Straub pleased with Crusaders’ first round playoff win

The Elk County Catholic Crusaders opened their run in the PIAA 1A Boys’ Basketball Championship with a 67-47 victory over District 7 fifth place team Neighborhood Academy on Friday night at Elk County Catholic High School.

“I thought we played really, really well,” said ECC head coach Aaron Straub. We beat an excellent team.”

The Crusaders, the D9 1A boys’ champion, entered the game with a 25-2 record while Neighborhood Academy was 20-5.

“We beat a team that had what, five losses? Two to Imani, two to Geibel. We played a team that certainly had a long trip, and we feel pretty comfortable playing on our home floor,” Straub said.

Neighborhood Academy, located in Pittsburgh, opened their season on Dec. 2 and rolled to eight straight wins before suffering back-to-back losses at the beginning of January. The Bulldogs’ first loss came at the hands of Imani Christian Academy by a score of 51-44 on Jan. 4, and then they fell to Aquinas Academy by a score of 81-77 on Jan. 6.

Neighborhood Academy’s third loss was to Geibel Catholic by a score of 70-61 on Jan. 21, and then they lost to Imani again 89-61 on Jan. 27.

The Bulldogs’ fifth loss was to Geibel Catholic 66-64 on Feb. 22.

Straub referred to Neighborhood Academy’s sophomore guard Courtney Wallace as being a premier player. Wallace led all scorers on Friday night with 17 points – 14 of which were scored in the second half.

As for his own team, seven players put points on the board for the Crusaders, with four of the team’s starters finishing the night in double figures and one a point away.

Michael Jacobs, Adam Straub, and Wil Wortman each scored 14 points in the game and Lance O’Neill had 12. Colby Nussbaum finished the night with nine.

“If you want to talk about what kind of team we have, I think all you need to do is look in the book. That’s about as impressive of a book as you’ll ever see,” Straub said.

In addition to being happy with his team’s balanced scoring, Straub remarked that he was also pleased with how the Crusaders matched up against the Bulldogs.

“Our assistant coaches really put together a good plan with some really good matchups. Michael did a great job on Wallace early. We played through some foul trouble with

Adam, which was really strong. I’m happy about that,” Straub said.

Adam Straub picked up his first two fouls in the first quarter but then only drew one more the rest of the game.

The Crusaders led all the way in the game, holding a 17-9 advantage at the end of the first quarter and a 28-17 lead at the half. However, a 10-point run in the third quarter allowed Neighborhood Academy to cut the deficit to six points, 35-29, before ECC was able to pull away again.

“We were able to keep our composure and get some baskets,” Straub said.

After a bucket by Wallace reduced the Crusaders’ lead to six points with 2:06 left in the third, it took ECC just over a minute to stretch their advantage back to 11 points with a five-point run on a Wortman bucket and a three-point play by Jacobs.

“We did a really nice job with that,” Straub said.

Acknowledging that his squad beat a good team Friday night, Straub added that “everybody is good at this time of year.”

“Neighborhood was really good. Our next opponent is going to be really good. We just have to play one game at a time and put a good plan together,” Straub said.

The Crusaders have another opponent from District 7 looming in Tuesday’s second round. This time, it will be District 7 third place team Carlynton, which enters the game with an 18-7 record after defeating District 5 runner-up Southern Fulton 63-35 in the first round on Friday.

Straub expressed the hope that the Crusaders will continue to see good fan support for the matchup.

“The fan support was tremendous tonight,” Straub said after the team’s game on Friday. “They really came out and supported us well. I was happy with that.”

Tuesday’s game will be played at 6 p.m. at Clarion University.