February 26, 2000

Senecas play like champions

By Pat Magers
Sports Writer

Calvert's Tony Mass, not one usually given to cliché, had a big smile while picking one of those phrases apart.

"Those coaches who say the first three minutes of the game and the first three minutes of the second half are crucial &emdash; sorry, they're wrong," Mass said. "Normally, I'll admit that's a pretty solid statement. But not tonight."

Not by a long shot.

Calvert was limited to two points during the game's first five minutes and two more points during the opening six minutes of the second half. But the rest of the night, the Senecas played like, well, champions. And that's what they are, Midland Athletic League champions for the second straight year after out-bluecollaring Hopewell-Loudon 63-53.

A win guaranteed a share of the MAL crown, but when Fremont St. Joseph, the lone team in the league to defeat Calvert, then knocked off New Riegel Friday night, the Senecas (18-2, 9-1) had their second straight outright title.

"We had a 10-0 record on the home court this year, we got a win on special night where we're honoring our seniors and parents and we won the MAL championship," Mass said. "We accomplished a lot of things tonight.

"And we didn't do it the easy way," he said. "Part of our philosophy is you have to earn the things you really want and Hopewell-Loudon made us earn it tonight. You don't want a team to lay down for you and Hopewell-Loudon was not about to do that.

"We've taken everybody's best and for two years now, we're outright champs in football and basketball," he said. "I think that says a lot about our senior class."

The Chieftains used a mostly power approach in issuing their challenge and they did so with very favorable results. That is, until foul trouble caused periodic power outages.

Senior Andy Hiser hit 9-of-12 shots from the field, scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to pace Hopewell-Loudon (11-9, 6-4). Even more impressive, he did it in roughly 17 1/2 minutes playing time. The rest of the time he sat next to coach Steve Adelsperger with foul trouble &emdash; he had a permanent seat with 3:02 left in the game.

Hiser had four points in a 6-2 start for H-L but picked up his second personal with 4:25 left in the quarter. A 3-pointer by Bart Fisher and a basket by Kevin Lucius off a Nate Keller alleyoop pass put Calvert on top and the Senecas went on to post a 13-6 edge at the first break.

Hiser was around for less than four minutes in the second period before being whistled for his third foul. He had three more hoops as H-L pulled to within 15-12 before Calvert went on a 22-7 run to regain command.

"Against a team like Calvert, you have to play 32 solid minutes," Adelsperger said. "You can't go dry for a moment or they're going to score five or seven on you just like that. We had a couple of lapses where we made a poor decision, either a bad shot or a turnover, and that was enough."

So Calvert put on a blitz that produced a 35-17 lead before the Chieftains narrowed it to 35-21 for intermission.

"We had to look for some scoring punch because for a long while there, our shots just weren't falling," Mass said. "Bart and Tim (Brodman) and Ben (Brickner), especially in the first half, picked things up for us."

Brodman and Fisher, each with a pair of treys, totaled 15 and 14 points, respectively. Dustyn Risner checked in with 13 and Brickner finished with seven.

Hopewell-Loudon's halftime shooting figures showed 4-of-22 from the field for players not named Andy Hiser. The 6-5, 250-pounder softened that blow by hitting 5-of-6 albeit in limited duty.

He was back in the third quarter in a big way, hitting 4-of-6 and grabbing five rebounds in a matter of a little more than three minutes. His fourth foul came at the 3:38 mark, sending Joe Harvey to the line for two free throws &emdash; Calvert's first points of the half.

Nathan Brickner and Neil Harber also scored in that stretch as H-L pulled to within 37-34 with 2:08 to go. Brodman broke the surge with a nifty left-handed layup and Fisher added a pair of hoops off his own steal and one by a teammate. The Chieftains could get no closer than seven points from there.

Hiser played nearly five minutes of the fourth period, but was scoreless.

"I really liked the way Kevin Cahill played for us tonight," Mass said. "He did a nice job inside trying to match with Hiser. If we had an opportunity to take it to (Hiser), we wanted to do that because he was either going to foul or he'd have to play softer to avoid the foul. We also did a better job of defending against him in the end."

His fifth foul came on an inbounds play that should have originated from the sideline, but instead started under the Calvert basket. Risner, who sat a stretch himself with four fouls, hit both free throws for a 55-42 edge and the Chieftains were unable to challenge despite a pair of 3-pointers by Neil Hohman, who finished with 17 points.

"He (the official) told me he made a mistake; what can you say after that?" Adelsperger said. "You hate to lose him that way. He had probably his career best game going. He was really a presence for us, but still, what lost it for us were those lapses. Against Calvert, you can't have any."

Others have suffered similar fates.

"We've been that way all year," Mass said of the quick-hit attack. "We've been a team of spurts &emdash; we get some scores and that in turn allows us to get into our defensive packages. We like transition."

For two years running, it's been the way of the champion.