Jack Svetich was explaining how Crown Point was able to wrest control Tuesday.
Portage led 35-33 entering the fourth quarter of their first-round game in the Class 4A Crown Point Sectional.
“We just came out in the fourth quarter with a bunch of confidence,” he said. “We all got together, and we said, ‘We are going to win this game.’ Nobody was scared to shoot or had any jitters. We just did our thing.”
That included Svetich. The junior guard scored eight of his 13 points in the fourth as Crown Point pulled away for a 54-45 win.
“I just wasn’t even thinking,” Svetich said. “I was just playing my game and trusting my hard work. In those final minutes, it all comes back to how hard you’ve worked.”
Svetich has put in the work to reach this point for Crown Point (15-8), which outscored Portage (14-9) by 11 points in the final quarter to advance to a sectional semifinal against Chesterton (18-5).
He played limited minutes off the bench last season, with then-senior Drew Adzia running the point, after playing on the freshman team to begin his high school career. But Svetich has continued to grow in his new role.
“It definitely wasn’t an easy task,” he said. “To come out this year straight into starting, it was a big task. But coach was there for me, and everyone supported me throughout the entire time. I’ve just gotten confidence throughout the whole year, and it’s just been building up every single game.”
Coach Clint Swan has seen that development.
“He progressively got more and more minutes as last season went on, and he’s just taken the mantle since the start of this year,” Swan said.
Senior guard AJ Lux scored a game-high 21 points for the Bulldogs. The Bellarmine recruit also had high praise for Svetich, who entered the game averaging 10.6 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.8 assists.
“This kid’s been great,” Lux said. “He’s really stepped up a lot since last year. We lost Drew, and he’s had a hell of a year. He’s been really, really good. He’s the reason we’re winning games.”
Crown Point scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter on Tuesday. Lux tied it with a two-handed dunk along the left baseline, and Svetich gave the Bulldogs the lead for good on a 3-pointer with 6:45 left. Lux followed with a deep three, and Svetich’s third three of the game stretched their advantage to 44-36 with 5:14 left.
“Jack hit some huge shots,” Swan said. “This game was kind of indicative of his season. He had some blunders in the first three quarters, but we knew we had to have him out there, and sure enough, he comes up with a couple of big shots that we had to have.
“He doesn’t hit those, it’s probably a different outcome. He’s been there for us all year, and we got it from him when we needed it.”
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Lux also came through for Crown Point, scoring nine points in the first quarter and seven in the fourth. He eclipsed 1,000 points for his career when he hit a 3-pointer less than three minutes into the game for the Bulldogs’ opening basket, starting a 10-0 run after the Indians scored the game’s first seven points.
“It’s cool and all, but the only thing I want is a sectional championship,” Lux said of reaching the milestone. “It doesn’t matter how many points. I just really want to win a sectional.”
Sophomore guard O’Mari Evans paced Portage with 15 points, and junior forward Jaelyn Johnson added 10. The Indians, who dealt with injuries throughout the season, have only two seniors on their roster, with forward Dennis Mitchell their lone senior starter on Tuesday.
“They’re a really good team, and they’re going to be a problem moving forward also,” Swan said. “We knew it was going to be a battle for four quarters, and it was.”
Crown Point, which topped Portage 60-49 on Feb. 2, will play another familiar opponent on Friday.
“We’re playing well right now,” Swan said. “You can’t trick yourself into thinking the game is too big. We just have to stay the course with what we’ve been doing, and hopefully that’s enough. But we’re going to have our hands full.”
Chesterton defeated Crown Point 41-29 on Jan. 20 during the Duneland Athletic Conference schedule. That win was the Trojans’ 10th straight in the series, with the Bulldogs last winning in 2017.
“It’s a huge opportunity for our program,” Svetich said. “We haven’t had much success with them these past couple of years. We’re just going into the game fearlessly. We just have to trust ourselves and keep playing how we’ve been playing.”