Noll falls in title game by a point

Updated: March 28, 2011 9:38AM

INDIANAPOLIS - When you lose by one point, every play, every pass, every dribble, every step can be analyzed and re-analyzed as every player wonders what they could have done different, could have done better.

Looking at the final stats, the average person might wonder what else Bishop Noll could have done to prevent its 43-42 loss to Park Tudor in Saturday's Class 2A state championship.

The Warriors out-rebounded the Panthers 35-17, but it was the one that got away that will haunt some players for a while, especially when freshman forward Larry Crisler was ineffective in the second half due to wearing a plastic mask.

"He broke his nose in practice earlier in the week) and he got bumped a little (in Saturday's first half)," Noll coach Drew Trost said. "He wore the mask in practice and he couldn't see well, so that hurt us a little bit."

Crisler provides a spark off the bench and he could have helped on the offensive rebound by Park Tudor freshman Trevon Bluiett that gave the Panthers their final margin of victory.

"Larry brings a lot of energy and he's our best rebounder," said junior Jose Rosario, who had seven rebounds, but only two points on a layup early in the first quarter. "And we lost on an offensive rebound."

Noll shot better from the free-throw line - 10 of 11 to Park Tudor's 9 of 13 that included two misses in the fourth quarter that could have been crucial.

But that one miss by the Warriors was by John Dodson with 2:12 left in the game and Noll up three.

And both teams shot exactly the same from the field - 16 of 45 for 35.6 percent - but it was the nature of some of Noll's 29 misses that was hard to swallow for players and coaches alike.

"It was more about us missing shots and missing chances," Trost said. "(Milos) Kostic missed a couple inside. Dodson missed a couple inside. Shots like those were right there and just didn't fall. They got the last hoop and we didn't."

Noll led from the three-minute mark of the first quarter until 1:22 left in the game, but there were so many opportunities to add two points during that span of time that would have made the difference in the end.

"I just keep thinking about the little things," Rosario said. "We got a little taste, a little tease. We just have to work harder for next year."

© 2013 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.