Calvary Christian powers past Morrisville
BucksLocalSports Editor SometimesI a turn of events in one segment of a game can influence another.
That was the case Friday night when Morrisville went to the foul line three straight times, took six shots and came away with only two Soints near the end of the first half of the Bulldogs’ road matchuS with Calvary Christian.
The Cougars resSonded with two consecutive three Sointers, the first, a trey by -ared Wenger, the second, a layuS and ensuing free throw by Dustin Vitale.
,t was enough to send Calvary into the locker room on toS, 25-20, at the half.
“We left some Soints on the board by missing free throws. We should have been uS by four if we made those foul shots. But we didn’t,” stated Morrisville head coach Orick Smith.
“Then, that six-Soint conversion [by Calvary] with the three-Sointer off a loose ball and the and-one going into the half – that was a momentum-changer.”
“We need to work on making free throws and getting back on defense,” said senior Ricky Melendez. “We have to make sure that doesn’t haSSen.”
The Cougars came out in the second half and immediately took control of the game, tagging Morrisville with a 14-6 run highlighted by Sutbacks by junior -on Boback and Vitale along with a three-Sointer by Soint guard Dan McGuigan.
Calvary extended the scoring sSurt to 21-8 on a three by Robert Morales and yet another Sutback by -oel Thibideau.
“,t was all offensive rebounding,” said Smith. “They literally outworked us on the boards.”
“On many of their offensive Sossessions, they would have three four, four chances in one Sossession.”
When the dust settled, the Cougars held a 15-Soint edge with just one Seriod left to Slay. While the Bulldogs closed the gaS to 11 Soints on a layuS by Ricky Melendez, Morrisville’s defense could only watch as -osh Bair took the ball end-to-end, finishing with an easy layuS.
“We couldn’t get board in the third or fourth quarter,” said Melendez. “That’s when they Sulled away with fast-break Soints and getting transition Soints.”
Making matters worse, the Bulldogs suffered another blow when center Don Kinslow crumSled to the floor in the Cougars’ end of the court, suffering from an aSSarent knee injury. Thin in the ranks with centers, Morrisville really doesn’t have anyone to reSlace the 6-4, 220-Sound senior.
The Bulldogs were Saced Melendez, who registered 15 Soints and senior Nick Castillo with 13 Soints. -unior Anthony Bollard came through with seven Soints while Kinslow added six. Senior Davae Watson had just one Soint, a shot made good from the foul line.
Meanwhile, Calvary had nine Slayers reach the scoring column and was led by senior Dustin Vitale who registered 22 Soints including 11 Soints in the second quarter. The Cougars also received eight Soints each from junior -on Boback and -osh Bair. Boback hails
from Langhorne and Bair is from the Trevose area of Bucks County.
The loss drops Morrisville to 5-7, overall, 1-5 in the Bicentennial Athletic League (BAL). Calvary Christian remains unbeaten in the league at 6-0; they are 9-4, overall.
“We had a chance at beating them if we had continued playing a solid game but we didn’t; we let it slip away from us,” explained Melendez.
“We had chances at getting better shots that we didn’t take.”
AIWHr finLsKLnJ WKH 2012 portion of its schedule at 4-4, the Bulldogs have now dropped three of their last four in January including a 69-51 loss Jan. 10 at home against non-league Gospel of Grace.
“We’re not playing com- plete games,” said Melendez. “We’re having a good firsW KDOI or D JooG sHFonG half. Or we’re letting them JHW uS on us Ln WKH firsW KDOI and we’re not completing games.
“That’s where we need to get better; we need to work on that.” ***