CRUSADERS UPSET
ECC eliminated
The Elk County Catholic Crusader basketball team saw their season come to an end on Friday night in the District 9 Class A boys’ semifinals with a 55-49 loss to the Clarion Bobcats.
Clarion was the fourth seed in the tournament, while ECC was the top seed.
Clarion led all the way after taking an early 7-0 lead in the game. ECC was able to tie the score once late in the first quarter and then cut the deficit to a few points a handful of times the rest of the way, but it was not enough as Clarion came away with the victory.
“We didn’t come up with a couple balls early, and they (Clarion) capitalized,” said ECC head coach Aaron Straub. “I think the game came down to they were more physical than we were, and they got after the ball. I don’t know what the stats were in terms of second chance points. In the first half, I think eight or 10 of their points came on second chance points, and we just were not strong enough to hold our box outs. We were not strong enough to come up with some basketballs in key situations.”
Straub also remarked that his squad did not shoot the ball like they did at other points during the season.
“They (Clarion) did a really nice job. Their point guard controlled the game for the most part. We were a little disjoined offensively. I thought we took some deep threes early uncharacteristically. We needed to go a little bit more inside out on our threes and get a couple better looks, and maybe we have a little bit more confidence down the stretch,” Straub said. “The plan was to try to attack and try to play off two feet. We did that at times, and we looked good at times. It’s tough to lose. It’s tough to lose on your home floor. It’s tough to lose when it comes down to a couple rebounds and a couple loose balls.”
Straub gave the Bobcats credit for their strong showing throughout the game.
“They came in with a good plan, they came in with a good focus, and they were better than we were tonight,” Straub said.
Bobcats open game with early run
Clarion went on a seven-point run over the course of the first 1:20 of the game to take an early lead. Christian Simko opened the scoring with a field goal 14 seconds into the contest, and then Ethan Burford hit a three and Beau Verdill converted a pair of foul shots.
ECC scored their first points of the night with 5:49 remaining in the opening quarter as Charlie Breindel converted a three-point play. Luke Jansen followed that up with a field goal to trim Clarion’s lead to two points, 7-5.
Hunter Craddock made a bucket for the Bobcats to put their lead back at four points. ECC responded with three points on a one-for-two showing from the foul line by Jansen and a field goal by Mark Kraus. Craddock made a pair of twos for Clarion, but then ECC answered back with a field goal by Jansen, a one-fortwo showing from the foul line by Breindel, and a bucket by Mason McAllister to tie the score at 13-all with 58 seconds remaining in the quarter. A bucket by Calvin German with 27 seconds to go left Clarion leading 15-13 at the end of the quarter.
Breindel went onefor-two from the foul line early in the second quarter to cut the deficit back to one point, but the Bobcats responded with an eightpoint run to go up 2314 with 5:07 left in the half. Breindel and McAllister combined for a pair of field goals to bring ECC back within five points, but Clarion outscored the Crusaders 7-3 in the final 3:43 of the half to take a 30-23 lead into the break.
Kraus and German traded threes to open the third quarter, and then McAllister and German traded twos. After the teams traded twos again, ECC went on a six-point run to cut the deficit to one point, 37-36, with 1:44 remaining in the quarter. After the teams traded twos again to keep it a one-point game, Verdill made a pair of foul shots with 26.3 seconds left on the clock to put the Bobcats back up by three, 41-38, headed into the final eight minutes of regulation.
McAllister made a field goal for ECC 20 seconds into the fourth quarter to make the score 41-40 in favor of Clarion. The Bobcats responded with some key foul shots as German went two-for-two from the line and Craddock went one-for-two. After trading twos, a pair of foul shots by Verdill put Clarion up by six, 48-42, with two minutes to go.
Kraus hit a three with 1:38 remaining to make it a three-point game, but Burford converted a pair of foul shots. Breindel made a bucket, and then German went two-fortwo from the foul line. Breindel scored ECC’s final points of the game with 19 seconds to go to once again leave the Crusaders trailing by three, 52-49. Burford made a pair of foul shots for Clarion seconds later, and then German went one-fortwo from the line to set the final score at 55-49 in favor of Clarion.
With the victory, the Bobcats advance to the District 9 Class A title game, which will be played in Johnsonburg on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Johnsonburg was the third seed in the tournament and defeated second seeded Cameron County by a score of 26-24 in the other semifinal on Friday
night.
Looking back on the season
Reflecting on his team, Straub credited the four senior members of the Crusader squad for all they brought to the program during their high school basketball careers. Seniors on this year’s team were Joe Wolfe, Jordan DePrator, Mason McAllister, and Mark Kraus.
“We were really blessed this year with a good group of four seniors,” Straub said. “They experienced something that I hope no other class will ever experience, the disruption of the school year, the disruption of practices and not being able to do things that normally our seniors would experience. They never complained. I’m really proud of the fact that they battled through a tough time and still had the resilience to go out and play hard and represent our school with a lot of sportsmanship, a lot of pride and a lot of class. They certainly deserve a lot of credit for how they hung in there and how they persevered.”
Straub also expressed his gratitude to all those who contributed to the team being able to have a season this year.
“I’m grateful to our school’s administration, to Mr. Schneider and Mr. MacDonald and Mrs. Fledderman and Mrs. Gebauer for how hard they worked to keep our kids safe and allow us to have a season,” Straub said.
“To the Athletic Association, in a time when things are tough to keep going, they’ve given us a chance to keep our sports program going. When you start out the season and you’re just looking for some games and an opportunity to play, and then as you settle in, you realize that you have a chance to play for championships and have a chance to have a postseason, it’s one big blessing to be able to experience that in this year. I’m proud of the seniors, and I’m proud of the whole team for the way that they responded to the adversity. Certainly, the seniors had a lot invested and there’s a lot out there for them. They certainly handled it very well.”
Clarion 55
Calvin German 3-2-5-6-17, Ethan Burford 1-1-4-4-9, Beau Verdill 3-0-8-12-14, Christian Simko 1-0-00-2, Hunter Craddock 6-0-1-2-13, Dawson Smail 0-0-0-0-0. Totals 14-3-18-24-55.
Elk Catholic 49
Joe Wolfe 0-0-0-00, Tommy Slay 0-0-00-0, Luke Jansen 4-01-2-9, Jordan DePrator 0-0-0-2-0, Mason McAllister 5-0-0-0-10, Mark Kraus 4-3-0-0-17, Charlie Breindel 5-03-5-13. Totals 18-3-49-49.
Score by quarters Clarion 15 15 11 14 55
ECCHS 13 10 15 11 49