Brown buoys ’Dogs
Senior’s 3-pointers in 4th quarter keep Merrillville at bay
Crown Point assistant T.J. Lux coined the nickname for David Brown.
He’s the Bulldogs’ Swiss Army knife.
Brown, a 6-foot-3 senior, is crafty inside. He’s the most likely player on the team to make a putback. He can post up. He can hit 3-pointers.
And sometimes, Brown has to guard the opposing team’s best player.
In visiting Crown Point’s 67-53 Duneland Athletic Conference win against Merrillville on Friday, Brown finished with 10 points, eight rebounds and one assist before fouling out.
His two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter were daggers against the Pirates (3-6, 0-2).
Brown isn’t the guy on whom teams want to focus to stop 3-pointers. The Bulldogs (5-0, 1-0) have three others — Drew Adzia, Ty Smith and AJ Lux — who seem more likely to make 3-pointers.
But that’s not necessarily true, Crown Point coach Clint Swan said.
Brown doesn’t shoot many 3pointers, but he’s making over 40%, according to Swan. Brown made both his 3-point attempts.
Brown was one of four Crown Point players in double figures on Friday. Lux finished with 18 points, and Adzia and Smith each scored 11.
Brown said he was just being aggressive when he took the 3-point shots.
“I just have to step up and take shots when I’m open,” he said. “I didn’t really have that mindset in the first half.”
He didn’t need it then.
Lux picked up the slack in the first half, scoring nine points before the intermission on three 3-pointers.
Lux, a 6-4 sophomore, plays like he’s much older. This was his second start.
He scored 21 points against Munster on Dec. 18 in his first start.
Swan said Lux was a little hesitant to be the kind of force Swan knew he could be. He played
junior varsity last season.
“There was some trepidation early on,” Swan said. “We had to pull it out of him. He wasn’t coming up here to be a role player. We needed him to make plays. It took him a couple of games. That Munster game was big for him.”
Adzia said it’s fun to play on this team.
The Bulldogs started the game with a 16-2 run. Merrillville couldn’t crawl out of that hole. The closest the Pirates got was three points at the end of the half.
Every time the Pirates cut into the lead, Crown Point had an answer.
Adzia, who was steady offensively throughout the game before fouling out, said all his teammates are confident offensively.
“We know one guy can go off at any given point,” he said. “If they block one guy down, we have multiple other guys who can come in and score.”