Morgan Twp 4th Qtr surge beats Boone 52-49 to capture PCC Boys Championship

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
01-22-2007

Saturday, January 21, 2007 - Porter County Conference Boys Championship at Boone Grove

MORGAN TOWNSHIP (52)  Troy Turner 10-1-21, Eric Spaulding 2-0-4, Steve Littrell 4-0-8, Jon Grubl 3-2-8, David Sheets 0-2-2, Steve Melton 4-1-9, Jarrett Washington 0-0-0. TOTALS: 23 (6-15) 52.

BOONE GROVE (49)  Joe Johnson 6-0-14, Jake Pivarnik 2-1-7, Nick DiMarco 2-0-4, Bryce Palleson 3-2-8, David Mastey 4-0-8, Mike Eleftheri 3-0-6, Wayland Roach 0-0-0.  Mark Rosinski 1-0-2.  TOTALS: 21 (3-12, 25%) 49.

FREE THROWS:  MORGAN (6-15, 40%)  Sheets 2-2, Turner 1-6, Grubl 2-2, Melton 1-2 Littrell 0-1,  ;   BOONE (3-12,  25%) Johnson 0-3, Pivarnik 1-2, Palleson 2-2, DiMarco 0-4, Mastey 0-1.

REBOUNDS:  MORGAN (15)  Turner 5, Spaulding 3, Littrell 3, Melton 3, Grubl  BOONE (17) Mastey 5, Johnson 4, Eleftheri 4, DiMarco 3, Rosinski.

ASSISTS:  MORGAN (7) Littrell 3, Melton 2, Turner, Spaulding; BOONE (9) Eleftheri 4, DiMarco 2, Pivarnik, Palleson, Mastey.

STEALS:  MORGAN (5) Turner 2, Grubl 2, Sheets;  BOONE (8) Eleftheri, Palleson, DiMarco. 

3-GOALS:  Morgan (0); BOONE (4) Jake Pivarnik 2, Joe Johnson 2.
 

Saturday, January 21, 2007 - Porter County Conference Boys Semifinals at Boone Grove

HEBRON (57)  Nick Eason 3-0-6, Eric Elliott 5-3-15, Aaron Marshall 6-1-13, Andrew Shrum 4-4-12,  Chris Corak 2-5-9, Michael Walker 1-0-2, Tim Aerhart 0-0-0.  TOTALS:  21 (13-18) 57.

BOONE (76)  Joe Johnson 6-1-14, Jake Pivarnik 4-2-13, Nick DiMarco 1-0-3, Bryce Palleson 7-5-20, David Mastey 7-3-17, Mike Eleftheri 2-0-6, Wayland Roach 1-1-3.  Mark Rosinski 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 28 (12-13) 76.

FREE THROWS:  HEBRON (13-18, 72.2%)  Elliott 3-4, Marshall 1-2, Schrum 4-6, Colak 5-6;  BOONE (12-13, 92.3%) Palleson 5-6, Mastey 3-3, Johnson 1-1, Pivarnik 2-2, Roach 1-1.

REBOUNDS:  HEBRON (17) Marshall 7, Corak 4, Elliott 3, Shrum 2, Walker;  BOONE (25) Palleson 7, Johnson 4, Mastey 4, Eleftheri 3, Pivarnik 2, Roach 2, DiMarco 2, Rosinski.

ASSISTS:  HEBRON (7) Walker 3, Shrum 2, Eason 2;  BOONE (20) Palleson 8, Johnson 5, Pivarnik 3, Eleftheri 3, Roach.

STEALS:  HEBRON (10) Elliott 3, Eason 2, Marshall 2, Walker 2, Shrum;  BOONE (10) Johnson 3, Eleftheri 3, Palleson 3, Pivarnik.

3-GOALS:  HEBRON (2) Eric Elliott 2; BOONE (7) Jake Pivarnik 3, Mike Elefthei 2, Joe Johnson, Bryce Palleson, Nick DiMarco.

PORTER TOWNSHIP (1-21-2007) - At the Porter County Conference (PCC) basketball championships Saturday night, the girls title match was completed with a total lack of doubt or drama.  The boys championship game was a different story.

It was a third consecutive classic PCC boys championship game, and for the third consecutive year, Boone Grove came out on the short end.  And Morgan Township came out on the very long end.  Trailing by small margins all night, Morgan rose up down the stretch and won the PCC championship for the first time in 19 years, edging host Boone Grove 52-49 in front of a capacity crowd at Boone.

Boone led 14-10, 20-16, 31-15 and 40-35 with 6:50 to play but the Cherokees, with no player taller than 6-foot-2, out-quicked Boone down the stretch to deny Boone a PCC sweep after Boone's 51-23 girls victory over Washington Township in the girls final.

"On our game plan that I gave the boys, I wrote, 'where were you in 1988?'" said Morgan coach Dustin Nelson.  "None of them were born and I was in sixth grade at Willowcreek (elemetary school) in Portage.  "That's how long it's been.  It's just a right time, right place situation.  Coach (Matt) Bush (Morgan's coach for two decades before Nelson took over in 2005) had some great teams here that just didn't get to win that final game for whatever reason.  This is for them.  We had a big turnout here.  A lot of little kids.  A lot of kids (former students) came back tonight."

"That's who we play for.  It's for the community.  They supported us last year when we weren't that good and they've been following us all along.  They've always supported us and they deserve this championship here.  We knew it was going to be a dogfight.  After this morning, we knew it would be interesting.  We ran some isolation plays at the end and got to the basket.  I think everyone got a piece of this one."

"We thought we were wearing them down for awhile," said Boone coach Matt Mckay.  "But they hit shots at the end and we didn't.  Their best scorer was on the floor at the end and our's wasn't."

Morgan's top scorer is Troy Turner, a 6-foot-1 guard.  On top of six first half points, the slim junior added seven second half baskets including four in the fourth quarter when he got past Boone defenders repeatedly.  Morgan, which beat Boone 60-42 in the semifinals of the four-team South County tournament in December, was losing for lack of offense until Turner got loose.

"He's good at getting to the basket," said Nelson.  "Last year, he wanted to shoot the '3' all the time, but he was coming off a serious leg injury as a freshman.  He can get to the basket and manipulate his body so as not to draw the offensive foul.  We're going to take that (Turner driving to the basket) any time we can get it."

Boone's Palleson, who went to the bench after a minor injury in the first quarter, spent half the game on the bench in foul trouble.  But Johnson scored 10 of his 14 points in the second half.  The Wolves' young guards, Nick DiMarco and Michael Eleftheri moved the ball very well, but Palleson, who scored 20 in the semifinals, wasn't on the floor enough to do his usual damage.

"He's also the guy who would guard Turner," said McKay.  "He's a good match for him."

Morgan (10-3) defeated LaCrosse in two overtimes in Saturday's semifinals before Boone eliminated Hebron 76-57, so it figured that Morgan would be tired in the final.  But down 40-35 in the fourth quarter, the Cherokees outscored Boone 8-1 with Troy Turner, Steve Melton, Steve Littrell and Jon Grubl all scoring.  Grubl sank two free throws as Boone top scorer Bryce Palleson (18.3 ppg,) fouled out with 3:10 left, giving Morgan their first lead since the first period.

With the score tied 45-45, Grubl scored on a baseline drive before Boone's Nick DiMarco missed two free throws.  David Sheets was fouled and he also sank two foul shots with 1:13 left for a 49-45 edge.  Boone's Nick Eleftheri scored on a back door pass from David Mastey to cut the Morgan lead to 49-47 1:01 left.  But Turner, who scored 27 points in the quarterfinals against Hanover, scored on a short jump shot off a pass from Melton as the green and yellow clad Morgan cheering section roared its approval behind the Cherokee bench.  Mastey's basket with 15 seconds left cut the Morgan  lead to 51-49 and a quick Boone foul ended with Melton sinking one of two foul shots for a three-point lead.

As the crowd of over 2,000 came to their feet, Boone stumbled on its final posession and got a hurried pass to senior Joe Johnson in the right corner.  Johnson's three-point shot bounced off the rim and the Morgan players ran towards their bench and cheering section to celebrate only their eighth PCC title in the tournament's 84 years.

Boone Grove (8-5) will get another opportunity to play Morgan Township at Morgan on Feb. 2, but they realistically can't catch the Cherokees in the PCC regular season race.  After losing the PCC and the South County tourneys to Morgan, the focus switches to the sectional in March.

"That's about all that's left," said McKay.

Morgan has to come down off their natural high and do it quickly.

"We play Hanover next Friday and I'm sure they'll be gunning for us after we beat them here," Nelson said.  "And next Saturday, we get to go to Oregon-Davis and they're rated number one (until last Saturday's 49-43 loss to John Glenn in the finals of the Bi-County tournament).  We're going to have to be at the top of our game."

But the PCC is a big deal.  Morgan brought about 200 fans (the school only has about 200 students) and most stayed to watch the boys cut down the nets and pose for pictures.  Morgan fans left the building with smiles so big you'd have thought they won Bears-Colts Super Bowl tickets.

"I had some really good (girls) teams at Washington Township that didn't get it done," said Nelson.  "I had a semi-state team and two sectional teams and we never won here.  This means a lot to me.  It's a funny thing about the PCC tournament.  Only about half the time does the best team win.  It's the draw or who's healthy or who's got a little momentum.  We're healthy.  We had a solid draw, although you saw what LaCrosse did.  It was our time to win, I guess."

PCC NOTES:  Boone lost the 2005 PCC title game 70-68 in three overtimes against Kouts and they lost the 2006 title game 35-33 to South Central.  A third consecutive final minute loss in the tourney they annually host was hard on Boone.

"You'd have thought we'd have won one of them," said Boone coach Matt McKay.

It was noticeable that Morgan Township didn't let Boone score uncontested lay ups.  They committed fouls rather than let Boone score.

"We played hard defense," said Dustin Nelson.  "We're preaching defense all the time and even in games where we don't shoot well, or don't defend well at the start, it usually comes around."

Boone has five freshmen on the varsity, but only two, Michael Eleftheri and Wayland Roach played in the tournament.  There is a junior varsity PCC tourney and once you play in the varsity tourney, you cannot play in the JV playoffs.  The Wolves have had that situation in both of their losses to Morgan so far (there is also a JV South County tourney), but Morgan is also in that situation with freshman Joel Reinhertz, who will probably join them permanently prior to the post-season.

Roach also appears to have varsity potential.  The younger brother of Boone girls senior forward Brittney Roach is a powerfully built 6-foot-2 left-hander who, while he probably won't play more than token minutes this year, figures to be a regular at forward next season.  Boone senior David Mastey scored 17 points in the final three quarters to help boost Boone past Hebron 76-57 in the semifinals.  Bryce Palleson scored 20 points and passed out eight assists as the Wolves reached the PCC title game for the fourth consecutive season.  Boone's boys and girls have still never won the PCC tournament in the same season.

The PCC semifinals drew about 1500 fans.  Washington Township's David Walters was named the tournament's Mental Attitude award winner.

Copyright © 2007 USA-365.com and Meyer Multimedia Services, a division of Meyer Broadcasting Corp.  All rights reserved.
Revised: January 22, 2007 .