Big first quarter helps propel Crusaders to D9 1A quarterfinal win
The Elk County Catholic Crusaders jumped out to an 18-0 lead over Smethport in the opening round of the D9 1A boys' basketball tournament on Friday night at Elk County Catholic High School and with 5:26 remaining in the third quarter were two points away from kicking in a running clock as they led 35-7. However, the Hubbers started to come alive after that and began to attempt to battle back. The Crusaders were ultimately able to hold them off to win by 25, 55-30.
“I think the start was good,” said ECC head coach Aaron Straub. “After the first quarter, it was pretty even, so I'm a little bit disappointed that we weren't able to maintain the way we started.”
Straub indicated that his squad was able to accomplish one of their objectives in the matchup, which was shutting down the Hubbers' Preston Alfieri.
“I thought our defense was good. I thought we did a really good job on (Preston Alfieri). Alfieri is a really good player. We lost him for a three in the second half, but other than that I thought we did a really nice job. Our primary focus was to stop him and to not let him get going, and we did a good job with that,” Straub said.
Alfieri's three, which came with 3:34 remaining in the third quarter, accounted for his only points of the game.
Carson Dunn led the Hubbers with 11 points, nine of which were scored in the second half.
“Dunn is a good player too,” Straub said. “We let him go right on us a couple times, and then we lost track of their threepoint shooters in the second half.”
Straub added that while he was also disappointed in how loose his squad got with the ball at times, he was happy to get the win.
The Crusaders had four players put up double figures in the game. Wil Wortman led the team with 13 points, Colby Nussbaum finished with 12, and Lance O'Neill and Michael Jacobs each chipped in with 10.
O'Neill scored the first five points of the game, first hitting a three for the Crusaders 22 seconds into the opening quarter and then putting two more points on the board roughly 40 seconds later.
After that, Nussbaum got on the board with a two, O'Neill scored another bucket, Wortman made a pair of twos, and then Jacobs made a shot with 3:06 left in the frame for his first points of the night as the Crusaders went up 15-0.
ECC's final three points of the quarter all were scored by Nussbaum from the foul line. He went two-for-two on his first trip and onefor-two on his second to give the Crusaders an 18-0 lead by the time the quarter expired.
A layup by Nussbaum 1:28 into the second quarter pushed ECC's lead to 20 points, 20-0.
The Hubbers finally got on the board with 5:41 still to play in the first half on a bucket by Ryan Pelchy. Dunn followed that up with a field goal for his first points of the night to make the score 20-4.
A two by Adam Straub and a three-point play by Nussbaum put ECC up 25-4 with 3:04 left in the half. Following a three by Keegan Watson for the Hubbers, Timmy Brannock closed out the first half scoring with a bucket for the Crusaders with 14 seconds to go.
The teams headed into the break with ECC leading by 20, 27-7.
The Crusaders opened the second half with an eight-point run to push their lead to 28 points, 35-7. Jacobs scored the first six points of the run, first converting a threepoint play, then going one-for-two from the foul line, and finally making a field goal. A pair of foul shots by Nussbaum ended the run with 5:26 still to play in the third quarter.
That is when the Hubbers' offense really started to come alive. Dunn and Watson hit back-toback threes, and then following a one-for-two showing from the foul line by Adam Straub, Alfieri hit his three and Owen Rounsville made a bucket to trim the Crusaders' lead to 18 points, 36-18.
Wortman responded with a five-point run for ECC on a three and a two. With 55.6 seconds left on the clock, Dunn went one-for-two from the foul line, and the quarter ended with ECC leading 41-19.
Smethport opened the fourth quarter with another five-point run, this time on a three by Rounsville and a two by Watson, making the score 41-24.
A three by O'Neill with 5:44 to go was followed up with a two by Wortman off of a steal. Dunn responded with a three-point play for the Hubbers, but ECC went on a six-point run on twos by Wortman, Jacobs, and Brannock.
Dunn scored his final points of the night on a field goal with 2:21 remaining in the game. David Anderson answered with a three for the Crusaders for ECC's final points, and then Rounsville went one-fortwo from the foul line with 52.2 seconds left to set the final score at 5530 in favor of ECC.
The Crusaders will next face Cameron County in the D9 1A boys' semifinals on Wednesday at a site and time to be announced. Smethport 30 Preston Alfieri 0-1-00-3, Carson Dunn 3-12-3-11, Keegan Watson 1-2-0-0-8, Hayden Leet 0-0-0-0-0, Ryan Pelchy 1-0-0-0-2, Seth Sanderson 0-0-0-0-0, Owen Rounsville 1-1-1-2-6, Cole Burdick 0-0-0-0-0, Colin Okerlund 0-0-0-00. Totals 6-5-4-5-30.
Elk Catholic 55 Frankie Smith 0-0-00-0, Noah Cherry 0-00-0-0, Bobby Urmann 0-0-0-0-0, Lance O'Neill 2-2-0-0-10, Timmy Brannock 2-0-0-2-4, Michael Jacobs 4-0-2-3-10, David Anderson 0-1-0-0-3, Wil Wortman 5-1-0-0-13, Colby Nussbaum 3-0-67-12, Charlie Geci 0-0-00-0, Adam Straub 1-0-12-3. Totals 17-5-9-14-55. Score by quarters Smethport 0 7 12 11 30
ECCHS 18 9 14 14 55