floor. At (morning) shoot around today, I could see it coming. Sasha hit big shots, played great defense. He has a chance to be a special player and he showed that tonight."

"We played very poorly against them the first time (a 72-60 loss)," Swan continued. "I just think we've gotten a lot better defensively. It wasn't so much, 'here's where we need to get better.' It was just that we have. Our guys executed the game plan perfectly at the defensive end. You never saw any wide open shots for Chesterton."

"Two years ago we were 5-16 and here we are cutting down the nets."

After a two point upset of Valparaiso and a roller-coaster thrill-ride win over Portage, the Bulldogs had it when they needed it most. High school seasons, to me, fall into two categories. Years where you win the sectional title and seasons where you don't. Crown Point has now officially had an outstanding season.

"There's no words to describe this," said CP senior guard Josh Berquist, who had 10 points and no turnovers in 24 minutes Saturday. "After not even being able to win one (sectional) game the last three years. There's no words. I can't describe it."

"I wanted to play Chesterton again because we played so badly against them before."

"It's out of this world," said guard Blake Bonin, who had six assists and no turnovers in 31 minutes. "We were ready to play whoever and we just wanted to go out and get it."

CP led 13-5 after a three-point play by Berquist and 22-12 on two Berquist foul shots in the final minute of the first quarter. Four different Bulldogs hit three-pointers in the second quarter, including junior Ken Decker whose shot made it 41-21 a couple of seconds before halftime.

Chesterton's 6-foot-6 all-state forward Chris Palombizio scored 11 first half points and Niles Dilosa had four assists, but the Trojans seemed a step slow defensively and gave up a lot of open shots.

"It was just our mentality going into the game," said Nick Jeffirs, who had 12 points and 14 rebounds in the title win. We had so much to improve on from the last two games and it all came together tonight."

The story of this game may have been preparation. CP didn't know they were playing Chesterton Saturday night at 7 p.m. until about Friday night at 9:30. Merrillville never trailed against Chesterton until the Trojans won in overtime.

"That's entirely our assistant coaches," said Swan. "I told them, 'you need to do it because I've got to get some sleep. I didn't want to come in drowsy today. They stayed up through the night. Kevin Thomas, Kyle Hanaway, Mike Holobawski. They were fantastic. I came in this morning and it (game plan) was done. It was great."

"We stayed till the end," said assistant coach Kevin Thomas. "And we were up until about 1:30 or 2 a.m. And this morning before the walk through. It's not ideal, but that's the way a tournament is."

"We made sure to reference this during Tuesday-Friday-Saturday weekends which we had two of. We talked about how this was a sectional week. This was like a sectional week."

CP took 45 shots against Chesterton, 20 of them three-point shots. The Bulldogs were 11 of 25 from two-point range (44%) and 10 of 20 (50%) on three-point shots. Against Portage in the semifinals, CP was 6-of-17 (35.2%) on two point shots and 12-of-19 (63.2%) in three-point attempts.

So what's a good shot for this Crown Point team?

"What ever is in the flow of the offense," said Berquist. "When it comes naturally and it's not forced. I think we all kinda know. We've built a lot of chemistry over the past couple of years. We would never yell at anybody for taking a shot. We just might say, 'try to get a better one.'"

"A good shot is determined by the other team," said Bonin. "Chesterton's good defensively. We had to work hard against them."

"For me the Valpo game was crazy. However teams play me, that determines it. Valpo was playing Nick and Grant (Gelon) really well and I just had to step up and take the shots."

Assistant coach Kyle Hanaway, who played on CP's last sectional team in 2008, says the definition of a good shot is one that goes in.

"It changes depending on who's shooting. I think that Grant is the best shooter in the state, I really do. We have a lot of guys who can fill it up. Hanaway also thinks Bonin makes it all go.

"He's been a rock since Christmas," said Hanaway, who holds most of CP's assist records. "His assist-turnover ratio. He knows his role. If we need him to score, now he'll score. If we need him to get other guys involved, he'll get them involved."

Faith can be defined as the belief that something will happen even though it does not appear obvious or likely that it will. To CP's seniors and their coaches, the 'class of 2015' had not even won one playoff game, much less a sectional championship. How did they keep the faith?

"It's the guys," said Jeffirs. "Just being around them. Wanting to go out there and play for them. Being around them helped me keep faith in our season."

"I guess we never lost the faith," said assistant coach Kevin Thomas. "You know what I mean. This is a great group. You just work hard and hope for the best. Let the chips fall where they may and don't worry about the past."

DOG NOTES: Crown Point, which will play the 11 a.m. regional semifinal game against Munster (18-8) in Michigan City, barely survived twice to reach the finals.

Trailing 10-1 in the first quarter, CP rallied to get back in the game against Valparaiso, the Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) champion, in the sectional quarterfinals.

With the Vikings shutting down CP's top two scorers (Nick Jeffirs and Grant Gelon), CP junior Blake Bonin scored 23, including a career-best seven three-point baskets, to give CP a fourth quarter lead.

Valpo's Steve Helm tied the game 35-35 in the final minute of the slow-paced contest and CP worked for a final shot. Sasha Stefanovic was fouled with four seconds to play and he sank two free throws on a night when the Bulldogs were only 5-of-12 from the line.

Valpo inbounded the ball to mid-court, but 6-foot-7 center Conner Ten Hove, who was to pass to an open shooter for a potential game-winner, was called for traveling. It was CP's first post-season victory in four years.

Against Portage, CP led 39-19 at halftime as Bulldog junior Grant Gelon scored 18 of his 24 points. But senior Jordan Collazo scored 34 of his 36 points inside of Portage's 53-point second half. The Bulldogs were saved by 31 of 41 foul shooting, including 7-of-8 by Blake Bonin.

Chesterton has never advanced beyond the regional level in the boys state basketball tournament, but that's not the whole story.

Chesterton as a big school, is a 1969 consolidation of Chesterton, Liberty Township and Jackson Township. Chesterton high school, independent of grade schools, existed before then (as a high school to 1923) but was much smaller than the 1,900-kid DAC school it is now.

By comparison, Crown Point high school goes back to the late 1800s and there are sectional basketball scores for CPHS games from as early as the 1920s.

This is the 105th year of the Indiana state high school basketball tournament.