Crown Point sophomore MJ Wilson may not be an X factor anymore. After Wilson scored 33 points in less than 17 minutes against Valparaiso on Friday, Crown Point coach Clint Swan said the 6-foot-5 guard/forward is “really starting to come into his own.” “He’s had a really good three or four ga mes in this stretch lately,” Swan said. “In the Chesterton game, he was really active. Against Andrean, he was really good. “Before, he was pinning his successes and failures on shot-making. He was determining whether or not he played well based on how many points he scored. Now he realizes he doesn’t have to score. He can just go out and play and just impact the game in so many other ways besides scoring, and then when he starts doing that, the basket starts getting so much bigger. That’s what happened against Valpo.” Wilson made 13 of 16 shots, including 4 of 4 from 3-point range, off the bench during the Bulldogs’ 78-51 Duneland Athletic Conference win over Valparaiso. He also had six rebounds, three assists and three steals for Crown Point (17-1, 6-0), which is ranked No. 3 in the state coaches poll and has lofty aspirations as the postseason approaches. “My teammates just found me at the right time in the right spots, and I knocked down some shots,” Wilson said. “My type of game, I’m an energy player. So if you see one go down, it just makes things flow, and from there, it’s game over. “It feels amazing because you put in so much work and my teammates put so much effort into me to make me great. I promise you, I couldn’t do it without any of them. They all push me to be what they think I can be.” Teammates such as star senior guard/forward Dikembe Shaw, an Illinois Chicago recruit, believe in Wilson. “It gave me a glimpse of a couple of years down the line,” Shaw said. “He was amazing. He stepped up big time. “You can always see a flash in games. But for him to go out there and score 33 off the bench, it’s surreal. He definitely brings it every day in practice, and he’s super competitive. He’s amazing. He’s such a great player at a young age.” MJ Wilson, who has helped Crown Point win 17 of 18 games this season, scored 33 points against Valparaiso on Friday. (Michael Osipoff / Post-Tribune) Wilson, who has increased his averages to 8.1 points and 2.4 rebounds, played primarily on the junior varsity team as a freshman last season. He appeared in three varsity games and scored two points. Wilson showed promise at both levels but suffered a broken right thumb near the end of May. He missed about six weeks, including all of the team’s summer activities, before he returned in early July. “He had a great year on JV and got to dress varsity and got some spot minutes at the end of the year for us,” Swan said. “We were noticing he had a chance to be really good, and we were excited about June to really work with him, and then he missed everything for us in the summer. He missed every workout, every practice, every game. We played 10 or 11 games during the summer, and he missed every one — and then he got cleared for AAU in July. I was the only one who didn’t get to coach him. “The first time he really got to work with the varsity guys full time was in the fall. He made up for lost time very quickly. We could tell he was going to be fine and be a really good player. But it would’ve been nice to have him in the summer.” Wilson has gained about 25 pounds since he started high school. He has also made strides in other areas. “Freshman year, I was athletic and a little uncoordinated at times,” Wilson said. “I’m always playing 100%, so just being in this program, it slows down the game a little bit. It makes it so much easier. I improved on rebounding. I used to stand around a lot, and now I don’t stand around. I’ve stopped reaching. My jump shot is better. “From the start of the season, I know I’m not a main scorer on this team. So what I’m going to do, I’m going to crash the offensive boards every time, and that’s a way I can score. I’m going to take pride in my defense.” Shaw emphasized Wilson’s efforts on that end of the court. “MJ’s incredible,” Shaw said. “He didn’t play during the summer because he was hurt, so we didn’t know how he’d come back and how it would be with him. But when he came back, you could tell how impactful MJ is on defense, on offense. “Beforehand, he wasn’t really hitting shots at the clip he would want. But right now, he has his groove. You can tell the game’s really slowing down for him a lot more. He’s picking his spots. It’s become easier for him to score, and he’s really effective on defense. Some nights, he’s going against some of the best scorers in the Region, and MJ’s out there locking them up. He’s blocking their shots, getting rebounds. You can tell his confidence is up there too.” Crown Point’s MJ Wilson (4) blocks a shot attempt by Merrillville’s Charles Hardiman (14) during a Duneland Athletic Conference game in Crown Point on Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (Mandy Coppinger / Post-Tribune) Wilson also expressed confidence in the Bulldogs, whose only loss this season has come against 21st Century. They’ve won back-to-back regional titles and reached a semistate final last season. A victory against Lake Central on Friday would net Crown Point’s first outright DAC title after sharing the past two. “I love how everyone’s all so supportive,” Wilson said. “Just because I’m so young, it makes my job so much easier. Especially since we’re such a senior-laden team and I have low experience, it makes it so much easier.” Wilson has fit in neatly with this experienced group. “He’s an awesome kid,” Swan said. “He’s a great kid from a great family. Those guys are very easy to coach. “He cares. He cares a lot. At the start of the year, maybe he cared almost too much. He was a little tight. We had to tell him he needed to think a little bit less while he was out there and just react. Once he started doing that, you could just see him get more comfortable out there, and now we’re starting to see what he can do.” ...read more read less