ST. MARYS 63, CLEARFIELD 53

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Nov. 30, 2007 - First Round of Keystone Boys' Tip-off Tournament

By Chris Rossetti

KNOX – Levi Welder scored a game-high 22 points while hauling down a game-best 17 rebounds to lift St. Marys to a 63-53 win over Clearfield in the opening round of the Keystone Boys’ Basketball Tip-off Tournament Friday night.

Welder, last year’s All American Awards & Engraving D9Sports.com District 9 Rookie of the Year, scored 14 of his points in the second half including nine in the fourth quarter. He did most of his damage from the free-throw line going 12 of 15 from the charity stripe but also hit four shots including a pair of 3-pointers.

“Levi worked very hard to get stronger in the offseason,” St. Marys head coach Brice Benson said. “Last year, he was more of perimeter 6-foot-4 player. This year, he can do a little bit of both. We look for him to be a tough match-up, and he is an excellent defensive rebounder. He really does a nice job for us down there.”

Welder got plenty of help from junior guard Brett Quiggle, who had 21 points including 12 in the first quarter and 15 in the first half. He hit four 3-pointers.

“We were a little worried about Brett coming in because he was a football guy and got a late start with our football team have a little bit of success,” Benson said. “But his shooting gave us a lift we needed at the start. Other than him, we had no one going in the first half.”

Clearfield got a big game from 6-foot-5 senior forward Todd Hryn, who had 19 points and 16 rebounds of his own. Matt Shiner added 17 tallies for the Bisons, who led 35-32 two minutes into the second half.

“Clearfield has a very physical, very strong, very athletic team,” Benson said. “We believed at the half they were going to make a run at some point. They led by three early (in the second half), but I thought our kids showed character in turning that back around on them.”

St. Marys, though, took control of the game with a 19-4 run after a 3-pointer by Jarrin Campman had given Clearfield the 3-point lead. The Dutch scored 12 of the final 14 points of the third quarter to take a 44-37 lead at the end of the quarter then scored seven of the first nine in the fourth quarter to take a 51-39 lead with 6:21 left in the game.

“We were able to go on the run because the ball went inside some,” St. Marys head coach Brice Benson said. “Last year, we were a team that lived and died with the 3-pointer. Tonight, we were able to take advantage of our post play. We have a good post player in (Levi Welder) and Brendan Mulcahy gave us a life in there as well. We are going to be using those guys. It’s going to be a different look for St. Marys this year.”

ST. MARYS 63, CLEARFIELD 53

Score by Quarters

St. Marys 15 14 15 19 – 63

Clearfield 13 14 10 16 – 53

St. Marys – 63

Matt Guido 2 4-6 9, Dave Herbstritt 0 2-2 2, Brendan Mulcahy 4 1-3 9, Brett Quiggle 7 3-4 21, Jon Petrocchi 0 0-0 0, Shealin Mulcahy 0 0-2 0, Levi Welder 4 12-15 22. Totals 17 22-32 63

Clearfield – 53

Trey Campman 0 0-0 0, Parker Herrington 0 4-6 4, David Ryan 0 0-0 0, Chad Zurat 0 0-0 0, Nathan Greenland 0 0-0 0, Joel Fox 0 0-0 0, Jarrin Campman 2 0-2 6, Mat Shiner 6 2-2 17, Todd Hryn 7 2-4 19, R. Cruise Kerr 1 0-0 2, Drew Hipps 2 1-2 5. Totals 18 9-16 53.

Three-pointers – St. Marys: 7 (Quiggle 4, Welder 2, Guido 1). Clearfield: 8 (Shiner 3, Hryn 3, Campman 2).