Fragle’s three caps DCC rally over Cameron County in D9 1A third place game
With seconds remaining in Friday’s D9 1A boys’ third place game at St. Marys Area High School, Luke Fragle hit a three from near the Cardinals’ bench to give the DuBois Central Catholic a 50-47 victory over the Cameron County Red Raiders.
Fragle’s three not only sent DCC to the state playoffs as the third place team from District 9, but it also capped a run where the team scored exactly half of their total points for the game in the frame.
Cameron County held a 34-25 lead headed into the fourth, but DCC used a 25-13 advantage to rally for the win.
The Red Raiders’ Camdyn Allison led all scorers with 17 points in the game, and Ryan Shaffer and Josh Smith also put up double figures with 11 points each.
Luke Swisher and Marek Hoyt each scored 13 points to lead the Cardinals and Andrew Green also made it into double digits with 10. Fragle finished the night with seven points, all of which were scored during the team’s fourth quarter rally.
While DCC would ultimately steal the win, the first three quarters of the game were dominated by the Red Raiders.
After a series of misses by both squads early in the opening quarter, Cameron County scored the first five points of the contest on a two by Allison and a three by Smith to go up 5-0 by the midpoint of the frame. The Cardinals got on the board on a bucket by Swisher with 3:50 still on the clock, but Shaffer quickly responded with a three for the Red Raiders to stretch their lead to six points, 8-2.
In the final 2:34 of the quarter, Swisher and Allison traded twos, and Shaffer and Hoyt traded threes, resulting in Cameron County leading 13-7 after the first eight minutes of play.
The second quarter opened with a six-point run by the Red Raiders as Brevin Lewis hit a three 25 seconds into the frame and then Allison scored the next three points as he went one-for-two from the foul line and then made a field goal. With 4:14 remaining in the half, Cameron County led 19-7.
A three for DCC by Green was answered with another three points by Cameron County as Smith made a bucket and Shaffer went one-for-two from the foul line. In the final 27 seconds of the half, Hoyt made a three for the Cardinals and Landon Farren made a field goal for the Red Raiders.
The teams headed into the break with Cameron County leading by 11, 2413.
Hoyt cut the deficit to nine points with a bucket for DCC 47 seconds into the third quarter. Shaffer had a chance to get the points back just under a minute later as he was sent to the foul line, but he came up empty on both shots. However, the Red Raiders were able to get the ball following the second miss, and Shaffer made a layup to put the team back up by 11, 26-15.
A foul shot by Swisher made it a 10-point game with 5:57 left in the quarter. Allison responded with another bucket not long after to push the Red Raiders’ lead back to 12, but Swisher was fouled making a field goal just before the midpoint of the half and made the foul shot to convert the threepoint play.
Just after the midpoint of the quarter, Cameron County’s Maddox Baughman and DCC’s Johnny Varischetti traded twos to make the score 30-21 in favor of the Red Raiders. Shaffer again came up empty from the foul line with 2:30 left in the quarter, but Allison made a bucket four seconds later. Swisher and Smith traded twos, and then Brendan Paisley scored his first points of the night for DCC with 15 seconds to go to send the game into the fourth quarter with Cameron County leading by nine, 34-25.
With 7:19 left in the game, Cameron County’s Farren was assessed a technical foul, and Swisher went to the line for the Cardinals. While Swisher only went one-for-two the incident seemed to provide the spark that DCC needed to get their rally going. The Cardinals had the ball when play resumed, and Hoyt drained a three to make it a fivepoint game, 34-29.
A pair of foul shots by Allison with 6:29 to go put the Red Raiders back up by seven. DCC was temporarily kept from answering as Swisher missed the first shot of a one-and-one, but Paisley scored off of a steal with 6:08 to go and Green hit a three just under a minute later to make it a two-point game with 5:12 still to play.
Baughman was sent to the foul line for Cameron County with 4:30 left on the clock, and he went one-for-two to put the Red Raiders back up by three. Following a timeout, Green ended up being fouled with 4:03 remaining, and he made both shots to make it a one-point game, 37-36. Twelve seconds later, Allison went one-for-two from the foul line to give Cameron County a two-point advantage, but Swisher was fouled for DCC with 3:38 remaining, and he made both shots to knot the score at 38-all.
Twenty-one seconds later, with 3:17 to go, Fragle was sent to the foul line, and he also made both shots to give the Cardinals their first lead of the game, 40-38.
As Cameron County tried to answer, Hoyt came up with a steal and passed to Green, who made a layup to extend DCC’s lead to four points, 42-38, with 2:51 to go.
Smith and Shaffer traded pairs of foul shots, and then with 1:15 left in the game, a three by Allison brought Cameron County back within one, 44-43.
Fragle was sent to the foul line again not long after and made both shots, putting DCC back up by three, 46-43. A pair of foul shots by Shaffer with 43 seconds to go cut the Cardinals’ lead back to one, 46-45. Paisley was fouled with 37.9 seconds remaining and went on-for-two, making it a two-point game. With 12 seconds to go, Smith was sent back to the line for Cameron County, and he made both shots to knot the score at 47-all.
That set the stage for Fragle’s three to give the Cardinals the win.
Paisley inbounded the ball to Hoyt, and he quickly took it down the court, first moving to his left before passing it to Fragle, who was all alone in the area in front of DCC’s bench. Cameron County’s Josh Beer rushed over and took to the air to try to block the shot, but the ball went through the hoop and DCC celebrated the 50-47 win, mobbing Fragle as the buzzer sounded.
The Cardinals enter the PIAA 1A Boys’ Basketball Championship as the third place team from District 9 and will face the District 6 runner-up in the first round. As the D9 fourth place team, Cameron County will play the District 6 champion. Both matchups will be played at sites and times to be announced on Friday, March 10.
Cameron County 47
Camdyn Allison 5-1-46-17, Brevin Lewis 0-1-00-3, Ryan Shaffer 1-2-38-11, Maddox Baughman 1-0-1-2-3, Josh Smith 2-1-4-4-11, Landon Farren 1-0-0-0-2, Josh Beer 0-0-00-0. Totals 10-5-12-20-47.
DCC 50
Luke Swisher 4-0-5-813, Dylan Hanna 0-0-00-0, Andrew Green 1-22-2-10, Brendan Paisley 2-0-1-2-5, Ben Gritzer 0-0-0-0-0, Brayden Fox 0-0-0-0-0, Marek Hoyt 1-32-2-13, Johnny Varischetti 1-0-0-0-2, Luke Fragle 0-14-4-7, Angelo Piccirillo 0-00-0-0. Totals 9-6-14-18-50.
Score by quarters
CamCo 13 11 10 13 47 DCC 7 6 12 25 50